On the anniversary of the birth of Richard Barnes we are in Manaus...still; I think Houdini would struggle to get out of this place. There are three roads out of the city, two are closed, and the boat along the amazon towards the Peru border takes six days. We decided to fly to Tabatinga (there's a plane every few days), the last outpost of Brazil on the Peru/Columbia border on the 9am flight tomorrow. Turns out we're booked on the same flight as William; w...

Afternoon, Last night we ate dinner in the revolving restaurant of the Taj Continental Hotel in celebration of surviving the rainforest. From above Manuas we could see the pharmacy where we had bought cream and pills to treat Victoria's 200 plus bites from the world's deadliest creature.. FRIDAYAn early start saw us take a car to Manaus port and jump in a small speedboat to cross over the meeting of the waters. As the Rio Negro runs alongside the Amazon you...

Hello again, We managed to survive the coach journey...just. The coach itself was absolutely fine - loads of legroom, pillows, air-con, wide seats, Nicholas Cage film - but the journey was something else altogether. In 1907 an administrative error in Brazilian government left a goat in charge of road and highway building, hence the decision to make the roads out of logs and porridge. The bounciest roads in the world and driver who aspired to be an F1 drive...

Hi crew, Tonight we're leaving the Vicks VaporRub and Kleenex behind to take on the mammoth 21 hour bus journey from Salvador to Fortaleza in the far North East corner of Brazil. Sorry there's not too much to report from Salvador - unless you enjoy graphic descriptions of snot and bowel movements. The area we stayed in, Praca de Se, would have been quite romantic if we were 100%; reggae and samba music drifts through the air every night and there are lots of lit...

Ola, Last blog from Rio. We're flying to Salavdor tonight for a cheaper and apparently warmer atmosphere. It's been 40 degrees here by the way. Absolutely unforgettable day yesterday at the Maracana...just look at the photos...enough said. We both got really into the game as 122,000 fans packed into the stadium to see Flamengo beat Botafogo 4-2 on penalties. The enthusiasm of the Flamengo fans was infectious - the noise and the colour was truly incredible - a...