After a night in Sao Paulo, we caught an early bus to the City of Curibita. Journey took 6.5 hours. Bus was okay, but roads dreadful. Once again, great scenery though. Curibita is a pleasant enough place. Modern and not as densely populated as Rio or Sao Paulo with a lot less poverty. Still evidence of it around though. The City has a strong Western feel to it, aided by kids in Guns n Roses t-shirts, a few punk rockers, and plenty of goths and skate kid...

Left Rio taking a 4 hour public bus journey direct to Sao Paulo. Forget National Express, these buses are the business. Thing first class on a plane without the trolley dollies. Beautiful countryside and pretty good roads made for a reasonable journey. Arrived in the sprawling mass that is Sao Paulo late afternoon, with a taxi to the hotel. If a drivers aggression increases with the size of an urban area, as the third largest metrolpolis in the world, this i...

Rio is a truly amazing city, and despite it being the end of their winter, the place is hot hot hot! It is also cheap cheap cheap, so no money worries here. Should have pushed the boat out a bit on the hotel. Came down one of the main boulevards out of the city centre the night we arrived and just as we got into the depths of Rios answer to the Bronx, the cab turned off down the street our hotel was on. Inside it had a feel to it of one of those places you s...

Five minutes to spare, so a quick update. We are still alive, have only been ripped off once (overcharged by 20 pence for a cup of coffee in the tourist hell that is La Boca) and have felt no less safe than we would have in Manchester. BA is a bit short on blockbusting tourist attractions, but a whole load of smaller things to see and do. Have just about managed to cram it all into four days and still had enough time to chill out. There is clear ev...