Sorry that I have skipped on to Brazil but hopefully my laptop will be fixed soon and I can hopefully save my Bolivia blog from my laptop!.... Anyway here is a bit about Brazil!

Had a wonderful few weeks in Brazil, it is a great country with lots to see and had a very different feel to Bolivia and Peru.

We flew from Sucre to Santa Cruz in Bolivia and said goodbye to our wonderful Bolivian tour guide Sole. We met up with our tour guide for Brazil - Fernanda - at the airport and spent the afternoon and next day exploring Santa Cruz and preparing for a night train to Brazil!

We spent about 14 hours on the train, travelling across the Bolivian lowlands until we reached the border of Bolivia and Brazil - we then experienced a very frustrating 3 hours of standing in the sun at the border crossing, waiting to have our passports stamped. We were all pretty tired and cranky after not much sleep in our seats on the train, so it was great when the waiting was over and we were finally in Brazil! We arrived in Puerto Quijarro (the border town) and drove to the Brazilian Pantanal wetlands (about an hour and a half from the border). It was sooooo hot in Brazil, we were melting! It was quite hard getting used to the heat as we had been at altitude in Bolivia and Peru, so the temperatures had been lovely!

On our way to the Pantanal wetlands we were met by an open sided truck that took us far in to the wetlands along bumpy tracks and away from civilization! We arrived at a ranch in the middle of no where and were shown our dorms for the next few nights - we were all in the same room in hammocks! I'd never slept in a hammock before and was intrigued as to whether it would be a comfortable nights sleep! We went for a wander around the ranch and were taken on a walk to a swamp to see hundreds of caiman (little crocodile things!). There were so many of them, they were all just lying next to the swamp. Our guide told us that the rainy season was late and that if the rain didn't come soon then all the water would dry up and all the caiman and fish would die, the caiman were literally starving. It was really sad to see, they were just lying there, not moving and not at all fazed by us approaching them. I hope the rain has arrived.

Unfortunately the swamp was infested with mosquitoes so I got completely covered in bites and spent the next week with very annoying itchy legs and arms and back...urgh.

The next day we got up early and went piranha fishing! We had bamboo rods with fishing wire and a hook. We all gave it a good try, but the only problem was that the swamp was full of very hungry caiman who had eaten most of the piranha and they were very interested in the raw chicken we had attached to our hooks. So it was more caiman fishing than piranha fishing and a few people ended up with caiman attached to their rods! After a while we decided that we were just teasing the caiman and we retired to the ranch for a bit of a rest from the midday heat, before we went on a 2 hour horse ride across the wetlands.

The horse ride was really fun and I felt a bit like a cowboy riding through the wetlands - they have a different style of riding, only using 1 hand to hold on to the reins. We saw howler monkeys in the trees and lots of amazing birds (macaws, parrots and toucans!) and capybara (the largest rodent in the world - the locals called it a water pig). Anyone who knows me well knows that I'm usually the one making a fool out of myself somehow...and my horse decided that after a while it wanted to walk right at the back of the line of horses, far away from everyone else and there was nothing I could do to speed him up! I had to be rescued by one of the leaders who made my horse canter, much to my surprise! I had no idea what to do and let's just say it was very painful being bumped around on the horse! Oh dear! The next day my legs were pretty sore!

That evening when we were just about to get in to our hammocks when Tracy spotted a giant spider next to her hammock (it looked like a tarantula!). We decided we should wake up Fernanda and ask her what to do! She went to get our local guide who caught the spider in a big litre water bottle which we'd cut the top off! We were told it was a very deadly spider and that if we'd got bitten we could die within 2 hours!! Urghh! Thank goodness Tracy spotted it! Needless to say that night I covered myself completely in my mosquito net and had lovely dreams....

So...we were quite relieved to be leaving the Pantanal, it was a wonderful place to spot wildlife but we'd seen quite enough wildlife to keep us going for a while! And hammocks aren't too comfy to sleep in for 2 nights...it's pretty hard to turn over in a hammock and you wake up feeling like a banana!

We travelled through the Brazilian wild west state of Mato Grosso do Sul to the small touristy town of Bonito for 2 nights. There isn't much to do in Bonito, it is basically a town made for tourists on their way to the Pantanal or Bolivia. The main thing going for the town is that it is surrounded by crystal clear rivers, so we went on a snorkeling trip in the freshwater river. It was really fun to see the different fish and float down the river in the middle of a rainforest. We spent the afternoon lounging next to a lake full of HUGE black fish and me, Alistair and John went for a swim across the lake, dodging all the fish!

