Well its finally all over, we´ve somehow made it to Rio and have had the best time of our lives. Looking back, we´ve done so much in just 4 months!! Looking forward to going home to seeing my new house and family n dogs, but really dont wana stop travelling. Ah, I´ll be off again soon :)

Yeh so as vernon mentioned, the bus to Rio from BA took forever, was eventful! Didnt bother us much though, we just powered through, vernon by sleeping and me by just gazing. Finished my book early and without any music I was pretty bored, but luckily the Brazilians on the bus chose FANTASTIC movies to watch, ´john tucker must die´, a classic, and Únderdog´, my other fave film..... NOT.. we had that super dog film on the flight from chile to oz, and thought i would never have to sit through it ever again, just laughed when it came on again. what made it even better was that it was in near silence and in black and white with a dodgy shaky screen. Watched another dumb movie, and then we arrived at the border, near the Iguazu falls, gutted we couldnt go see them, but will be back. That night we had about 8 HUGE guys snoring stupidly loudly, i was going a bit insane, occasionally going fora wander and bashing into their seats to get a few mins peace as they woke up. About 7 hours later the sun came up and they awoke and we hada fairly pleasant journey to Rio, albeit without food stops and having absolutely no idea of how long we had left etc. We bought a radio for a bout 5 quid in BA, and it was pretty much useless whilst moving, but we occasionally received the pleasures of some classic 80/90 power ballad/love hits, i do actually love it and will be on the download when i get home.

Arriving in Rio was a real pleasure, Sao Paolo looked like a right mess to be honest but i wont judge it as we just passed through, but it really is a huge metropolis, it took around 3 hours to get out of the city and slums. Rio on the otherhand is trapped within huge towering mountains of all sorts of shapes, with the odd cloud wrapping around its summit. We snaked down windy roads and eventually flattened out and took the straight road into the city. Our first glimpse of a ´cocacabana´road sign was a relief and a half!

Taking a shower was amazing, never felt like more of a mess! the heat here is probably on a par with bali, gona be a shock coming home to 5C drizzle...

The people are so friendly, and all look like footballers, not just in the face, but the guys all wear tracksuit bottoms and sports vests. All along the beach are actually 7 aside size goals and marked out beach pitches, and lots of volleyball courts too. All better than any of our local park facilities! Football really is a passion here, id say even more than in argentina. our hostel for example is covered in footy photos and posters and scarves from around the world. in the streets the kids all hava footy at their feet and the instant we took our ball out onto the beach we had a game of skills or a game going, i love that.

played footy all day long, just stopping a few hours to surf in the morning. the surf was actually really really good in the corner of ipanema, and the sea warm. In the afternoon i had to sell my board much to my disappointment, as british airways no longer accept surfboards, its crazy. suppose i can always buy a new one, and ill be in america all summer so wont need it anyway. but it feels like i missing something at the moment. but i suppose theres no more trying to get a board into a taxi shennanigans!! was always fun. Last night we had our last meal as the locals do, the way we like to do it, we had a platter full of meat at a small corner bar where u just stand around and eat or sit on beer crates, watching the world go by.

So gona have breakfast now, fresh melon and cheese n ham sarnies, some coffe and biscuits then head down to the beach and catch the airport bus. we have a stop over in sao paolo then around 12 hours to heathrow maybe less.

Looking forward to seeing everyone, thanks for keeping in touch! XXX

really really hope we dont get Underdog the movie again on the plane. fingers crossed for a new movie! love the flgihts, free beer snacks meals and movies. luxury!

fave part of my travelling?? probably Bali, fave moments would have to be just chilling in hostels all around the world talking to people from all over the world. Really enjoyed thailand again, and it was great to see my old home in australia. my first time in south america didnt disappoint and ive fallen in love with the continent and will be coming back soon, for around 2 months with twice the money and will see the sights in the northern part of south america, and hopefully venture into central america too. Argentina was incredible, we had such a laugh, and sad as it may be, my highlight of south america was seeing Boca vs River Plate!! Unforgetable experience. I loved our beach life week in a small shack in mar del plata too, and buenos airies is a truly great fun exciting and vibrant city where we made great frienda and had fantastic times.

see you soon, mat, X