The people of Montevideo are very good at a lot of things: honouring their war heroes, cooking steak to perfection and having efficient public transport. But they are not so hot at building, or maintaining, footpaths. The city is not alone. Walking on every path in every Brazilian city we visited was like negotiating land mines.

Tim and I were constantly waiting for one of us to arse over in the many potholes and Tim did on our first afternoon in Montevideo. And he did it in such spectacular fashion, landing with a solid thud which made my heart skip a beat.

Tim has spent years visiting physiotherapists for his problematic ankles and this fall twisted his left one so badly he was forced to lie flat for the next two days.

So that put a slight damper on our plans to explore Montevideo. I went for long walks and filled in time and then when he was slightly mobile he hobbled to the bus station and we did the only activity you can do when you can barely walk - we lay around on the beach for hours. It was overcast and I never thought to reapply my sunscreen after putting it on once.

That night at dinner I felt like my legs were on fire. There were two bright red sausages where my lily white thighs used to be and I was in agony. Tim and I were like two wounded soldiers, unable to move from our hostel bed and it soon became obvious neither of us was going to see Montevideo on foot.

So we booked a city tour in a minivan, which confirmed our suspicions that only people born before the 1950s choose this slightly boring way to see a city. The city tours can be an interesting way to learn about the history of an area, but beware before booking too many of them. Our next stop was Buenos Aires, Argentina and we vowed to explore the massive city outside of a minivan no matter what.

Check out more photos from my trip in my Flickr album.

Read more about Montevideo.

Read more about Kelly's adventures.