Day 53 and beyond: Home After an eleven and a half hour flight from Rio to London and then a short flight back to Dublin I was home. I craved South America and all that went with it: in London, not yet accustomed to being in an English speaking country, I kept going to speak to people in Spanish; and despite my initial rejection of Latin music and constant criticism of "Despacito", and it's CONSTANT air play, I actually missed it (edit: it came up on my Spotify ...

DAY 52: The Last Day This morning as I awoke, reality dawned and I was saddened… after two months of adventures, it was all over. Two months, constantly on the go; two months out of the real world; two months - is that all?! It felt so much longer... In 51 days I visited 6 new countries, 20 different cities and met countless new friends. I've seen some of the most beautiful landscapes ever imaginable and had other worldly experiences that have blown my mind an...

Day 51: Rio de Janeiro Waking up after our late night shenanigans in Lapa the plan for the day was to visit Christ the Redeemer. Priorities though: we were heading back to Ireland and Scotland respectively where sunshine and heat are in short supply, so firstly we HAD to head to the beach. And maybe have a caipi or two. It was a beautiful day (as are seemingly all days in Brazil) so we decided to walk; first along Ipanema and then through the seaside district to...

Day 50: Rio de Janeiro Our first proper day in Rio de Janeiro, we got grounded by joining a walking tour. We hopped on the metro (an impressive, shiny piece of infrastructure obviously recently upgraded for the recent World Cup or Olympics) a few minutes from our hostel and made our way into the centre, to Carioca Metro. In a nearby square, we gathered where a young girl studying medicine took us around some key spots of the district and educated us on the histo...

Day 49: Rio de Janeiro Moving onto our last destination of this trip, we packed our bags once more and set off for Rio de Janeiro. We made our way back across the beach, and at the port we boarded our boat back to Angra dos Reis. The skies were clear and it was a hot day, but as we sped back to the mainland we were cooled. Getting to the bus station from the port in Angra dos Reis though was considerably less comfortable. With the sun beating down in full force,...