Hi Blog Fans!! This was our view of Lopes Mendes at around 1pm on Sunday 13th Sept!! Not bad eh!? Anyway, lots has happened since our last entry, where to begin!?

Well first youll be glad to know the flip flop hunt went well, we´re both in possession of shiny new pairs and are wearing them well!! Their first stroll was across the Copacabana beach to Ipanema beach, BEAUTIFUL!!! then we headed towards our final night in Rio, where Jen got chatting to one Englishman, two finnish guys, and three local brazilians who took us to one of Rio´s finest clubs ´Rio Scenarium´, three floors of madness, like a stately home with chandaliers and portraits on the walls!! Brilliant, word of warning though, two double shots of the local spirit cachaca is the limit, that stuff is toxic! Jen made a new friend, brazilian girl, but neither could speak the same language, leading to many frustrating hand signals, they just wanted to gossip so badly!

So ahead of our first bus trip at 8am the next day, we get to bed at 3am!!

With pounding heads, heavy hearts and some interesting tan lines on brad we leave Rio, great place!!

To Ihla Grande, and the cool boat trip across the bay, to an island where motor vehicles are banned and dogs outnumber the humans! Hostel on the beach overlooking the sea, after a defumigation of the Che Largarto room of mozzies, hundreds of ´em, we headed to Tropicana restaraunt for delicious garlic prawns, T Bone steak!! way to get rid of a hangover!

Day two on one of the most romantic islands in the world was brought in by ignoring the offer of scenic boat trips around the island to amazing beaches and taking up the challenge of a 20km hike, and i mean HIKE, through the forest, and when i say forest, i mean JUNGLE!!! to give a picture of the place, its beach, and then straight up hundreds of metres into jungle, amazing scenery! so we trek and trek for two hours to get to Lopes Mendes beach, by the way, in the top ten beaches......in the world!! a can of coke never tasted so good after the mammoth trek in 32 degree heat! it was even harder on the way back! so steeeeeeep and also saw a green snake on the way back, s*** our pants and ran home!!!!

Ihla Grande is a great chill out island and great place to visit, but to Paraty we headed via ferry, tropical downpour and sweaty bus trip! our hostel in Paraty is paradise, hot showers, very very nice room, washing done on demand, and we´re the only guests! Upon arrival Emerson, our host, gave us a great geography lesson on Brazil whilst his cute dogs played around our feet, this is another cool place!!

Tomorrow we are in Paraty, and then our first long bus journey to Florianapolis via Sao Paulo on Wednesday, ahem, 18 hours!!!!

More messages please, and we may be in Brazil, but we still know that a certain team are propping up the premiership!!

Till next time.......xxxxxxxxxxxxxx