Hello everyone!

Hope everything is ok with you all back home. Thought it was about time for another update and since we are stuck in a bus station in Paraty (Brazil) for 4 hours now seemed like a good opportunity to do it!

I think last time Adam updated we were in Santa Cruz (yet again stuck because of Bolivian strikes). After there we had a ridiculously long journey to the Brazilian border (Corumba) on an incredibly old and not very comfortable train. We made it in one piece though and even decided to travel another 7 hours that day to Campo Grande. We must be mad.....27 hours of travelling in one go! When we got there the weather was amazing so I got chance to do a bit of sun bathing for the first time since we got here. After staying there one night we quickly moved onto Sao Paulo which we were expecting to be just a horrible bit city but we actually really liked it. We stayed in a really nice area called Vila Madelina and managed to find our way around the subway system, although Adam was pretty embarrassed by my rubbish attempt to speak a mixture of Portuguese and Spanish. We spent two days wandering around Sao Paulo and seeing all the touristy sights. Went to the stock exchange which was cool (I sound like such a geek!). We also went to Liberdade which is the Japanese district where they had an amazing market. We had lunch there which consisted of these really nice tempura prawn things and a massive amount of noodles. There was no way I was going to finish mine and there was a homeless guy sitting on the street so I asked him if he wanted them. He took them off me anyway and got up and started talking to me in Portuguese. I thought he was saying thank you but he was actually not bothered about the noodles at all. He spilled them all down himself and followed us down the street trying to get money off me. He obviously thought I was a soft touch!

After Sao Paulo was Rio which I had been looking forward to for ages and I wasn't disappointed. It was without a doubt my favourite place so far and Adam had to practically force me to leave! We stayed in a really nice hostel in Ipanema and met some really nice people a few of whom are doing pretty much the same trip as us so hopefully we will see them along the way. One guy, Stuart and his girlfriend are from Aberdeen. It is such a small world, he used to work at Tiger Tiger there and knows some people I do. We had a couple of beach days in Rio, although I only braved going in the sea once because the waves were so big I immediately got thrown to the shore and hurt my knee :( We also did all the touristy things here like going up Sugar Loaf mountain and Christ the Redeemer as well as a trip to the Favellas which won´t be forgotten for a while! We all had to jump onto the back of motorbikes at the bottom of this massive hill to reach the top. I was a bit nervous so it was typical that I ended up with the craziest driver. Mind you I think my screaming probably encouraged him to go faster dodging through buses and barrels rolling down the road. I was shaking when I reached the top and I think Adam was annoyed that his driver was going slowly! Our guide was telling us about how the favellas are run by drug lords and massive gangs which was really interesting. We saw some of the gang members standing with guns protecting the place which was a bit scarey. We also went into an artists house where he showed us all his paintings. Some of them were really good and I would have loved to have bought one but they were not cheap. That night we decided to go for a night out with Abby, Rowan and some other people we met in our hostel. It was really good fun, we went to a club called house and had a few caprinihas before going for Pizza with some new Brazillian friends we made. All the locals are so nice over here. On the Friday we also went to a street party in Lapa. It was typical that after a week of sunshine it rained! Everything worked out ok though because we all ended up going to Rio Scenario (a famous club) before heading out into the street later on, although it was still raining and we got drenched. Oh, yes and one more thing we did in Rio (sorry this is all getting a bit mixed up now) we went Hang Gliding! We both absolutely loved it although I did have a moment of panick before we ran off the edge of this platform into thin air. It isnt exactly a natural instinct! While everyone else landed gracefully I landed flat on my face, oops. The views were amazing though.

After waving goodbye to Rio (sob sob) we headed to a paradise Island called Ilha Grande (literally big island) where we met up with Stuart and Katie again along with another few guys from our Rio hostel. We all went to the most amazing beach I have ever seen called Lopes Mendes for the day and also went snorkelling with the fish in a blue lagoon. Adam has taken up body boarding and is convinced he is going to be a pro surfer by the time we leave Oz! We have now arrived the Paraty and after checking our bank balances yesterday have realised we need to get out of Brazil. Although we have had an amazing time here it is really expensive. So, we have a 22 hour bus journey ahead of us to Iguaçu falls tonight which should be fun. Argentina is on the cards next though which should hopefully be a bit cheaper and everyone we have spoken to has said Buenos Aires is really good so we are looking forward to that.

I think that is us just about up to date for now though. Going to attempt to upload all our photos now so you can all have a look. I also have a video of us hang gliding so might try and put that up too although my technical skills aren't that great.

Missing you all,

Lauren and Adam

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