So after leaving Soney´s beach house we headed down to Florianpolis for a week, we had heard so much great stuff about the place and the beaches so we were really excited. We ended up couchsurfing for the whole week, staying with two different hosts, which was great. Though we didn´t realise the island was actually so big and the guys lived in the city and the public transport was awful so it took ages to get to the beaches! But they were great once we got there. We went to P12 one night, it is the famous beach club there, it was stunning. Like a 5* beach resort/Ibiza beach club/nightclub, we arrived early when it was quiet and spent the afternoon lazing on the sun loungers and in the pool listening to the music, then the live DJs started and the crowds came and it turned into a proper club, it was so good! We explored various parts of the island during the week and visited a few of the beaches. Though it was boiling, the water was absolutely freezing, I think it got a cold front from Antartica or something, it was like Bournemouth sea! We also went to a samba club one of the nights full of locals which was fun! I got to spend a day catching up with my friend Wini who lives there, who I knew from when I lived in Melbourne so it had been over 2 years since I had seen it so that was great, and he took us to a beautiful part of the island! And to his auntys beautiful beach house where we had fresh cocktails and snacks! From Flori we took the overnight bus to Sao Paulo.

We had an awesome weekend in Sao Paulo hanging out with our friend Pepe, he had a gorgeous city centre apartment and a car, so we really got to experience the best highlights of Sao Paulo in a weekend. We looked around the city, saw a great view of the whole city from one of the tallest buildings there, saw the pretty parks and ate at one of the best Pizzerias in Sao Paulo (it´s famous for its Pizzas in Sao Paulo). Pepe was also in his University Samba band, so we got to go to their rehearsals and they even taught us how to play the samba drums, it was a really fun afternoon. What we love so much about Brazil is that the music is truly in the heart of everyone there, music is everywhere and where there is music, people just start dancing everywhere, its great! We had two really good nights out at some of the best clubs in Sao Paulo, thanks to having our personal guide. It was funny seeing everyone so dressed up, how we would be in London I guess but as backpackers with no high heels we felt really under-dressed, we also had to fight with the bouncers to let me in as I only had my black flip flops to wear haha! We were also spoilt because Pepe´s and his mum employ a wonderful maid, Bella, who has worked with them for over 20 years, she was an amazing cook and so good to us!

We flew from Sao Paulo to Salvador and whilst waiting for the bus to the city we got chatting to a guy called Kim who was from Holland. He was telling us about his amazing world travels on his 60ft boat and he was currently docked at Salvador´s port waiting for boat parts, anyway he invited us to spend the day on his boat, it was amazing, he cooked for us and we had lots of champagne and wine. We stayed at a great little hostel in Pelourino area, it had the most amazing breakfast included in the price, they cooked you fresh egg omlettes with oregano, lots of fresh fruit, bread, cheese, salad, a toasty maker, it was amazing! We went to the famous Tuesday night street party there and saw the samba bands and joined in with everyone dancing on the streets. There was live music a lot in the main square so we also saw that and watched
Capoeira (traditional Brazilian martial arts/dance) so it was a great place to soak up real Brazilian Culture.

Hayley and I spent a long weekend at the paradise island of Morro De Sao Paulo which is 2 hours away from Salvador, it was truly beautiful. We didnt pre book accomodation so managed to wangle a great deal staying at a beachfront pousada/hotel which a great breakfast and stunning views! There was a local beach party with DJs on one of the nights which was fun, and countless fresh fruit cocktail stands! We watched the sunset from the beautiful restaurant/bar called Toca up in the hills and spent lazy days on the beach and cooling off in the crystal clear waters.

The next week we headed to Lencois, which is 6 hours away from Salvador to explore Chapada Diamontina National Park. We met some other travellers and all chipped in to hire a car for two days so we could explore the area ourselves! It was amazing we visited a two caves with bright blue waters, also an amazing cave with crystal clear water where we snorkelled and were the only people there it was great, so glad we didnt book to go with a tourist group! We hiked to waterfalls and saw varied landscapes it was a great few days.

Then we flew to Rio de Janeiro!!! It was Carnival time...The first few days we stayed outside the city at our friend Soney´s auntys house but we all thought it was closer to the city but it took ages on public transport into Rio so it was really tiring everyday to travel in the heat, but luckily after a few days our friend Nino came to our rescue and we could crash with him, he lived one block from Copacabana Beach so that was amazing, and free accomodation for Carnival, we are very very lucky girls!!! Soney was amazing and treated Hayley and I to Rio Music Conference tickets to see Armin Van Buuren which was so much fun, amazing venue too!

