The journey back on the ferry was rough and the jolly music turned up loud to cover the sound of vomiting. We were lucky as we picked good seats between the doors with a breeze in the centre where there was only a gentle roll so we closed our eyes and pretended we were on a hammock for 2 and a half hours. We had a final day in Rio before heading home spent by the beach and by the large lake behind it, getting caught in a tremendous thunder storm just as we needed...

We slept surprisingly well on the overnight bus as the seats recline to a 'bed' at about 30 degrees. We were picked up and driven to the port for the catamaran to Tinhare island down the coast. It left 30 minutes late, took an hour longer than scheduled and was noisy and hot as it was a sunny day, but the crossing was smooth. When we finally docked there were boys waiting with wheelbarrows, with TAXI written on the side waiting to take our luggage thru the pedest...

From Salvador we took a 6 hr coach drive inland to Lencois. Although this is a main road to the capital it is a single lane road with twists and turns and bumpy and full of large slow lorries which the driver did his best to overtake approaching the top of a hill on a blind curve and if possible when on his mobile phone. The town is on the edge of a national park, the chapada diamantina where diamonds were discovered in the early 19th century and prospectors move...

We spent a couple of days exploring the historic centre of Salvador, the Pelourinho, which was the centre of the slave trade where slaves were brought from Africa and sold and possibly also punished on a steeply sloping cobbled square. The city was the capital of Brazil for 200 yrs til the bottom fell out of the sugar market in the mid 17 century when the British started to grow it in the west indies. The British also scuppered the later rubber industry when a Br...

We arrived in Salvador about 10pm sunday night after a 7 hr flight from Manaus with a touchdown in Brasilia. Unfortunately our pick up failed to materialize. As is the way with Brazilians someone stopped to help us when they saw us waiting and in the end the help desk got the local tour agent on the phone who didnt have us on the list but was very apologetic and told us to take a taxi and they would sort it out in the morning. Had this been England I suspect we w...