It's been rather a long day, or so it seems. I will explain later, or some of you have already seen my Facebook status.

So after Porto Alegre we headed north once again towards Rio de Janeiro stopping along the way at the rather lovelier city of Florianopolis and the near Sao Paolo before finally arriving at the infamous city of Rio.

Not a lot happened along the way apart from the usual fights with Internet access or lack of.

Now I thought Rio would have a real vibe to it, and maybe to experience this you need to arrive on a slightly different mode of transport. Battling to stifling heat of an airless, congested city on a motorbike is to be expected but I in-between keeping an eye on the weaving buses and cars I desperately tried to see the famous statue of Christ the Redeemer.

The photos are obviously taken from the rather cool advantage point of a bloody helicopter which gives the traveller the distorted impression it's fecking massive........

It's not!!!

Well that is until you actually get up close to it......in which case it's big, crowded with tourists and nearly impossible to get a picture of you and the statue in the same shot.

Anyway, after sweating cobs in the city heat, battled traffic we finally arrived at the hotel and sought the sanctuary of air conditioning. There are some occasions when this is a gift. And there are other times during the night when the fan keeps you awake freezing your little 'bits' off .......

So we had arrived, the hotel was good. Good location, plenty of bars and restaurants around etc. But first we had to find a laundry......preferably before the clothes got up and walked out or the hotel staff evicted us.

Next day the decision was made to take a tour of the main sites. Cost a little bit, but everything in Rio was expensive. So a whistle stop tour it was.......and apparently on the one day in ages they had experienced good weather.

And it was hot......damned hot! The street signs were showing 45C, but we figured they were b*****ed, it was more like 35C.

Then right on top of sugar- loaf mountain, after 2 cable care rides, the heavens opened and a huge thunderstorm hit us!

Thanks!!

But it soon passed.......and back to being bloody hot ! Again !!

Now during this tour we stopped off briefly to see the area where the famous Carnaval parade takes place, I got out of the mini bus and promptly dropped my camera.....to put it bluntly it's f***ed !!!

Ah well s*** happens.......!!!

So we finally arrived back at the hotel to find our little laundry shop had closed for the evening. On the plus side we had received an invitation from 2 ex- pat bikers to stay with them an extra night. Fantastic......

So on our second day in Rio we chilled out on Copacabana beach before heading off to their apartment!

Guess what?

The bloody bike wouldn't start..........

The battery was pretty much knackered !!

After 30 minutes of struggling with the centre panel in very poor light and Drew almost electrocuting himself, we got it started.

30 minutes of extreme sweating later we arrived at Maria and Alistairs apartment. We received nothing but amazing hospitality, with a lovely chilled evening on copacobana beach, music playing, everyone dancing, caipirinhas flowing, good food and conversation - it's what Rio and travel is all about !

Bike still didn't bloody start the next morning!

Well it did but I couldn't leave it running so I turned him off - pretty much like most men in my life !!

Now Maria had similar problems with one of her motorbikes and I figured by the sounds of it a new one was in order......

We had to head back towards Sao Paolo to hook up with the road leading out to Iguacu falls and I knew there were at least 2 BMW dealers in that city.

In the meantime we said goodbye to our gracious hosts and set off.....after we'd got the jump leads out and started the bike of course.

The going was slow and somber, both of us thinking twice about what we'd let ourselves in for. But by the time it had come to about 4pm we decided to call it a day - about 1 hour short of Sao Paolo.

The satnav showed an Ibis hotel a few miles away, so we headed there. We knew the Ibis chain, used them a couple of times before, good price and most important safe parking for the bikes.

Just as we turned off the main road a big Honda dealer was right in front......they were our first port of call this morning!!

Kadu motores were very helpful, they checked and charged the battery for no cost. But in their opinion it was onits way out......completely! Maybe not today, but very soon! So they phoned the 2 BMW dealers in Sao Paolo and enquirer if they had the battery in stock!!

YES !!

Fan bloody tastic..........

So we flew down here to BMW motorrad Officer.......

Wrong battery!!

The Honda dealer had quoted my model as a G650GS NOT an F650GS........

s***!!

The batteries are different!!

But don't worry the other dealer that originally said they didn't have a battery does have one!

During all of this another biker roles up on a G650GS.

His name was Fernanado and he was absolutely amazing and to top it all he actually spoke good English.

The satnav didn't like the address of the other dealer, so Fernando offered to escort Drew to this dealer, pick up the battery and escort him back.........whilst I waited in the rain and helped the cleaning lady with the rubbish - well, it was the least I could do!!

Drew finally arrived back with the battery, after an hour and a half battling through traffic, which even got him holding his breath a few times - Fernandos be with panniers was a lot narrower - but don't worry no wing mirrors were harmed in the making of this blog!!

So now my motorbike is safely at the original BMW dealer, tucked up for the night, being charged and I'm knackered in the hotel bar with, of course, a glass of vino tinto, trying not to fall asleep.

Tomorrow, as they say, is another day, and hopefully my little Henri, will have a new lease of life........

Next problem........

The fecking satnav!!

Bloody things!! Whatever happened to maps?? Do they make them anymore ??

So for now goodnight! Sweet dreams when you dream!

Tomorrow is the road to Iguacu Falls