Had a bit of a stress on Friday when we tried to charge the camera and discovered that it hadn´t charged. Found a photo shop were a very friendly guy worked out that it was our charger that had died and that the battery was fine, thankgod as they are expensive! Bought a new charger but unfortunately couldn´t charge it in time for the day long tour we were going on - gutted!! Had to make do with our trusty disposable camera - not good!! Thankfully the girls on t...

So we arrived in the fab, and very hot (30oC), city of Rio on Tuesday afternoon and checked into Ipanema Beach House which had been recommended to us (more expensive 42 reais/15 pounds). It´s a chilled, friendly hostel with a nice pool and a great location. The dorms have triple bunk beds and thankfully we didn´t get the top which is very high up and nearly touches the ceiling. For the rest of the day we checked out the area, Ipanema is a wealthier, classier pa...

Sao Paulo is the largest and richest city in Brazil and with a population of over 10 million it´s the most populous city in Brazil, South America and the southern hemisphere. We arrived to the bus station at 5.15am and, at 6am, bought our bus ticket for the 8am bus to Paraty (42 reais/14 pounds). 270km west of Rio is a bit of coastline known as the Costa Verde (the Green Coast). The scenery is stunning, lush rainforests, huge mountains, lagoons, secluded bays a...