Fully loaded with water-proof gear and our 100 proof Deet bug-repellent, we stepped off the plane to begin an entirely new leg of our adventure. We took a moment to prepare ourselves for the scene which we were likely to meet on the other side of the arrivals gate. They warn you in all the guide books about the hordes of tourist agencies (many of which are scams) that will bombard you the minute you step through the door - so we braced ourselves and with the soli...

The time had come to give our livers a much needed break from the chaos that was Carnaval, so after a week in Salvador we decided it best to continue our adventure up the coast of Brazil.Thinking this shouldn`t be a problem, we headed to the bus station mid-morning to try and catch the next available bus out of town. You would think that with all of our traveling wisdom, we would be smart enough to forsee the potential problems with this plan - we were two people...

Although neither of us regret the time we spent in Rio, the lack of clear skies and sunshine while we were there meant that we weren´t all that disappointed to leave either. In fact, I think I speak for the both of us when I say that we felt cheated by Rio. Everyone has told us that it is a completely different city when the sun comes out to play, so we left with the feeling that we hadn´t seen Rio de Janeiro in all its glory. In addition, with all the ...

I can´t quite put into words how Pat and I felt the morning after our first big night out in Lapa, a Rio hotspot. Due to the kilo of white sugar and bottle of Cachaça from too many Caipirinhas we had consumed the night before, we were not in the best of spirits when we woke to an alarm at 9am. We had made the mistake of booking a tour for early Saturday morning, in which we would get to see all of the big highlights of Rio rolled into a 6hr guided tour ...

The clouds were dark and the ground was wet when we landed in Rio de Janeiro Wednesday, January 23rd. It was an oddly surreal moment when we hopped on a bus from the airport that would take us into the city we had heard, dreamed, and worried about for what felt like ages. At first view of the city, my thoughts were flooded with the numerous warnings and pieces of advice we´d heard along the way (I could almost hear my mom in the back of my mind pleading with...