Today the 12 of my travel buddies and our CEO Pablo started our 39 day tour of South America, starting in Brazil, first stop leaving Rio being Ilhe Grande. We arrive in Angra having driven though lots of rain forest area, a mass of greenery, where we then board a boat that will take us across to Ilhe Grande. Whilst on the boat we passed many tree covered small islands, very pretty, the water was pretty choppy which was interesting. As we got closer to Ilhe Grande the mountains began to appear, nestling in the clouds, it had a mysterious feeling about it.

The boat ride was lovely (except for the bumpy bit) iPod in, I just sat back and watch the islands as they went by, very relaxing. It reminded me a bit of the beginning of my trip in Laos when we were on the boat, i m so pleased i booked this as the main final leg of my trip, its going to be a very special 39 days. Its at this point i just sat back and just thought of how lucky I've been to do all this (not saying i havent thought this before, far from it) you just have these little moments when you just go, ah yeah - life is very good. Although also beginng to have a small panic on the money front - think i will be living off dollar noodle pots by the time i get back to the states! ll part of it though, at least its not the small melt down i had when i arrived in Rio when i was seriouldy considering looking at flights home! What an idiot!!!!

Well, we arrive, and this place is just paradise, beautiful beaches, hills sitting in the clouds, lush greenery everywhere and lots of little boats sitting in the small harbour, our accommodation is a number of small wooden shalets in amongst this lush greenery, just stunning. I am going like this place a lot. In the evening we made our way to the Kebab restaurant had an amazing dinner, then the rain started, and it rained, it rained and rained some more - very heavy, so much so we couldn't leave the restaurant. Evetually it subsided so we went for a little walk to another bar, where we the ordered two large beers, not realising that the normal things to do is to order one and share, no wonder the barman laughed at us. Today we left at 9:30 to start our trek to Lopes Mendez, this was due to be a 3hr trek, we walked through lots of jungle, getting chomped on my mozzies as we went. Oh my god, the humidity was something else, i was a sweaty mess within 10 minutes…..nice! The walk itself wouldn't have been that bad, there were a few steep bits, but the humidity just zapped your energy and make it quite tough, either that or I am just massively unfit! We went up and down about 3 or 4 points before reaching the final beach, which was stunning. I hadn't expected to stay the whole day (god knows why, think i was still asleep when i packed) so didn't have my bikini or any beach stuff! So just sat on the beach, wanting to go in the seas, but alas not today! At about 3:30pm we hopped on a speed boat back to the hotel, and then went in search of hairbrading, this is when the rain really started, and we got absolutely soaked, so gave up searching for hairbrading and headed back to the hotel.

It was at this point disaster struck, now for those of you that have been painstakingly following these blogs from December last year will recall Fiona and Andy personally delivering my flipflop to Thailand, because i packed an odd pair. So the flip-flops that I had worn in all over last summer so they were like extensions of my feet had met their fate. Mud!!! one got stuck and the thong bit sheered off, they are going to flipflop heaven. I was gutted, so much so i haven't been able to throw out my 'around the world' flip-flops. they are currently hanging off my rucksack and will come home with me, like my knackered converse which I couldn't bare to throw out, so I sent mum home with them - we have been through a lot together this year. Luckily for me we are in the home of the flipflop so I legged it through flooded streets to the Havaiana shop and bought replacements. Thank god I thought. I them bumped into Chris, one of the Contiki crew from my US trip - see the world isn't that big after all!!!! Having recovered from my flipflop trauma we went for dinner.

We left on the boat at 9:30am to start our journey to Paraty admiring the stunning views again on the way back, we then picked up our bus to Paraty, dropped our stuff at the hostel and went for a little explore. Lots of cobbled streets and pretty little white houses with very colourful shutters, very lovely. We had a look at the small harbour and then went for lunch at the buffet where they weigh your food, this is quite common out here and a cheap way to eat. In the evening we had dinner at the hostel and enjoyed a few beers and live music and then went to what they were calling an after party, good fun, but did i ache the next day from the dancing. A very funny night!

Today we were heading off to Trindade beach on the public bus. Thank goodness we had seats, a) we were feeling a little bit hungover and b) we had a mad bus driver and coupled with winding steep narrow roads we were clinging on for dear life! After 45mins of white knuckle bus riding we were at the beach and it did not disappoint. And today i had actually packed all my beach gear so I was straight into the sea for a lovely swim. I also managed to have a read of my book, something i haven't done for at least a month. The beach at either end had more lush greenery and a smattering of small bars at one end, which we ended up in for a coke just to get out of the sun for a bit. After about 3 hrs we were cooked enough and set off in search of the natural pools, we walked through about 4 beaches and more jungle type terrain and arrived at the enormous rock pools. After another swim we made our way back, just made it to the bus on time and endured another white knuckle bus drive but this time standing up, this was not fun! in the evening we just sat and played cards which was very nice and chilled.

Today was boat trip day, I love a boat trip and we had the boat to just our group so it was even better. We spent the day hoping between beaches and swimming, it was amazing, oh yeah and the free caprianas (not sure that is spelt probably) were great. Around 6ish we started the journey back whilst watching the sun beginning set, just stunning! A fantastic day.

After an early night we got on the bus at 5:30am for a 6hr bus ride to San Paulo to get our flight to Foz. After the most bumpy flight and almost having to reach for the sick bag we arrived in Foz and immediately made our way to the Iguassu Falls. It was chucking it down and we got absolutely soaked, but once we were met with the waterfalls it was well and truly worth it. From the Brazilian side we got a panoramic view, it was incredible, the water so powerful, I ve never seen anything like it, simply breathtaking. We were also able to walk to the walkway at the bottom on the falls where we got drenched, luckily my non-waterproof camera seems to have recovered okay. The pictures will really do the talking! In the evening we made our way to Gaucho and had the best steak ever and roasted pineapple! It was all you can eat and they served it off skewers at the table - delicious!

The next day we departed to cross the border to Argentina to view the falls from there. This was incredible, wow wow wow! A maze of steel walk ways took you around the edge, the views of the water fantastic! Then was the boat ride, we got taken right up to the bottom of the falls and got absolutely drenched. This was sooooo much fun, you really felt the force of the water. I can't really describe it other than just awesome, hopefully the photos will do it justice (hopefully i will get them on here later today) From this we made our way to the steak house - this was again fantastic - i think i have eaten more steak in the last 2 days than i have for my whole trip. Its sooooooo good!

And for today, I've spent the whole day sorting photos and writing this.........tonight is the night bus.....yay! i think not. So no sleep for me tonight..

Laters alligators xxx