We both quickly avert our eyes to the left, focusing on what's out the window. Holding our breath. Our heart rate increasing to a pounding in our ears. Unable to move but desperate to see what's going on in our peripheral vision. We wait for the chaos to start. Any second now. Voices are raised but there is only really shouting from one side. The other person remains quiet and subdued. I think to myself, how the hell am I going to protect Emma since she is the closest to the action? I have the window seat, which in reality is just as precarious, but for some reason feels slightly safer. Finally, the Brazilian police officer calmly puts his gun back in the holster and pulls out the handcuffs. The detainee is cooperating.

Its just after 6am and our 18-hour overnight bus ride to Sao Paulo has been uneventful …. until now. T he police squad randomly pull us over to the side of the road and wo officers quickly board the bus to inspect the passengers, while others sift through the luggage. Emma and I are sitting together at the front. On the other side of the narrow isle is a young South American man. He seemed agitated during the trip, getting up and down from his seat throughout the night. The police officer begins at the back of the bus. Emma and I get our passports out, ready to politely cooperate …. quietly hoping that our super speedy and easy border crossing yesterday is all legit.

The officer makes his way toward us, he starts with the young man beside us first. As he is asking him questions in Portuguese, another officer leaps onto the bus, nods, exchanges a few words we do not understand and before we know it, voices are raised and a gun is being held at the young man's face.

A little groggy from 10 hours on the bus already with little sleep; we are suddenly fully awake!

The man is dragged in cuffs off the bus and thrown on the ground outside. Emma and I take a deep breath as we realise we had been holding it for sometime now. We look at each other with an OMG and a WTF just happened expression on our faces. Was that real? Are we still asleep and dreaming right now? Holy cow! 'Welcome to Brazil' we whisper as we both burst into nervous laughter.

So many people had told us not to come to this country. It's dangerous and unstable. In our stubbornness we didn't want to listen and pushed on with our vague plans anyway. Had we been too casual? Was our "she'll be right mate" kiwi attitude to blasé? My god, what if the guy had resisted? What would we have done … what could we have done?

Grateful to the universe for protecting us, we take some deep breaths and resolve to be more alert and careful. The police officer eventually comes back on board to advise he's been arrested because they had found over 20kg of drugs in his luggage. Apparently, its common practice here - cheaper to buy in Argentina and on-sell in Brazil.

Wonder what the rest of that young mans day is going to be like? As for us, 10 mins after getting back on the road, we pull into a restaurant for the official breakfast stop. Emma and I shakily step off the bus, head straight to the bathrooms and then down a ham and cheese toasted sandwich like it's the last thing we will ever eat! Nerves calmed, we carry on our way to the city of Sao Paulo. Its too late to turn back now.

Avenue Paulista is pumping! Thousands and thousands of people enjoying the spectacle that is a Sunday in Sao Paulo. The entire avenue is blocked off to traffic and street performers are drawing 'oohs' and 'aahs' from the crowds. The talented artists of the city are selling their crafts in hundreds of stalls, that double-line both sides of the road. Musicians and dancers are delighting people with their skills. The smell of tasty South American food wafts down the road. People are walking their dogs, riding bikes, rollerblading and leisurely strolling, filling in the Sunday hours. Stages are set up ready for specially chosen performers to display the 2 distinct cultures in this city; Brazilian and Japanese.

Yup, you heard me right. Japanese.

The city was named in honour of the Apostle, Saint Paul of Tarsus and has an interesting history. From the 1500's to 1700's it was a poor, isolated village. The residents were too poor to afford African slaves, like other parts of Brazil, until gold was discovered in the 1690's. Suddenly it was a popular place to come and many wealthy made their way here. It was elevated to city status in the 1700's. When the gold ran out in the 1800's they shifted to producing sugarcane. Coffee production swiftly followed and became a major factor in the growth of the city. In 1888 the "golden law" was sanctioned, finally abolishing the slave trade. Since slaves were the main labour source for the coffee plantations, immigration became a focus for the government and Sao Paulo became home to large numbers of Italians and Japanese.

