The 5 days we spent in Rio involved sightseeing, beaches, lots of food, partying and our challenge of switching from Latino Spanish to Portuguese. We met some Swedes and Californians who we partied with in Lappa and Kurt and Dave introduced us to the glorious Brazilian Barbecue...basically you have a token at your dinner table with green on one side and red on the other- when the token´s on green there is a stream of 4-5 waiters gathered around your table carving off fresh slices of different meats ( lamb, chicken, beef, pig and everything inbetween)- I was truly in heaven and rolled myself out of the restaurant and back to our hostel as content as any meat-loving man could be..

Ipanema, Copacabana beaches ( & the scantily clad women that lined them), sugarloaf rock & other food related indulgences were other highlights of Rio.. on the whole, I found Rio a bit overated & overpriced compared to many of the other places we´ve visited on the trip...

After Rio, it was onto The Island of Santa Catahrina , near florianopolis for days filled with surfing, sandboarding & self catered gourmet meals- we based ourselves on the beach at Barra de Lagoa in a self catered apartment we rented off a lovely, elderly Portuguese lady. The fruit, veg and pastries in the town were beautifully fresh and flavoursome and we bypassed eating out for the week while we cooked with the fresh produce available.. Soccer madness filled the weekend as a beach stadium hosted the South American playoffs- every man and his dog flooded to the arena and it made for quite the atmosphere, particularly as Brazilian colours just happen to be the same as Aussie green and gold...it was like being at the cricket back home... only with firecrackers, a different language and notably more plastic surgery in the stands.

Excellent surf was enjoyed at Joaquina Beach and Praia Mole and Nicki got right into throwing herself at the mercy of the ocean on several occasions. As much as we loved Santa Catarhina and the beaches of Brazil, time was moving on and we still needed to cover Argentina and Uruguay...so, we bid our farewells to Brazil bound for Argentina and the Iquazu Falls....