So,  I have finally made it to Brazil! Yesterday was the longest day ever, literally! We boarded our plane in Auckland at 5pm on the 25th and landed in Santiago (Chile) at 1 pm, on the 25th, after eleven hours on the plane! On arriving in Chile, i started doubting whether South America was a good choice! We were instantly warned by police men to avoid everyone in the airport unless they were behind a desk. He said that there is no question over whether we would have been robbed if we had got into a private taxi. Apparantly, our passports were worth $5000 to the chileans! When we were queing to get cash out, a group of taxi drivers got in the queue with us to offer their "assistance". They basically looked over our shoulders and tried to tell us how to work the cash machine. Luckily, im big enough to cover the whole screen and they couldnt have looked over my shoulder if they had tried! We ended up booking a car with a company who took us straight to our hotel. The whole lot cost about 3 times as much as we wanted to pay, but we took the first thing we found, anxious to get out of the airport! I spent the entire afternoon in my hotel, sleeping, and arranged for the same guy to pick us up this morning. He took us to the airport again, where we boarded our plane for Buenos Aires. It was only a short flight (2 hours), but we had to walk straight off that plane, on to the plane that took us to Sao Paulo, which was another three hours. Sao Paulo feels much safer than Chile, although i am still being over cautious! We have booked into a hostel which is where i am right now. We have sorted out a bus that will take us to Rio tomorrow morning. I cant wait to get tomorrow over with and join our tour group where everything will be done for us! We havent found our bearings yet, and are still unsure where to go and not to go!

I am very, very tired. We are currently four hours behind English time and so i am not used to the time at all. When i say i slept yesterday afternoon, that was for an hour, and i didnt sleep at all last night!

Unfortunately Dany, the men at the airport in Auckland took my Dolphin off me. Apparantly it is cruel to keep them out of water, stuffed in a small bag! Sorry, but at least i tried! Well done for doing the marathon Albert, and well done for coping Karen, it sounds pretty hectic!! 

I hope you are all well, i only have 18 days left, so i really will see you soon. Love Mat x