We had an amazing time in Rio, it is a beautiful city, and the views from the famous Christ The Redeemer were really great, we had perfect weather too. The beaches were nice, but the water was absolutely freeezing!! The first few times Hayley and I came out of the water our hearts were beating so fast and we found it hard to breathe, it was that cold!! We went to the Sambadrome on the Sunday night and it was incredible...the costumes and floats were unbelievable, so much detail, so much colour. 6 of the top Samba Schools performed and each school had an hour to pass through the parade, and they had up to 10,000 people in each school, madness! It was a long night, doors opened at 5pm and the show started at 8 or 9pm and finished at 6am! We had brought colourful eye masks and big flower chain necklaces to join in with the festivities. The atmosphere was lively and our sector had a lot of locals which was nice. The rest of carnival we spent on the beaches and attending various "blocos" though we were somewhat disappointed as I think Hayley and I had huge expectations for carnival and thought it was going to be samba dancing and parades 24/7 and live music but a lot of the blocos seemed more of just a drunken street party, but we wanted more samba and dancing! Though of course we are still glad we went for the once in a lifetime experience. We visited the different areas such as Ipanema, Leblon, Santa Teresa and the famous Lapa for the crazy street parties! It was also great as I got to catch up with a few friends, Jordan from back home in Bournemouth who happened to be in Rio and also Kate, Danny and Andrew friends we had made previously on this trip. And craziest of all my friend Rares, I met in Bali and the Gili Islands, who I then saw in Ibiza as he also just did a season and then we tried to plan in Rio as he is also travelling south america but we hadnt got round to sorting a meeting place but I randomly bumped into him at a busy metro station! Crazy, small world!!

For our last weekend in Brazil we headed to Maresias, a beautiful beach town with great surf, we hadnt even heard of it, but it randomly has one of Brazil´s best nightclubs called Sirena and by luck our favourite DJs Above and Beyond were playing that weekend and one of our other Brazilian friends, Marlon had managed to get us free entry passes and they had rented an apartment for the weekend and said we could stay! So we took the overnight bus from Rio and had a lazy day before getting ready for the party! We had one of the best nights ever, the club was amazing, really cool set up, I could easily see why it was named one of Brazil´s top clubs, we started off dancing in the outdoor terrace to some really good house music. Hayley and I got invited into the VIP area (standard, lol) and we got talking to one of the DJs who was actually English, he was totally shocked when he realised we were English too and they dont get many tourists there and most people think we are Brazilian on this trip (we havent complained!!) Anyway we joined him for some drinks and then got talking to one of the artist bookers, and he gave us another wristband which gave us access to meet Above and Beyond...so there we were again, after their Ibiza boat party and meeting them backstage at Creamfields Argentina we saw them again in Brazil, they remember us by now and just couldnt believe we were in Brazil seeing them, they said we are true fans haha! We have just been lucky. We danced all night long, the music was amazing! We also met Eric, who happened to own one of the best hotels in Maresias and Hayley jokingly said can we come stay for a couple of nights...he was like ´sure, here is my card, call me tomorrow´! The next day we were all packed to leave but after a day on the gorgeous beach there, surrounded by rolling green hills, we just didnt want to leave so we tried our luck and went to the hotel before our bus was due just to see as we had nothing to loose. We saw Eric and he kindly offered us a room for a couple of nights, for free, as he knew we were backpackers and he had spare space at the hotel anyway, so to our luck we got to check into this hotel room, we couldnt believe our luck again!! Eric turned out to be a amazing guy, so inspirational, we spent a lot of time with him in between him working and learnt about his life and amazing career path which led him to Brazil. We ended up staying the whole week in Maresias and got to stay at his incredible beach house, it is the most stunning house I have ever seen, beachfront where we could watch the amazing surfers, an infinity pool facing the sea, tennis courts, home cinema (my dream!!) and just huge open plan spaces. We got totally spoilt and got to live the luxury life for a good few days, forgetting we are backpackers! There were maids at the house who made us fresh cocktails by the pool, it was a total dream, we didnt want to leave! We went for nice meals and played pool and had cinema nights with popcorn. It was the perfect break before we had to start our 4 day mission inland to Bolivia!