By Harry Kent, former Desk Officer for our Southern Africa Conservation Program

I had been mentally preparing for the last 4 months for the cold I would experience when landing back in London, let me tell you it didn’t help, being propelled from 40 degrees African sun to barely 1 degree was a real shock to the system.

Living without electricity was far easier than I ever could have imagined (and a hard habit to kick), as after a welcome home party on Monday I was found by my girlfriends parents wandering around their house, in the pitch black using only my phone as a torch which was shortly followed by “we do have lights here Harry”.

Driving to the Office on the Monday was a far cry from transporting the volunteers around the Legodimo reserve, firstly a Nissan Micra doesn’t come close to a great green Land Rover, and by skidding off the road only to notice it was only a piece of tyre not a Black Mamba I was avoiding made me feel right at home.

So now I sit here in the UK office, and I am not saying Rich is not pretty but the view doesn’t come close to that of paradise.

Hi all,

I just wanted to apologize for the lack of posts recently but your intrepid blogmaster was on vacation in Guatemala for a week but I am back and ready to blog! Although Projects Abroad does not have programs there, it is still a great place to do some traveling and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in Central America.

Here is a picture of myself from the top of Temple IV looking over the Mayan site of Tikal and the surrounding jungle, it is an amazing view!

Just wondered if anyone had some interesting celebrations for New Year they have encountered around the world.

I have encountered New Year in the UK on most occasions and enjoyed it in a pub which is always good fun if a bit predictable.

I had a slightly surreal New Year in Moldova one year where we gradually celebrated across Europe celebrating Midnight in Moscow, Midnight in Chisinau followed by Midnight in London. This was all done watching a slightly fuzzy black and white television. I think the fuzz was from the television although looking back on the traditional Moldovan vodka toasts it might have been the alcohol.

Another strange one was in Mexico. Having arrived from the UK the day before I would have been quite keen to have had an early night but the Mexicans and an infamous ex-volunteer Elliott Stollar had other ideas. We went to an organised party before beating a piñata which dropped sweets all over the floor. We then followed Mexican tradition and counted down the twelve rings of midnight whilst eating grapes.

- Ian Birbeck