Well we finally dragged ourselves away from Rio after getting a little too comfortable on copacabana beach sipping caprioskas! On our last night we met up with Vinny & Matteus and went to Casa De Matriz, the Rio equivalent to 42s, haha. The next day we stopped off at Sau Paulo and some of the others went to see The Hives play in concert. I however was bed-ridden all day with a tummy upset and I don´know whether it was being ill, leaving Rio, or us 5 being alone for the first time but I started to feel homesick for the first time, boo! Had a little chat with the parentals that night though and soon felt fine. Well we THOUGHT we were alone again...but sat on Sau Paulo bus station floor half asleep that night waiting for our nightbus guess who comes strolling past...Rich (my travel buddy!) who we´d left in Rio! He was booked on to the same bus as us too!

We spent the next few days chilling in Florianopolis. It was beautiful here but a lot colder and you could tell it was a real summertime resort and unless you like surfing there´s not a great deal to do- this suited us fine as we were all shattered. We went a long walk along the beach on the first day and found a water turtle rescue centre which we looked around. Every night (this is the best part) ´the chocolate man´would come round with freshly baked truffles which were not part of our detox but way too irresistable to turn down! A few marathon sleeps, several films and a rainstorm later, we decided to move on to Montevideo.

There was not direct but to Montevideo so we had to stop off for a few hours at Porto Alegre. Unfortunately this mammoth travelling session (over 20 hours) coincided with Sul´s (now nicknamed Granny Ginge, haha) birthday. In light of our obsession, we secretly ordered 23 truffles from the chocolate man to present to Granny Ginge on her bday. Unfortunately Granny Ginge has a tendency to go in a strop on her birthday, and wasn´t happy from the moment she woke up! So much so that she didn´t even attend her birthday meal in Porto Alegre!! She soon cheered up though when the 4 of us walked back into the bus station armed with the truffles, balloons, each holding a candle (we couldn´t find candle holders) like some form of religious procession!

We got to Montevideo this morning, and liked it a lot more than we thought. Colder still and almost reminds me of Santiago! We found a nice little cafe on the sea front and ordered hot chocholte which arrived on silver trays with cream and a chocolate, mmm. I´m now glad I didn´t ditch all my jumpers and woolies! We found a cool bar for a drink later on but as we have to be up early our visit was slightly premature and we were the only one´s in there! Is it sad that as we´re getting in other people in the hostel are only just going out?! At least we´ll be in Buenos Aires tomorrow night where we´re going out properly for Sully´s birthday!

Best go and get tucked up in bed, we need to be at the bus station at 7am tomorrow ready to catch a bus to Colonia then a ferry to Buenos Aires!! Plus Nic´s just walked past and announced she´s locked herself out of her locker and there appears to be a small commotion around our dorm...

BRING ON BA, WOOOOOOO!!!!