Industry began to rise, and money was plentiful among the families of Sao Paulo. Paulista Avenue, closed every Sunday in favour of street food, markets, artists and street performers; became the economic core of Sao Paulo. It houses the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange and the city has the largest economy by GDP in Latin America. Over 33 million people now live in the urban and metro areas.

Apparently, meat is a thing here in Sao Paulo and we head to the markets for a 'sandwich'. It's NOTHING like the sandwiches we are used to. About 90% of it is a massive chunk of meat. The remaining 10% is a few sauces, pickles, cheese and bread. So delicious but a little tough going for someone who has been largely vegetarian for the last 6 months.

Its time to leave the city life and head to the beach for a few days before tackling the big scary, Rio de Janeiro.

Paraty (pronounced para-chi), halfway between Sao Paulo and Rio, had been recommended to us and it did not disappoint. After yet another overnight bus ride we arrive at our accommodation to the most amazing hosts. The owner had arranged for a room be available for us to utilise until our room was ready, as well as a free hot breakfast. They gave us the run down on what to do in Paraty, the best places to eat and helped us book a tour so we could get out on the water. Such a great start.

We head into the old part of the city for a look around, orientate ourselves and stretch our legs … however the sun is out and the beach is calling. So, the afternoon is spent listening to the waves crashing on the shore. The police gun/bus drama and energetic Sao Paulo are a distant memory.

The next day the sun is out again, so we head off for a day on the water. Visiting islands, snorkelling, lunching and relaxing on the beach was the order of the day. The water is cold because its winter here, but the sun soon warms us back up. We head to 5 different spots and our guide explains each island as we arrive. Island number 2 was the location for the honeymoon scene in Twighlight: Breaking Dawn …. fun to think we are swimming in the beach that Robert Pattinson swum in.

Paraty was an export port for the gold mined outside Sao Paulo. From Paraty it went by boat to Rio, then onto Portugal. A 1200km paved road was built and used to not only transport gold but also supplies, miners and African slaves. The 'gold trail' as it was known, fell into disrepair after too many pirate attacks on the gold laden ships as they weaved their way through the coves in the bays off Paraty. A safer route was created and Paraty as a city declined. A revival occurred when the coffee trade was in full boom; until the railway provided a cheaper transport option for getting the beans to the Rio port. Late in the 19th century the city was revived again as the production point for 'cachaça' (pronounced car-sar-cha) which is an alcoholic spirit derived from sugarcane. The main ingredient in Brazil's most famous cocktail - caipirinha (pronounced cap-re-ah-na). Now the city is famous for its cachaça distilleries and tourism.

The most intriguing part of Paraty however is threefold;

1. the cobbled streets and design of the 'old town'
2. its connection with the Freemasons, and
3. the role the city played in the African slave trade.

After a day in the sea and sun we decide to learn more by going on an evening 'free walking tour' of the city. We have been on a few of these tours throughout South America and if you do nothing else on your travels people; find one of these in the place you are visiting and get on it! They are fantastic and have been the highlight of all our tours. The guides speak almost perfect English and are usually history or anthropology students, so they have a great passion for the place, making it come alive through the stories they tell. The concept itself is also well done; you 'pay' at the end of the tour ONLY if you feel you got value from it and only as much as you can afford.

Anyway, back to Paraty …. The first thing we notice is the streets are difficult to walk on. Uneven cobblestones line the 'old town' and vehicles are prohibited from this area, except for deliveries on a Wednesday every week. When the town was first established the cobblestone was perfectly laid. In fact the stones came all the way from Portugal. Weird right? As I mentioned, the ships carried heavy gold from Paraty to Rio, then onto Portugal but as the ships returned to Paraty, they needed to be weighed down with something. That something was and cobblestones and unfortunately, African slaves. A few years back the government pulled up the cobblestones to lay proper plumbing and electricity in the city. Reportedly they gave the fancy Portuguese cobblestones to the rich people in the area, replacing the surface in the old town with irregular and misshapen boulders from the surrounding hills. What has resulted is a nightmare to walk on. The locals manage it fine of course but as a tourist, it's tough going. Head down, watching every step you take, hoping you don't face-plant on the hard surface.

