Not expecting much of this vintage cobbled stoned beach town, I was blown away by what it offered us in the end. We stayed in a Pousada again (Brazilian guest house). As we got there late afternoon we explored a bit and went for dinner at this quaint restaurant with live jazz music. The food was great, but my highlight was that I got to sing 3 songs with the band whose keyboarder player is a famous samba music recording artist...so even if that's not a claim to f...

About 3 hours from Rio one can get a ferry/fast boat to Ilha Grande (Big Island) which had the most spectacular beaches all around with some amazing seafood. On recommendation we booked into El Misty which was a really amazing place however the room we paid 50 Reals for turned out to be, well politely put, a bit of a dump...was a 9 dorm room with triple bunks, so needless to say it's not quite on our recommendation list. We took an incredibly scenic route around...

Arrived in Cusco at 5am, Leanne and I shared a taxi with a South African couple and booked into Atawkama hostel. This is a great place, so chilled and had a lovely living room area complete with big screen tv and a full set of counter-fit DVD's. Was great for relaxing. I was feeling a bit exhausted so spend the a day just taking it easy and walking around the town. We did a walking tour of the city which was more interesting in terms of getting to know different ...

Rio de Janeiro (meaning the river of january) is usually buzzing with tourist, never mind during the time of carnival, needless to say the packed city was in party mode and rearing to go. On 28th Feb the first day of carnival Rona, Leanne and I had our primary introduction to the "Blocos" and also little did we know that the energy of the city would rub off on us and leave us invigorated and sleep deprived at the same time. A Bloco is an organised "get together"...

The Iguazu falls are so big they can be viewed from both the Argentinian and the Brazilian side. So with passports ready we got a taxi to the Brazilian side Iguazu national park. Interestingly their entrance fee was more expensive than the Argentinian side. As soon as the shuttle bus dropped us at the starting viewing point the falls were in full view. We proceeded along the walk way to all the next viewing points and it felt like it would just not end. Eventua...