That night we went for a talk about snakes with a guy who keeps snakes! He told us about why people are frightened of snakes and why we shouldn't be scared and also how to deal with snakes if we see them in the wild! After the talk we all had the chance to hold a boa constrictor - I'd never held a snake before and I was pretty nervous/excited about it! The man made the snake 'kiss' me - basically he held the snake really close to my face and its tongue tickled my nose!

The next day it was raining so we had a lazy morning while we decided what to do. We ended up going to a place where they did tubing down a river and then a high ropes course! The tubing was really fun - the current of the river was pretty slow but we had to navigate 3 waterfalls! I came off the tube on 2 of the waterfalls and luckily my guide was there to pull me out - I was just struggling to climb back on the tube when Ben came flying down the waterfall and knocked me off again and I went floating away! Thanks Ben! Apart from the drama it was really fun!

We then did a high ropes course with lots of obstacles, we started 3 metres off the ground and ended up about 15 metres up in the air! There were 2 zipwires on the course which were really fun. For the last zipwire we were told to take our shoes off and jump off backwards...we ended up in a river, up to our necks in water! It was quite a surprise but really good fun.

That night we took a night bus to Iguassu. We left Bonito at about 7pm and arrived in Iguassu at about 8.30am the next day. The hotel we were staying in was pretty posh and we got there just in time to have breakfast - which was amazing! Have I mentioned that it is traditional for Brazilian's to have cake for breakfast?! YESS! So there were about 10 different types of cake, lots of yummy fresh fruits, hot food, cereal and fresh fruit juice. Obviously I was most interested in the cake so decided I should try as many as possible (I had a big plate of fruit to counteract the cake obviously!). Anyway...so after a quick breakfast and putting our bags in the store room we were back in a mini bus to drive to the Brazilian side of Iguassu Falls!

Iguassu Falls are absolutely incredible - so huge! I was amazed by how much water there was and by how tall and wide the falls were - it was mesmerizing!

We walked along a path to view the falls from various viewpoints and take loads of photos obviously! (A tarantula walked past my feet as I was having a photo taken! Urgh!) It was fun to look over at the falls and think that we were looking at Argentina! We went on a walkway close to the foot of one part of the waterfall and got drenched by spray! It was a really fun day and I was excited to visit the Argentinian side of the falls the next day.

That evening we went to a 'show' of different cultural dances and songs from all over South America...it was pretty tacky and cheesy...but the costumes were cool! My favourite bits were the Mexican mariachi band, the Argentinian tango and the man spinning string with balls on the end, and the Brazilian capoeira and samba dancing (lots of bottom on show!). There was also a yummy buffet but there were soooo many people there that we had to basically fight to get to the food! It was horrible! I just headed to the pudding table (after eating lots of yummy meat!) to avoid the crowds!

The next day we headed to Argentina to see the Argentinian side of the Iguassu Falls. It was so incredible to be standing on top of the falls, looking down at the powerful waterfalls - I couldn't get over the power of the water. We were so high up - it was awesome. After walking around and getting soaked by the powerful waterfall we went on a jet boat trip to the foot of the falls to have a cold Iguassu shower! I'd never been on a speed boat before so I really enjoyed it! We went really close to the falls on the boat and got even more soaked! It was great!

After Iguassu we headed to Paraty - a Portugese colonial town with a lovely old quarter. It was fun to wander around the cobbled streets and admire all the old buildings with lovely colourful brickwork.

We went on an all day boat tour from Paraty, which involved sailing around beautiful islands and jumping off into the sea for a swim by each island - I say 'swim' but it was more like floating around on foam tubes (can't remember the proper name?!)...then we got back on board and sailed around drinking caipirinha - a brazilian alcoholic drink - pretty tasty. It was a fun day - so nice to just float around in the warm sea.

We also went on a day trip to see lots of waterfalls and swim in the pools at the bottom of the waterfalls - which was very fun. At one of the huge waterfalls we could slide down the rock, in to the pool - it was really fast and fun! We also climbed under a waterfall to see a little cave that had formed under the water - pretty awesome to disappear under the waterfall and re-appear by sliding down the rocks from underneath the water!

I really liked Paraty, it was a lovely town, pretty touristy but it had a laid back feel to it.

Next stop was Ilha Grande - a gorgeous island about an hour off the coast. We spent a great 2 days on the island - sun bathing on a black beach and taking a boat to Lopes Mendes Beach - voted one of the top 10 most beautiful in the world by Vogue Magazine 3 years ago. Four of us spent a lovely day on the beach relaxing and swimming in the crystal clear water - it was like a paradise island. The water was shallow a long way out which made it perfect for floating around in. I couldn't get over how clear the water was - I could see my feet! The sand was also so fine that it squeaked! I loved it - a wonderful day of relaxing - after a very busy 2 months of rushing around South America!