Apart from the haphazard rocks to walk on, the design of the old town is clever. The streets are channels set below sea level that allow for the waters to sweep in and wash them clean every full moon tide. In the old days the transportation was horse and cart and people threw their sewage into the streets. This design ensured the city reduced the risk of disease and stayed relatively clean. The streets also are on a basic grid system but with one catch; each street has a curve. Why? Bad planning? No, it was another clever design to protect the city from pirates. The curve in the streets means that you cannot see the side streets and alleyways, nor what's at the end of each street. Therefore, as a pirate about to raid the city, not only is it easy for me to get lost but I have no idea where my enemies are hiding. (by the way …. this design works! Emz and I got completely lost looking for a coffee brewing shop we were keen on visiting that we'd seen the night before! We'd make terrible pirates )

The old town of Paraty was built by Freemasons who had fled persecution in Europe. As a result, a large portion of the historic buildings have symbols hidden in their designs to identify them to any fellow Freemasons travelling through the area. The iconic geometric ciphers of this secret society and the sacred number 33 appears in mystic code throughout this part of the city.

Our walking tour guide takes us to the grassy verge, by the sea, in front of a long barn like building with multiple doors. He asks us what we think this building was used for? We take a guess …. storing supplies off the ships? Nope. It was used as the first screening post of the slaves. Men, women and children where led off the ships and lined up outside these doors, on the very grass we're standing on. In the sweltering sun they were ranked in order of usefulness; the children, the women, the strong healthy men, the elderly, the disabled, the sick and the weak. The strong and healthy men were recorded and led off to the gold mines or coffee plantations immediately. The women and children were recorded and sold as house workers to the highest bidder. The weak, sick and elderly had a much different fate.

It was sobering standing on that grass. Looking at the doors and wondering what it would be like in each queue. The tiredness and unsteadiness of spending months at sea, now to be standing on land. The hunger and pain from being poorly fed and treated. The gratefulness some would have felt for just surviving the journey. The pain and anguish of being led into a different queue and separated from those they knew or loved. The sorrow at being so far from their homeland. The confusion as the docks are full of people yelling in a language you don't understand. The fear and dread of not knowing what's coming next.

Our guide is a qualified practitioner of Capoeira (pronounced cap-o-era), an Afro-Brazilian martial art. It combines elements of dance and acrobatics, its graceful yet quick and complex. Why is this relevant? Because it was the very slaves standing on this grass verge in the 16th century that bought with them and developed this special evasive art, as a form or survival. When their master was disciplining the slave, they could not retaliate, otherwise they'd lose their life. They also did not want to be beaten of course. The art of capoeira became a survival technique based on trickery, to gracefully and submissively get out of the way of the striking blows without causing confrontation. The master would believe they'd effectively punished their slave and that they were remorseful due to the evasive and acquiescent nature of the manoeuvres; and the slave would survive another day. The history of this art form is enthralling, yet disturbing. Eventually the manoeuvres became a form of communication between the slaves also, outsmarting their masters without saying a word. Our guide demonstrated and taught us some of the basic moves. Days later, we were privileged enough in Rio to come across a group of people learning and practicing this art form. Seeing the moves as one attacks, and one evades, really brings home some of what these amazing people must have gone though just to survive one more day.

Paraty's rich mystical history, natural beauty and friendly locals has captured our hearts. Seems a shame to leave it for the supposedly super dangerous, criminal laden, gun infested, terror ridden streets of Rio ……