Monday - drive day, we head inland on an all day drive to Brotas. I've managed to nab my own tent so again - it's all about me time!! Tuesday - today we got up and went rafting for the morning - although it wasn't on a par with the rapids at home, we still had a blast and again it was a drown free experience. I'm officially a neapolitan ice cream colour though, with brown arms, a white tummy and pink legs after the experience, but it was all well worth it. Tomo...

Friday - it's a 9 o'clock start on the truck. We are giving a couple of the old team leaders a hitch down to Parati and the guy that I sit beside turns out to be from, Dunnos and went to Tairei High. The scenery for once is beautiful heading down the Emerald Coast (the scenery through the middle of Brazil was nothing to write home about - even though I did sleep through most of it). It took a bit of time to get to Parati, but was well worth the drive. Afte...

What a couple of weeks - Carnaval is utter madness and there is definitely no rest for the wicked. After a fairly arduous trip into Rio (seven hours on the road and then being stuck in a traffic jam for 2 hours in 36 degree heat at 7pm), it's time to say some fond farewells to people with a final dinner for the group. The restaurant was a buffet style BBQ place where you pick your salads and the waiters come round with gigantic slabs of carving meat - I've ...

Yay - We finally left Brasillia - We headed over to Chapada Dos Veadeiros National Park where we spent four nights. My roomie and I wisely decided on the 6 pound upgrade - it must have been women's intuition because the skies openned up and it poured down that night - definitely not the time to be sleeping in a tent. The next day we ventured into the National Park with a guide to go on a 10 km hike to some waterfalls - parts of the track were fairly steep but we...

okey dokey - it's late and I'm starving, so this is going to be quick.......the drive to the Pantanel was fairly uneventful - I've become especially good at sleeping on the truck, but I put that down to multiple years of 8 hour trips to see Nana when I was younger. I think the people on the trip reckon all I do is sleep - but the scenery is not very exciting and I need to conserve my energy, not exactly sure for what, but something. The Pantanel isn't quite on...