Arriving after eighteen hours on another bus, we noticed how the portugese language barrier was going to prove problematic following an incident on the bus where Dan and a local exchanged heated words over the height at which Dan wore his trousers (well below his bum). Clearly this is offensive to Brazilians and as the man became aggressive we wondered what he was yelling and signalling.

Taking the Metro to the centre of town to Plaza do Se, in search of the largest Ashkenazi synagogue on the continent, we were perplexed that nobody had heard of it, not even the police or the tourist office! Instead, changing our religious search, we found a large cathedral where we had been told the synagogue was located!

Thirty million inhabitants live in Sao Paulo and the largest proportion of Japanese people outside Japan live in one area that we decided to visit for an oriental lunch. Emma ectstatic at finding sushi gulped down several new varieties. Dan, desperate to find a Brazil football shirt led us to a flea market but this being unsuccessful, ended up at a local food market whose produce looked appetising although Laura stood well clear of the fish!

Despite the advice from many other travellers not to bother visiting Sao Paulo as it is mainly a business capital, we were pleased we did. The most highly recommended cuisine was the pizza, apparently the best in the world, so we put this to the test for dinner. Suffice to say, Italy wins but only because they use tomato bases as would be expected!

Finishing our short stay in Sao Paulo the next morning, Laura heard a small yelp coming from the reception toilet but thinking it was a dog ignored it until she realised it was getting louder and calling her name. Finding this a little peculiar, she made her way over to the door to find it was Emma locked inside and alerted the owner who kept repeating ¨don´t worry, we will get you out, keep calm it is awful!¨ in a dodgy Portugese / American accent. Deciding to climb out of the miniscule high window, Laura was at the ready with her camera in hysterical laughter as a head appeared and Jamie up a ladder tried to catch her and wriggle her through! Unfortunately this was not really an option and noticing her growing distress a man climbed through to remove the door handle from the inside. Such a lot of drama before 10am when we finally made it out of the hostel to the fruit and veg market outside where we had all of five minutes to look around but still managed to sample fruit from each stall!

Leaving the hustle and bustle of a city we could not wait for the picturesque isolated beaches of Paraty on the Green Coast, if only we had known the weather forecast!