Well after our bus journey Raymondo was at Porto Alegre bus station to pick us up, he took us to his apartment on the outskirts of town where we had a little rest before having some lunch! This wasn´t any ordinary lunch, this was awesome, apparently the Brazilians have a fascination with buffet meals, and this was no exception, we had all kinds of stuff ranging from pasta to sushi. We had a look around Ray`s uni which reminded me of being back in Sheffielld and he introduced us to his friends. He took us into town to the tourist information centre and we had a look around the market which was very cool. That night we had dinner with his Auntie, his cousin and a couple of friends, very nice indeed!

The following day while Ray was at uni, me and the lads went on a tour of the city and took in a couple of museums and chilled out in the park, this was of course after we sampled another buffet lunch! That evening Ray introduced us to a couple of Brazilian traditions, the first of which being ´caipirinha´, which is an awesome drink consisting of crushed lime, vodka (more traditionally cashasa), sugar and lots of ice. After several of these it was time for our second tradition - the Brazilian BBQ. This was a restaurant that had about ten waiters circling the room with skewers of all kinds of meat in their hands, they came over to the tables and offered you whatever they had and asked how you preferred it cooked. Not only this but there was also another buffet table, full of salads and pastas, we stuffed our faces! There was even a little beer mat that you turned to green or red depending on whether you wanted food or not, mine was always on green!

The following day was the wednesday and the night of the big match and I don´t mean Man U - Chelsea! Gremio were playing in the Copa de Libertadores, the South American, Champions League, the whole place was buzzin, I´ve never seen anything like it! After having some more caipirinhas at Ray´s mates house we headed to a bar with some of his friends and watched the game. Gremio won 2 nil, which put them through to the quarter finals, it was as if they had won the thing! They were in the road jumping and singing, the cars could´t get passed, it was amazing, and naturally we joined in! A few more beers and it was time to head home.

The day after we spent recovering and also preparing for the evening where we to sample Porto Alegre´s prime nightclub, Ronaldinho comes to this place and rents the entire place, it was very special! After another evening sampling the night life, we headed for Passo Fundo to get a taste of a real Brazilian family and stay with Ray´s family the Salton´s!