Andrea: We returned from Petropolis to Rio on the 11th and just chilled in the hostel that night. They were doing an all you can eat BBQ, but it was the promise of 8 different types if salad that sold us. It was the best meal we have had thus far on the trip. The 12th was another travel day as we said our goodbyes to Rio and headed to Foz do Iguazu. We were quite cocky and turning up our noses at everyone taking cabs to the airport since we figured we had mastere...

Vern: In the morning, we walked around the gardens of the last emperor Don Pedro the Second's palace (no obvious link to the boozy coffee) but didn't go in because the museum didn't take bank cards, so we crossed the road to the Yellow Palace (the town hall) where a bilingual young clerk gave us a free tour on the condition that we signed the guestbook. We learnt you can paint concrete to look like oak or marble and that one seemingly must have a moustache to be ...

Vern: After not being able to go to Ouro Preto (actually not being able to come back), we decided instead to go to the charming mountain town of Petropolis. As we packed our bags to check out of our hotel, we saw something unusual shining in the sky--the sun! Yes, that glowing ball in the sky decided to come out as we were leaving Rio. We thought we couldn't let the opportunity pass us by so decided on an impromptu beach day before we went to Petropolis (only abo...

Vern: The last two days have had their frustrations. The tram car to the mountain suburb of Santa Theresa was a treat - rattling over the arc of a disused aqueduct in an over-capacity 1920s mode of transport was wonderfully retro - but the 'Colonial gem' we were expecting was riddled with graffiti and the museum we'd planned to see was closed. On a side note, a lot of the graffiti in Rio is amazing and being a big fan of the printed T-shirt, I was assessing each ...

Andrea: I'm here in the lobby of our hotel getting ready for round...I don't know what round, but getting ready to walk the streets again up to the Sambodromo in the hopes of seeing some more great floats and costumes for free. Tonight and tomorrow are the Grupo Especials performing so it promises to be even more over the top than last night. Hopefully our Sambodromo voyage tonight will go off without a hitch as the rest of the day has been full of queues and mi...