Flying across Brazil and finding ourselves in a tin shed airport, we caught the two buses to our hostel and were very pleasantly surprised to find a spotless room and a swimming pool. Given the time and the fact that the Iguacu falls park was already closed, we caught up with the other travellers in the mass exodus from Rio following the end of the carnaval and swapped many a happy story of people who had been kidnapped, threatened and robbed during the celebrati...

Our entry into Brazil was not ideal: despite fears of future muggings and shootings in Rio we had problems before we had even got there when we realized someone had taken some money from our folders when we had left them in a hotel safe. So much for it being safe! (NB: we found the 'stolen money' sent home in something else when we got back to England. Oops!).So our first few minutes in Brazil were spent in the airport police office filing our report. Nice start!...