Burritos y Mojitos

More than a year after landing in San Francisco, having been through 17 countries and travelled more than 30,000km, we arrived at our final destination, Salvador de Bahia.

After such a wonderful time so far in Brasil, perhaps Salvador didn't quite live up to what had gone before but it was still a fun, vibrant and energetic city characterised by great food, music and a very strong African influence.

The further north that we'd traveled in Brasil the greater that influence had become and in terms of culture, Bahia could hardly be more different to somewhere like Florianopolis. Pelourinho, in the historic centre of the city, was awash with bright, colourful houses and churches.

The streets were full of jewelery sellers, musicians and women in traditional dress.

One night at dinner (more delicious Moqueca) we were entertained by a deafeningly loud samba band before coming across some capoeira - a cross between dance and martial art - which was quite hypnotic to watch.

And all that came after we'd turned up in Pelourinho to find a reggae concert in full flow, complete with stalls selling beer and the by now compulsory caipirinhas. Away from the city, the beach suburbs at Praia Flamengo and Praia Itapua provided miles and miles of soft golden sand, with plenty of good options for lunch.

We were staying in Barra which had some nice beaches and an iconic lighthouse.

It felt a little shady at night but during the day there was always lots going on - plenty of football, volleyball sailing and surfing to watch.

In fact beach football was like a religion here - at the weekend there were some pretty serious matches going on, and nobody was taking it easy when near the rocks or in the ocean. The rest of the time there was plenty of skill and showboating on view, though not much success at scoring in the miniature sized goals. Once we had to vacate our position on the beach after a pitch was set up around us, though they did ask very nicely.

There was an inevitable sense of sadness as the end of the trip drew ever nearer but we had a nice last day, starting with a visit to the Bonfim Church which is full of plastic and artificial limbs - apparently to symbolise those that the church had cured.

We had a lovely last lunch overlooking the sea in Barra, one final Moqueca and (more than) one last Caipirinha.

I'm so glad that we kept on going and had this time at the end in Brasil - it really is an amazing place. And, despite one or two obvious setbacks, I'd have to say the same about Latin America.

After seeing packs of dogs chase cars, bicycles and people right throughout Latin America, at Praia Trancoso they even chased horses along the beach.

The beaches around Porto Seguro, particularly Trancoso and Arrail d'Ajuda were very nice but rumour had it that there were even better, and more deserted ones, further north.

After a few slightly stormy days, we ummed and aahed a bit over whether or not to head straight for Salvador. Choosing to break the journey in Itacaré turned out to be one of the best decisions we ever made. From the moment we arrived and were greeted at the bus terminal by a guy named Wellington (surely one of the best Brasilian names, although Wagner Love is pretty impressive too) it felt like a very special place.

The sun shone constantly and the procession of beaches, starting just a few minutes walk from town and continuing for - well as far as you wanted to go really - were probably the most beautiful we'd seen anywhere.

Praia Resende was surrounded by palm trees, the water was crystal clear and whenever we were hungry, somebody would appear carrying food - grilled cheese, coconuts, freshly baked apple and cinnamon pastries.

The next beach along, Praia Tiririca was great for watching football and surfing.

And, happily conforming to stereotype, the footballers were slightly more skilful than you'd see in an average park kick about back home.

On one day we set out in search of Praia Prainha which we'd been reliably informed was one of the best beaches anywhere in Brasil. We set out walking through the forest and confidently waved away the offer of a would be guide, despite his claims that finding the beach would be 'very difficult.' The path was fine and it would have been easy, except for the complete lack of any signposts whenever the path veered off in numerous directions. Perhaps the guide had hidden them. Anyway, after a couple of wrong turns, a steep descent to an entirely different beach, a fall in the mud and after returning to where we started, we did eventually find Prainha,

And yes, it was well worth the effort.

There was a small shack selling more grilled cheese and fresh, juicy pineapple. Then we spent a perfect afternoon swimming, sunbathing and in somebody's case, even a little cartwheeling.

Itacaré, so quiet and sleepy during the day, came alive at night. We sampled some moqueca, a Bahian specialty of spicy, coconut flavoured fish stew.

We also tried some Acaraje - dumplings with prawns and various fish pastes and vegetables. And for perhaps the first time since Mexico, the hot sauce was exactly that.

