Greetings all! Ilhe Grande certainly had some ups and downs for us starting with the fact we'd been checking the weather forecast for the wrong island. Soon after arriving we realised the 100% humidity, 40 degree heat and unpredictable thunderstorms would instead be maximum 25 degrees with occasional persistent rain and the odd sunny day! Ilhe Grande is 100% national park and has no cars (only emergency vehicles). It is relatively undeveloped as until 1994 ther...

Greeting all! We are currently on the 7 hour bus journey back to Rio after the weekend in Ouro Preto. Both of us are back to full health and in much more positive moods to take on the world :-)! Ouro Preto is a lovely historic town set in the forested mountains of Brazil. It was built in the 18th century when gold mining in the area boomed and the city grew to almost 100,000 residence, 60% of who were slaves used to work the mines. The residence of the town we...

Hello family and friends! We are 4 days into our adventure and boy have we been falling apart! We've suffered a combination of minor medical issues but finally it feels like we are coming out of the other side!! Probably to be expected when you stop working and throw yourself to the otherwise of the world without much rest bite. Despite this small blip we had some brilliant experiences in Rio. We felt it is a city great for its beaches and views but the archite...