So, last time we left you we were sat in Sao Paulo about to get a bus to Paraty. That didn´t happen. We logged off of our computers and went to find our boarding platform only to discover it didn´t exist... cue that sinking feeling.

Turns out that our bus left from a different terminal. The guy selling the ticket to us was careful to point out that it left from Sao Paulo, plus all the other details of the ticket, but failed to point out that we were actually stood in the wrong Sao Paulo - there being 4 bus stations in the city! This sent Madeleine into near orbit as we had just spent 19 hours on a bus and 2 hours waiting at the terminal, but after much arguing, in a mix of Spanish and English - both totally pointless in a Portuguese speaking country - we got our money back and headed to the correct bus station to see if we could get another ticket with another company fairly quickly.

Frustratingly, the correct station was incredibly easy to get to and took us only half hour on the underground - if we had only known we could have easily been in the right place at the right time. Even more frustratingly the only company going in our direction was the one we had had the argument with and the next bus wasn´t until 10pm - a 6 hour wait.

Once Joe had scraped Mads off of the ceiling we made a plan. We would go to Angra dos Reis - further up the coast, but the bus arrived at a human hour and we would be closer to Rio.

So another ´final´night bus later and we were there - surrounded by tropical forest and beautiful sea and wondering how we could have been so stressed out only a few hours previously. From Angra we hopped on a boat to Isla Grande - a tiny island just off the coast where we could have our own slice of paradise for a few days.

And it really was. The island is totally covered in tropical forest, stopping only to allow a few metres of beach before dropping into the sea. There are no cars on the island, and therefore no roads, just some dirt tracks and walking routes traversing it. This means it is incredibly peaceful and the perfect place to chill out.

On our first day we took a walk around part of the island, passing a few little beaches before stumbling across the ruins of a prison that was demolished in the 1960s. It looked like it was straight out of an episode of ´Lost´ - these ruins just plonked in the middle of the forest with greenery growing all over them. Also on our route was a little natural pool perfect for swimming and several lookouts with awesome views of the beaches and mountains.

After that we did a lot of sitting and sleeping - one day in the hammock on our balcony and another on one of the many beaches. It was just what we needed after so much hurrying around and we are both feeling refreshed from it.

And today we headed to Rio - a boat ride to the mainland and a vomit-inducing bus into the City - our final stop before home. We´re both in reflective mood - looking forward to getting home and seeing people, getting some different clothes on and eating some of our favourite foods, but at the same time sad that our trip is coming to an end and we have to head back to reality.

Anyway, 4 days in Rio to enjoy before all that...