Cocktail bars displayed their huge variety of fruits out on the street.

The mango and pineapple caipirinhas were good but not quite as good as the Piña Coladas.

With just a few days left before flying home we had to move on to Salvador. Otherwise I don't think either of us would have ever wanted to leave.

We left Rio and headed a little way north along the coast before catching a boat to the promised paradise of Ilha Grande.

It wasn't really the idyllic place we'd been expecting but despite the crowds and all the development, it still maintained a laid back feel - partly due to the lack of any cars on the island. Alongside the pousadas and tour agencies there were plenty of people out on the dusty roads selling homemade cakes and other snacks.

We'd been hoping for a beachside, ocean view campsite...but having wandered around for quite a while and explored all the options (at least those that didn't involve hiking with all our stuff for a couple of hours) we settled for the best of a bad bunch of back yards.

Next morning, armed with a large helping of ice cold acai (which really is so delicious) and lots of water we set off on a walk through the forest which, despite the heat and humidity was well worth it for the scenery.

We passed several very pretty beaches, one of which came complete with a tiny white church, before finally arriving at Praia Lopes Mendes.

A perfect stretch of soft white sand and the clearest water imaginable meant that we weren't in a hurry to move on any time soon.

Eventually we had to return but this time opted for a nice, serene boat ride home rather than another hot, sweaty walk through the jungle.

We bumped into Brendan and Alex, who we'd met in Rio, had a few beers by the seafront and the following day went on a boat trip around the island - all of which made it feel suspiciously like a holiday.

The island became even busier now that is was the weekend and there was a particularly rowdy bunch of Brasilians on the boat (including one woman who treated everybody to the sight of her plucking the hair from her legs and..er....other areas). After a day of drinking in the hot sun they were, unsurprisingly, rather more quiet on the way home.

The best bit of the day was a snorkelling stop at the Blue Lagoon, the first time we'd been snorkelling in absolutely ages.

On an island with an almost endless supply of beaches, for some reason all the boat trips felt the need to go to the same one for lunch....and yes, it really is that important to Brasilians that lunch is included...they might cease to function if it wasn't. After trying for about 45 minutes, our boat was finally able to dock so that we could leave!

Meanwhile the locals were getting so annoying that a Sicilian girl on our boat asked me to take her photo on the beach but specified that 'absolutely no Brasilian people' could be in the picture..

After leaving Ilha Grande we had to return to Rio for the day before getting an overnight bus and we left in similar circumstances to when we arrived - a torrential downpour. An overnight bus journey later, our next stop was Ouro Preto in Minas Gerais state - a very pretty, hillside town famous for its jewels...and there certainly were a lot of jewelery shops.

It made a nice change after a lot of beach time so we explored the narrow, cobbled streets and the numerous baroque churches, both in Ouro Preto and another nearby town, Mariana.

Wherever we went in town - to restaurants, bars or shops - Hobo Joe appeared, often prompting waiters or bartenders to move him along, only for him to reappear without fail at the next place. He was quite entertaining but the weather turned a bit cold and drizzly and so after a couple of days we were looking forward to going back to the coast.

Thankfully we didn't experience any similarities to the above mentioned film, although we did arrive in Rio in the middle of a truly biblical style downpour. The plane's descent and landing were not fun...and the bus ride from the airport was like driving through a river at times - we even saw cars being washed away - yet nothing seemed to slow the bus driver down. We made it as far as Copocabana but no taxi driver would take us to where we were staying in Lagoa...yes, taxi drivers who for the last year have beeped their horns, whistled and needlessly said 'taxi', believing that the bright yellow vehicles with 'taxi' written all over them would otherwise be unidentifiable....well suddenly they had no interest and seemed to find it all quite amusing. Having wandered the streets for a while we finally ventured, soaking wet, into a fairly posh hotel where a well dressed American in the bar looked disapprovingly at us and asked 'have you been out hiking?'

The following day was certainly a busy one - in the morning we walked the length of Copocabana beach, watched the numerous football and beach volleyball games taking place, and over to Ipanema, before finally making our way to the hostel in Lagoa.

In the afternoon we took the cable car (having walked the first half of the way) up to the top of Sugarloaf Mountain where the skies were clear and the views of Copocabana and the rest of Rio were amazing.

