Due to a cheap flight in the wrong direction versus an expensive bus ride in the right direction, we ended up flying to Florianapolis and completely changing our route for the next 4 weeks.Florianapolis is the city that connects the large island of Santa Catarina to the mainland of Brazil. This was our last stop in Brazil (for now) before we planned to head down the coast into Uruguay.The island of Santa Catarina has 42 beaches, and all are apparently worth visit...

At one point we nearly gave Rio a miss due to the ever spiralling out of control budget. Well, screw the budget because Rio Rocks! Rio occupies one of the most spectacular metropolitan settings in the world. With the world famous Copacabana beach fronting a deep blue sea, to the verdant Tijuca rainforest, to the tops of the scenic Corcovado and Dois Irmois mountains and to the distant sound of samba and the non-stop party in Lapa. What is there not to like??? I...

We left Michaels house at 11.00 am local time on Friday and after 3 planes, one car journey and one local bus we arrived at our hostel 8.30pm local time on Saturday. Including the time difference 38 hours on the go (24 hours in the air...). Exhausted is an understatement. Our journey... First we flew just over an hour from Durban to Johannesburg. This left us with a few hours in the airport where we spent our time in the bar (naturally). Next, was the 8 hour fl...