We left Rio on Thursday, heading two hours south along the coast to Paraty. The town is famous for it's numerous nearby beaches as well as its well preserved colonial streets and is a popular spot for Brazilians to visit for the weekend, as we noticed on Saturday. Friday was a bit overcast, so even though there are dozens of beaches only a walk or a bus ride away, we decided it wouldn't be worth it so went on a bike trip instead. We took the bikes out of to...

Yesterday was Sean's birthday and in preparation we had picked Orlando's brain about good places to visit that night. The weather was a bit overcast but that didn't stop us from hitting the beach. If was a national holiday so we weren't the only ones. There were plenty of sunbathers and skim boarders as well as beach volleyball and beach tennis games going on. We got some celebrationary coconuts and chilled out for the afternoon before heading out that night. O...

The day after the football match was glorious sunshine so the four of us spent the day on Ipanema beach - along with thousands of others. The fashion in Brazil on the beach is to wear as little as possible - male or female, overweight or toned, it doesn't matter. So what if youre pushing fifty and you've got massive cellulite infested legs? You want them tanned so get them out there. You can people watch on Brazilian beaches and see all spectrums of people, wear...

Brazil is famous for it's football and one of the must see things to do in Brazil was catch a game. Myself & Maire decided to catch a local derby, between Flamengo and Fluminense. Flamingo are one of the most widely supported teams in the world, with massive support in most parts of the city. But all teams have a passionate fan base, like nothing I've ever experiences before. Both teams were level in the league, joint on points at 5th and 6th place, with onl...

Our next stop upon leaving Sao Paulo was Ilha Grande - and what a place! Getting there was no picnic though. Poor admin work meant we arrived into the port town of Angra dos Reis at midnight, well after any ferries had stopped for the night, so had to get a cheapy hotel near the dock for the first ferry out. But when got there it was hard to removed the smile from our faces! Ilha Grande is an island, about an hour off the coast, and about two hours bus ride sout...