A hellish journey, with large and heavy backpacks front and back, using public transport during rush hour in the 3rd largest city in the world, wasn´t a great start to our stay in Sao Paulo. Sweating profusely and swearing heavily we heaved our way into tubes and buses and were possibly the most hated people in the city!

Our initial frustration of the city didn't last long. Fortunately we were staying with our friend, Thiago, who we met in Panama. The beauty of staying with a local is that they show you the best bits of the city. Being a tourist means you normally visit the recommended hotspots, however we feel like we experienced the real Sao Paulo - a thriving city with a great underground scene of music, art and fashion. The asthetics of the city aren't that appealing - decrepid concrete skyscrapers, polluted streets & rivers and a huge homeless problem - but the people are warm and friendly and the choice and quality of the food is amazing.

With Thiago and his friends, we ventured to a few live Samba nights where we literally hopped around the dancefloor, rather self-consciously, trying to blend in and look like we knew what we were doing...obviously we attracted a lot of attention as the Samba rhythm isn't in our blood!

Aside from visiting Sao Paulo´s various nightspots and restaurants we ventured to the outskirts of the city for white-water rafting, culminating in a massive class 4 rapid which flipped around half of the 20 boats that attempted it, of course ours managed to stay afloat! We also took in our first glipse of South American football, 35,000 fans (34,800 of which are Corinchas) turn up for the under-20 championship final between Corinthians & Atletico Paranaense, a pretty average game until the ref starts flashing the red card around, the game ends 2-1 to Corinthians, a popular result amongst the locals, providing a lively atmosphere!

After 6 days of city living we tore ourselves away from the comfort of Thiago's flat and took a nightbus to Foz do Iguazu. We witnessed the mighty falls from both the Brazil and the Argentinian side. It´s hard to describe in words or in pictures just how immense the falls are. The size, the power and the scenery are breathtaking. They are by far the best natural sight we've both seen.