Rio de Janeiro - our final destination! We stayed just a few minutes walk from the famous Copacabana beach, so the first point of call was a stroll along the huge expanse of golden sand. It was early evening and the sun was setting, giving us a great opportunity for some photos. As we walked we kept coming across candles, flowers and bottles of champagne carefully arranged in the sand. Groups of people were singing, dancing and performing rituals while dresse...

Our journey to Paraty seemed to never end. After 12hrs on the night bus we had only got as far as Sáo Paulo, Brazil's largest city. Big cities had never appealed to us and with a population more than twice that of London, this city is a monster. We intended to catch another bus straight to Paraty, but all the seats were already sold. We had to catch a bus to Ubatuba, another town on the coast, then catch the final bus to Paraty. This accumulated to 24hrs of...

The island of Santa Catarina has a fitting name, as this is where we decided to spend Christmas. We arrived on Christmas Eve, greeted by lots of "Santa's" riding around the town on the back of pickup trucks throwing handfuls of sweets at everyone. It was a roasting hot day in Brazil and those poor Santa's must of been ready to pass out in their wooly Santa suits! That night our hostel organised a Christmas Eve dinner for all the guests. We were expecting roas...

Over four months ago, we started our trip by visiting the amazing Angel Falls in Venezuela. Now, with just a couple of weeks before home time, we are once again visiting one of the world's most impressive waterfalls, the stunning Iguaçu Falls. The waterfall forms part of the border between Brazil and Argentina, so has two perspectives, depending on whether it's seen from the Brazilian side or the Argentinian side. Brazil offers a higher, more panoramic overvi...