Next morning we said our goodbyes to Lena, Tina and Olly and headed off with Ruben and with a German couple Olf and Yanicka to the Rio De Prata (River of Silver) for snorkelling. It was a 1 hour journey to the river, where we were met by the nicest spread of food we had seen so far in Brazil. After gorging our faces to the point where we were all bloated we then tried to squeeze or torsoes into 3/4 length wetsuits - it was not a flatterling look.

We had a short jeep ride and then a 40 minute trek through the jungle complete with wetsuit and snorkel. We arrived at the Rio De Prata and instantly new it was going to be a good day - there were fish everywhere and the water eas literally crystal clear! We all had our safety briefing (in Portuguese of course) and jumped in - only to be met by a caimen swimming about 10m away.

The river itself was amazing and there were small tetras, massive Dourados, pacus and even fish from my tank everywhere - it was literally like swimming in a massive aquarium.

To make it more surreal everytime you looked up you would be in the chest high in a river in the middle of the jungle with nothing remotely human within sight or earshot.

We had been snorkelling for about an hour when suddenly we heard screaming from Yanicka at the rear of the group as we passed a rocky pass. In the German, English, Portuguese shouting that followed i think it is fair to say there was chaos for a little while! The story went from being bitten by fish, to cutting legs open on rocks before we finally established that a bad case of cramp had struck. We then had the task of explaining to our guide and a Brazilian couple what the hold up and screaming/laughing/crying was all about! A situation not helped by Ruben replying to the Brazilian shouts by making random foreign sounding noises and nonsense in reply which left them thoroughly perplexed. Eventually we continued and saw the underground springs that were bubbling up on the river bed bottom. We had to get out before some rapids, walk downstream for 5 minutes and then re-enter the water to be given what sounded like a stern warning but with no idea what we were talking about we managed to get that we had to swim left in the next bit.

There has been a few times in Brazil where i wish i could speak some Portuguese but i think in this scenario it would have been particularly useful. We floated downstream one by one about 10m apart before being thrown into a rapids with giant rocks looming either side and a tiny opening in between, with the current forcing you to the right it took a lot of frantic movement to avoid the rocks and was one of the most thrilling rollercoaster rides i have been on so far - perhaps a little late but i could see why we had to swim left, if only we had been warned!

The rest of the ´float´ went without incident except the outbreak of a rainstorm with lightning right over head. We headed out a couple of hours later all looking like a mutlicultural bag of prunes and showered back at the lodge.

Once returned to the hostel Ruben and i were told we could play football with the locals around the corner. We turned up to see about 15 Brazilians doing more tricks then i had ever seen and after 5 minutes asked if we could join in. Again the language was a barrier and trying to work out the rules of their 2 on 2 penalty based game was not easy. Inevitably we lost the first round, and badly too. As we watched the next few rounds we slowly worked out the rules and before we knew it we were up again. Through a little teamwork and a lot of luck we managed to win, and then learnt it was winner-stays on, by this time we also understood about 80% of the game. I am proud to say that the European combination of occasionally using a left foot and passing managed to outdo the Brazilian tricks and we remained unbeaten for the next 4 matches until the sun went down! Beating the Brazilians at football in their own back yard has been well and truly ticked off the list!

We returned to the hostel as champions and were met by Harriet and 2 Germans that really couldnt care less - the rest of the evening was spent eating pizza drinking beer and being asked by Olf about our view on Britians stance on European Economics and whether we had participated in binge drinking... a slightly unorthodox evening to the say the least!

The next morning i had decided to go to some waterfalls for the day whilst Harriet was to stay in Bonito to go shopping and chill out. I got the bus with Anna (Russian) and on the way was educated on how Putin has managed to stay in power for another 12 years by changing the constitution, how anyone was south of siberia that bordered Russia were stupid and criminals and how it was illegal to protest against the Government in groups of more than 3 people! The weather was awful all day, and it rained throughout. Our guide spoke no English but fortunately a Brazilian girl from Sao Paulo could and was our translator/personal guide for the day. I also met Kim and Laurel from the Pantanal who were on the same tour and so the 5 of us jumped off waterfalls, swam in pools, zipwired and dived ourway through the day. We headed back to the ranch for lunch, which was an even better buffet than the day before and then watched as the owner called monkeys from the tree to take pieces of banana out of the kids hands. A blue macaw was also passed around for photos and typically the sun came out - unfortunatley we had done swimming for the day. That night Harriet, Olf, Yanicka, Anna and I went out for dinner and some drinks and chatted until late in the hammocks.