The next day we headed to Rio! I had been really excited about visiting Rio - ever since learning about it in Geography at school - there were a lot of famous sights I wanted to see.

Some of our friends from the tour were leaving the day after we arrived in Rio so we decided to make the most of our last full day together and we all did a tour of Rio. It was a really awesome tour taking in lots of incredible sights. We started at the Christ the Redeemer statue - it was so exciting to be at this world famous place - I couldn't believe I was actually there! We could see all of Rio from the top of the mountain - amazing views. After visiting the statue we drove to the Lapa steps - 250 steps measuring 125 metres long which are covered in over 2000 tiles collected from over 60 countries around the world by Chilean-born artist Jorge Selarón - the steps are called Escadaria Selaron and have been featured in numerous videos, including 'Beautiful' by Snoop Dogg!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nMkHt37iCc

The steps were really awesome - it fun searching for tiles from different countries - they are so colourful - a wonderful creation. We learnt that the artist was killed on the steps in January this year - so sad.

After visiting the steps we had a quick look around the area of Santa Teresa - a lovely area on top of a mountain above Rio, with a villagey feel. We then went to visit the Cathedral of Rio - a bizarre building that looks more like a pyramid from space...but the colourful windows inside are beautiful. The last stop on our tour was Sugar Loaf Mountain - which we reached by cable car. The views over Rio, as the sun was setting, were amazing - truly breath-taking. We could see the statue of Christ peeping out from between some clouds that were glowing from the sun behind the clouds - it was magical. We looked down at the famous Copacabana beach as the lights of the city were illuminated. It was a wonderful way to end the last day of our official tour of South America.

It was awesome to look down at the sea and think that we had travelled from the Pacific Ocean all the way across a continent to the Atlantic Ocean - from Peru on the West coast of South America to Rio on the East coast - an incredible journey across a continent. What an achievement!

That evening we had our last meal together as a group of 9 and arranged to meet up the next morning to go on a tour of a favela.

We went to visit the favela of Rocinha - the largest favela in South America - Rocinha is built on a steep hillside overlooking Rio, and is located about one km from a nearby beach. It is estimated that between 70 to 75,000 people live there (69,356 in the census of 2010). We were shown around an art gallery of artists who live in the favelas and taken to the top of the building to look at the incredible view of the sprawling hillside neighbourhood. Most of the houses in Rocinha are built from concrete and brick and most of them have basic sanitation, plumbing and electricity. Some of the buildings are 3 or 4 storeys high. The favela is like a village - with everything the residents could need - it has shops, markets and bakeries - we were taken to a bakery and got to try amazing dulche de leche doughnuts (like caramel filled doughnuts!)! Yum! It was a really interesting tour and everyone we met were really friendly. The tour guide told us at times not to take any photos as there are still problems with drug gangs and crime in the favela and they don't like journalists! The favela has been 'pacified' - which means that the police and military have come in to try and clear up the drug gangs to make it safer for people to live there.

The next day most of our group left Rio and me and Ben moved to a new hostel in the up and coming neighbourhood of Leblon (the neighbourhood had lots of posh shops!) which was 1 block from the beach. We spent the next 4 days lazing on the beach, swimming in the sea at Leblon beach (to escape the 34 degree heat!), exploring markets, churches, Santa Teresa and generally having a great time! I really liked Rio and am intrigued to see how it prepares for the Football World Cup and the 2016 Olympics - there is a lot to be done but Rio has a lot going for it and is a really interesting city. I loved walking along the coastal path between Leblon, Ipanema and Copacabana and watching beautiful people playing volleyball - I felt very out of place on the beach - I was wearing far too many clothes (a tankini -which is swim shorts with a swim vest top thing!) - most girls were wearing tiny triangles of material with string attaching them for a top and thong bikini bottoms! Woah...lots of flesh on show! I was getting very odd looks for wearing way too much fabric! Ha!

Anyway...really enjoyed Rio and Brazil in general - great country. A very colourful, hot country - the people were very different to the people we had met in Peru and Bolivia - they were a lot more confident and loved showing off!

I really enjoyed the 45 day tour of South America - it was exhausting at times but we saw so many incredible things and met some lovely people - made lots of great memories and took far to many photographs (I'll bore you with those another day don't worry!!)

Next stop MEXICO! x