Well I have finally made it down to Sao Paulo which I am sad to announce is my final destination before flying home, tomorrow. I still can not believe how quickly the last 8 months have gone, but before I start to reminisce on what an incredible time I have had, I can safely say for the last time, that here is an account of my last few days.

On Friday, I decided to check out the centre of Rio and attempt a walking tour through the historical districts, well my 1 hour walking tour took about 3 as it seemed to take me forever to find the start of the trail and I kept loosing my spot on the map, until I eventually gave up. I opted instead to visit the pretty hill-top district of Santa Teresa. Now this was an experience as I arrived at the foot of the hill and the ticket office for the tram and I see what appears to be a queue of people lining up for tickets and a lot of people sitting on a wall, doing what who knows! So anyway I am English so I join the queue that is until this Kenny George look-alike (at least I think its Kenny George, you know that folk singer in the 70's that looks a bit like Santa), anyway this guy whistles at me like I am some kind of dog and points in the vague direction of the exit. Confused I walk over to what I think he is pointing at and stumble across a toilet, even more confused and convinced I am being had again I rejoin the queue... 2 seconds later Kenny is at is again and then convinced I am another stupid tourist he tries to spell out that the people sitting on the wall are part of the queue..doh! I rather sheepishly walk to the end of a very long line and take a seat. So by the time the tram actually comes and all the people in line have gone through, bought their tickets and taken their seats I am left with a standing position, trying desperately to wedge my new flip flop onto a ledge that can't be more than 5 centimetres wide and clinging on for dear life as the cable car swung into motion, I tried desperately to avoid any oncoming obstacles such as bushes and even lamp posts... what makes matters worse is that as I am desperately clinging on and trying to get my head as far in as possible, guess who occupied the seat right by me... yep Kenny himself, I guess you could call that some kind of twisted irony but I swear the idiot was actually laughing at me.

Anyway, (god I am rambling all ready) I eventually arrive up in Santa Teresa, luckily unscaved and proceeded to just walk around enjoying the views of the city below and all the beautiful houses of the area. Later that afternoon, as the sun was once again out I decided to flop back to my usual position on Copacabana Beach, well why not it might be the only sun I get if the weather back home is anything to go by.

On Saturday as it was once again a glorious day, (by the way I am not trying to rub it in or anything, just stating the facts), I had a choice.. do I go for A) Botanical Gardens... hardly think so! B) A National Park, boasting fine walking trails... tempting but could I really be arsed? or C) Back to the beach, it was not a difficult decision on my final day of Rio, it was only inevitable that C would favour strongly. However instead of going back to Copacabana again, I opted instead for Ipanema Beach, apparently just as stunning but for some reason not as famous..god knows why as it turned out to be a far nicer beach, who knows maybe it is the song that makes Copacabana so famous. Anyway, being a weekend it meant that the beach was pretty packed and it made it hard to spot all the beautiful people that I had become accustomed to, the main reason of course is that with all busy and touristy beaches in the world you get to come face to face with those typical stereotypes... oh yes, I was once again reunited with hundreds and hundreds of budgie smugglers with those over-hanging bellies and the plump women with their skimpy bikinis, they were everywhere you looked and it was enough to make me feel nauscious again...... seriously put it away love, its not big nor is it clever it is just damn right sick. Still it all made for great people watching!!!!

Yesterday I decided to leave Rio after 5 days, which I think was enough as I was beginning to get a little bored and made my way south to Sao Paulo. To get here was actually pretty straight forward after getting a bus to the bus station I boarded a coach within 5 minutes of arriving at the ticket booth. My jaw did however drop to the floor when I found out the price, $33 for a 6 hour journey you have got tot be kidding. Anyway the bus was pretty comfortable, despite having to have a 5ft woman in front of me who insisted on putting her seat back to the extent that it was practically on my lap and another nosy Brazilian to my left who tried and tried to practice English with me, despite me obviously being engrossed in my latest book. Oh well, it was my final journey and I was quite sad to arrive, god knows why I have spent enough time on the road that I should be sick of traveling by now. Anyway I managed to get into the centre with ease and found my hostel where I proceeded to just flop for the rest of the evening.

Today, I got up early as it was my final day, I was keen to see all the sights of Sao Paulo and just enjoy myself. But guess what...its bloody raining again, so much so that I am taking umbrage in this fine internet cafe here writing this journal which I planned to write tonight. Oh well!

Well, that is it... 8 months on the road and it has been one heck of a ride, I have seen, experienced and learnt so much that I would not know where to begin in summing it all up.

I have climbed the steps of Angkor Wat, drank moonshine with local hill tribes in Laos, trained as an elephants mahout and dived the gulf of Thailand and the Great Barrier Reef. I have tried my hand at kayaking, trekking, surfing, paragliding, rafting, skydiving, horse ridding, swimming with dolphins and even cycling down the 'worlds most dangerous road'. I have met so many people and seen so many places that it all begs the question, have I changed? Well.... I will let you be the judge of that.

See you soon,
Jon

P.S - to all my international friends, please do stay in touch and to everyone else, mine's a pint! HAHA