We arrived in Santa Cruz at about 9am and we all caught at minivan to the main square where we went looking for accommodation. Once we were settled in and showered we went to check out the town. This town was not that exciting as we ended up in the Irish pub for a few hours and then again went walking to find another pub down the road. It was getting late so we decided to get a taxi to the main pub district. Six of us squeeze into the taxi and away we go thinking...

CorumbaWe had to stay 1 night in Corumba and wait for the next day to cross the border and catch the death train to Santa Cruz Bolivia. We crossed the border at about 11am knowing that the border shuts from 12 till 2pm and we didn't want to miss out on getting a ticket. There are three trains you can take which operate on various days. There is the most expensive and comfortable one and the medium price one which operate on alternate days and then the death t...

Campo Grande is the starting point to the Pantanal which are the wetlands in Brazil. We flew in and stayed here for 2 nights before we started our tour. We stayed at Campo Grande Hostel which was pretty much the only hostel near the centre of town. We booked a 2 night 3 day tour for $225 each with Santa Clara. We ended up booking a different tour from the one at the hostel and the owner of the hostel was not happy with us at all. But we didn't care as he was ...

We flew from Rio to Salvador. This was a cheaper option as the bus would take 20 hours more and cost roughly the same price. We even treated ourselves to an airport pick up which was nice as we arrived very late at night. We stayed at Barra Guest House for the first 4 nights, this hostel was nice but about $60US for the both of us. We met heaps of cool people here and ended up spending the rest of Carnaval with them. The first day we went to the local beach and ...

We checked in the Stand Fast hostel which was a new hostel only opened 4 months ago. You could tell it was beautiful and only $20US each a night. The owner Cloud took us out the first night to a hostel in a safe favela called the Maze, and it really was a maze finding your way around. There were stairs and rooms everywhere. On the first Monday of the month they have a jazz night up there. This hostel has amazing views of Rio and it was a great experience to see o...