Could quite happily have stayed up there a lot longer but we had to rush back as we were being taken to the Maracana stadium to watch Botafago v Fluminese. So, after several near misses in Argentina and other countries, I was finally going to see a game in South America....though it didn't turn out to be quite so simple. We were picked up in a mini bus and told by our guide that even though drinking alcohol near the stadium was banned and that all pubs in the vicinity were not allowed to sell alcohol on match days....we were being taken to a bar for a pre match beer. We were whisked upstairs to a private room in said establishment, served our beer, and told to wait while the guide went to secure our tickets.

The longer it took, the more doubts began to appear - shouldn't he have already had the tickets? Shouldn't he be back by now? And isn't it nearly time for kick off? Finally he reappeared, announcing that today had been the worst day of his career but that he had managed to get enough tickets, despite having to pay extra for them, because 'it's not about money, it's about the customer.'

By this the group had increased to about 30 - he'd been collecting other groups and leaving them downstairs in the pub - but when we arrived at the stadium he disappeared again. We could hear noise coming from inside the stadium and the match had started. He came sheepishly towards us and said that there were only twelve tickets...luckily we'd seen him coming so were well positioned to grab our tickets and make our way quickly inside, before the mob turned on him.

And yet the stadium was half empty - apparently they weren't selling tickets on the day of the game, and all the touts had been arrested. Still, there was a great atmosphere in among the Botafago fans with their drums, flags and fireworks...especially when they scored to take the lead...the noise was incredible.

Things turned a bit sour in the second half and Fluminese ended up winning 2-1 but we went out for a few caipirinhas afterwards with the Dutch people we'd been to the football with...the first few of many caipirinhas we'd enjoy in Rio.

Getting around on the buses in Rio was fine except for the way the driver would take off at high speed before you had a chance to get through the turnstile....often resulting in people thrown around, falling and numerous coins flying through the air. Still, we managed to find our way to the city centre to look at some museums and to Lapa to see the famous staircase.

The artist was there sitting on the steps and seemed a little crazy - he started talking to us and then wandered off in mid conversation, leaving his friends to show us a load of magazine covers featuring U2, Snoop Dog, Ed Norton and many others on the steps.

Rio would have to be my favourite city of the whole trip - there's so much to see and do - we spent some time at the beaches and when it got too hot (40 degrees on some days) retreated to the botanic gardens,

There was such a great buzz and vibrancy to the place. Whether it was people hanging off the side of trams, an impromptu samba band marching along the seafront or some very Brasilian models... there was always something happening.

Wherever we went in the city, the figure of Christ the Redeemer was often looming high above us and it certainly adds a sense of drama to the place.

It was another clear, sunny evening when we got the train up to see the statue and despite being temporarily covered in scaffolding, it was still an amazing sight.

And eventually, if you waited long enough, you could even get a clear photo once people stopped dithering around!

The views over the city were incredible as well - Rio sure does have some great vantage points.

It was just one of the many things we loved about Rio and made our time there so memorable.

Sometimes there's really not a lot you need to say about a place....and Iguaçu falls is certainly one such destination. The pictures tell you all you need to know.

On our first day we saw the falls from the Brasilian side of the border where there are a series of walkways giving great panoramic views and the chance to appreciate just how many waterfalls there are and what a huge area they cover.

It was so hot that we ventured along one walkway and got very, very wet.

We were camping quite close to the park, outside Foz de Iguaçu on the Brazilian side of the border, but the next day went to the Argentine side of the park, where it suddenly turns into Iguazu Falls.

The bus that took us across the border was a bit annoying, in particular the driver who saw himself as a comedian, constantly making the same joke about leaving all the men on the side of the road and only taking the women with him. And, being Argentinian, he coudln't say the word 'England' without following it with the words 'Carlito Tevez.'

Anyway, back in Argentina we had a lot of different views of the falls and got much closer to them than in Brasil.

Looking over the edge, and seeing (and hearing) the sheer volume of water was a little scary.

Having explored the various walkways we decided to take a closer look and so went on a little rafting trip right under the falls, and got completely drenched.

A truly special place, definitely one of the highlights of the trip, and of any trip we've done previously.