The cabin crew announces new deals every few minutes over the loudspeaker: discounted coffee and booze, a range of perfumes, even a passenger who is turning twenty-one today! A woman peels an orange and created her own perfume; the spray of zest glints in the sunlight above the clouds. The lady with the Micky mouse cap asks for advice on her immigration form. Guatemalan tourists share photos of them smiling by Tower Bridge. Teenagers dressed in black burn their ears with the

I left Montevideo in the early morning. The flat sheen of water was pale blue beneath the smog of the city. The bay was peppered with marooned, rust stained ships and yards stacked high with orange and blue containers. Excited to be back on the road, it felt like the right time to leave. I had met some amazing people and enjoyed the atmosphere of Uruguay but I had other things to see. This was the first in a series of short stops on my journey down towards Chile and Patagon