The Pantanal Wetlands

The Miranda River in the Pantanal

Diving into Cayman infested water!

On a boat trip down the river

Hi ho Silver!

Horse ride round the Pantanal

Piranha fishing!

Searching for anacondas...didn't find any though

Cayman hunting!

Paraty

Paraty is a beautiful old colonial town just a few hours south of Rio. It pretty much poured for the three days we were there but we still had some fun on a intimidating but brilliant waterfall slide in the forest, a cichacca (Brazillian equivalent of cane) distillery and walked along a protected area of beach south of Paraty called Trindade. This area was really beautiful.

I also got some great footage of Robyn going down the waterfall the wrong way!

Rio is loco

After a mammoth journey via New York and Sao Paulo we finally touched down in Rio. Things didn´t start too well and never really improved much during our stay in Rio either. I´m just not a massive fan of big cities these days, neither of us are.

Straight after we arrived at our hostel we threw down our bags and headed straight for the Copacabana, one of the most recognisable beaches in the world. It was cracker day and the beach was packed. We were both pleasantly surprised. The beach really seems to play an integral part in the lives of a Rio de Janerion(?). The water was freezing but refreshing.

But then the weather turned and it would be the start of about 5 straight days of rain. We visited Ipanema beach, the Corcovado, where the famous Christ the Redeemer statue sits aloft, but unfortunately the visibility was ZERO and we could barely see the end of our own fingers it was so cloudy. Disappointing. Then we went on to the Maracana Football Stadium (home of Flamego Football), the place where they have Carnaval and finally Sugar Loaf mountain, which to me was the highlight because we could see a bit more from there. Rio is an incredibly picturesque city.

One of the nights we went to a Samba party on the outskirts of Rio (pic3). It was one of the craziest experiences of our lives but I´ll explain more another time when I´m less stressed from this computer I´m typing on.

PS Brad, we had a meat Rodizio and it was excellent, although at times I wasn´t sure of what meat I was eating!

Were on our way...

After a long and tiring build-up we were finally on our way to South America!

Leaving drinks @ The Leather Bottle

Thanks to everyone who made the effort to come to our leaving drinks on Saturday night. We really appreciated it. I know I for one had an epic time and before I go any further, I'd like to apologise in advance for anything I may have said or done (during the latter half of the evening) whilst heavily under the influence of Tequila! I'm not sure what came over me, perhaps it was the thought that we won't be seeing many of you for quite some time, but whatever it was, I was one happy camper! I guess it was a fitting way to put a full-stop on our time here in the UK.

On a more serious note, it was great to see you all again and we both wish you all the best for your futures and wherever they may take you. Hopefully we'll be seeing many more of you down south on a more permanent basis.

Until then, I think only Badger reads this blog anyway, so until then Baj, keep an eye on this space for news and pics of our upcoming travels.

Goodbye England!

(PS Well not really 'goodbye'. We'll be back for two days on the 7th & 8th of Dec so let us know if you're keen for one last beer.)