After a busy couple of days in Foz do Iguacu, we took full advantage of a day without plans in Paraty to visit the beach. Unfortunately the clouds over Paraty took full advantage of emptying all the water in the atmosphere over us for most of the time we were there. Still, the sea was warm and we were by the coast, and soon to be in Rio, so we were still pretty happy.

The next day we travelled by bus and boat to Ilha Grande, a beautiful island just south of Rio, with lush tropical forests and some gorgeous whitesand beaches. Now how's this for a birthday.... You wake up and breakfast on the balcony with a vie of the forested hills, while hummingbirds fly around the garden below you. Birthday greetings follow from lots of your friends and you all board a yacht to sail around the island. Not only do you have all the Caipirinhas you could ever want, but lots of birthday tunes, a cake and a card and the opportunity to swim and snorkel around the island. An absolutely amazing day - it will be hard to have a 30th next year that beats it!

Feeling a little worse for wear, on the 25th we arrived in Rio. What a city! It was our last official night all together on the 6 week tour and also Andy's birthday (one of our group) so we went out to Lapa where there are lots of bars and Samba. The next day we had a city tour with most of the group anyway so it wasn't goodbye just yet. We visited Christ the Redeemer (he was a bit shy and kept hiding in the cloud), the huge Maracana football stadium (capacity 200 000), the mosaic steps of Lapa (we met the rather eccentric artist working on his latest piece) and finished up on Sugarloaf mountain (Pao do Azucar) for the sunset across the city. Spectacular.

We were pretty exhausted from the last couple of days, so were hoping the posh hotel we'd booked for our last few days of our trip wouldn't disappoint. It didn't - it's probably the nicest hotel we've ever stayed in! The rooms, lounge and dining area are really modern, there's a pool, the staff are great, and the view..... I think the pictures explain more than these words can, but as we sat outside on the balcony looking across at the cityscape by night: Sugarloaf ahead, Christ the Redeemer up on the hill to our right, eating our four cheese pasta recommended by the chef, I could have wept with happiness. The thought of spending 4 nights here at the end of such an amazing 6 months is more than we deserve, but I think we'd both be quite happy just enjoying Rio from up here on the hills of Santa Teresa. It's stunning. You can check out the hotel at: http://www.rio180hotel.com.

Other than a visit to Ipanema beach, a stroll around bohemian Santa Teresa and a most delicious meal in Leblon at Zuka restaurant, we've done very little in the last couple of days, and will no doubt fly home tomorrow evening rested, happy and very excited about coming home to see everyone. What a great finish to a fantastic trip!