The next day was a bit of a right off. I rang the bank again and was told the complaints department was shut for 3 days so i have to call back on Monday - so i made a complaint about the complaints service! We tried to go to a local beach, but the rain before the day had forced the place to close. Anna, Olf and Yanicka moved on, but not before we had watched some of the football match between the champions of Brazil and Argentina.

The score was 2-0 to Sao Paulo with 44 minutes on the clock, then an Argentine caught a Brazilian with his elbow causing blood to flow, and with it a mass brawl. The media ran on to the pitch to interview players whilst the brawl continued, and even the referree was interview - half time had still not blown and after 10 minutes a player from either side was sent off. The players sulked off down the tunnel - to well, never reappear. It turns out the Argentians claimed the Brazilian police had kicked the players all the way down the tunnel and refused to play on. After 30 minutes of waiting the President of the cup came out and announced the match was over at half time and Sao Paulo were champions - the most surreal ending to a game i have ever seen!

and we later met Luke and Lisa - a British couple from Leeds. Notably we were also introduced to Carl, a finnish man from an island where only 500 people live. That evening Harriet, Carl and I went out for a caimen steak dinner and were met for drinks by Luke and Lisa.

We returned to the hostel for more drinks and discovered that Carl was travelling around south america for 5 months, but had no idea where to go, or what he wanted to do. We would suggest Machu Pichu and the reply would be maybe, this pattern continued for a while before he said he would like to see a mountain at some point - a little vague but a start none the less. We also discovered that he had no travel insurance - the reasoning being he doesnt want to pay for it, and that should something happen to him then he would shop around different hospitals to find the best deal for an operation. Besides, in Finland health care may be free but there is a waiting list, in Brazil assuming you could afford the bill you would probably be seen quicker...

When given the scenario of a broken leg somewhere out in the sticks, the answer was simply to shope around for the best air ambulance - brilliant - our very own Carl Pilkington. Next we discovered he had thrown away his entry visa for Brazil as he thought it was a receipt, when he explained he couldnt leave Brazil without it, or paying the 150pd fine, the reply was simply that he refuses to pay that much, instread he would wait until the immigration office got bored and let him go!

The next morning, armed with Carl quotes for breakfast the 5 of us headed to the Gruta Do Lago Azul (or blue lake cave). It was a 1.5 hour tour into a large cavern with clear blue waters at the bottom framed by stalgatites and stalagmites with the morning light shining and illuminating the water more still. We took a few snaps and ate a couple of deep fried pasties for lunch. We did however struggle at times with Carls transalation of the Brazilian tour guide. We ended up looking at a small sapling belieiving it to be the only type of this species left in Brazil, before discovering that actually he was trying to say it is the only open cave in the state - then that wild boar live in the cave - which turned out to be an owl once lived there, and finally there was a creature called batfish in the cave - which turned out to be there are bats in the cave but not fish, still it kept us thinking on the descend!

That evening we cooked in for the first time (with Lisa cooking us risotto, so i still dont think i can claim to have cooked over here) and then the 5 of us headed out to the local fairground which was in town! 10 reis later we were armed with 3 tickets each and headed straight for the dodgems! There were many times i have felt like a big kid, but with 5 of us 20+ adults ramming 4-8 year olds i feel perhaps my dodgem days are behind me - not that i was going to let that stop me having fun still! Next we chose the worst scary ride ever, which somehow actually scared Harriet even though the monsters would light up about 10 seconds before you got to them, which took away the element of suprise a bit and left you looking at the inside of a truck with a mask stuck on the wall. Before finally heading for Kamikaze, the upside down pendulum, which for 1pd i was quite impressed with - its like the Chipping Sodbury mop fair all over again! We returned to the hostel for beers, and of course more Carl quotes, the following being a snapshot...

- I didnt bring shoes with me travelling as flip flops are ok for everywhere.

- i didnt bring a camera with me because my a****** friends dont want to see them, besides i can just download a picture from Google and photoshop me in front of it.

- i would like to nuke Finland now i am not there, everyone is boring and all it will leave is another lake and there is loads of them so no one would care.

- if there was a red button to blow up the world he would be tempted to press it. When asked why, the response was, well you may as well be the person that does it, otherwise its just going to be there until someone presses it by accident - you know they will put a coffee cup on it or something and blow up the world!

What a night, anyway today has been relaxed, we said our goodbyes to Luke and Lisa, ate the leftover Rissotto and now have 30 minutes to kill until our 17 hour bus ride to Iguassu!