Our next leg of the trip started much like the others: a 5hour bus trip which took 9 hours, a crazy bus ride into town and a hunt for a hostel, which in this case, was the Cranky Croc Hostel. Our dorm consisted of 3 nocturnal people, which suited us quite well. We slept while they were out and they came home anytime btwn 6am and 10am, just as we were leaving for the day. Bogota is a nice city with a number of things to see. We went to the police museum, where we learnt more about Pablo Escobar (the drug kingpin who was shot down after a 499 day manhunt) and the different police sectors (public police service is compulsory for all men after school). We enjoyed a very different graffiti tour and learnt ... read more

Hi all!Hope this finds you all well. Thanks for informing us that it is the World Cup at the moment - would have passed us by completely! Also heard we won against Wales! The last week has been very eventful. Our extra days in Santa Marta were used to sleep and try to get rid of a bad case of gipoguts. We also stumbled upon a festival with some cool theatrical pieces and music, including a woman doing trapeze work while hanging from a rope held up by the fire dept´s crane! Unfortunately, the next day, two guys attempted to rob us while we were leaving a corner cafe. The two men flanked us and then held a knife to Marco´s side while reaching into his pockets. I ran for help while Marco just refused to ... read more

Wow. The past 2 weeks, we have experienced every emotion possible. We are enjoying our first 'comfortable' day - with not a single item of clean clothing left! Our boat trip from Belem - Manaus was the first test in animal behaviour. All the tourists pitch up 3 hours early (as told to us in the guide books) and then stand around waiting to board. You then grab you little piece of territory where you hang a hammock which is to be your home for the next 6 days. As new people board, you lie on the hammock and splay yourself as wide as possible, giving the evil-eye to newcombers who want to pitch their hammock up right next to yours. One becomes lost in a sea of hammocks as everyone lies on top of each ... read more

After running (and almost missing) our bus from Rio, we spent a leisurely 18 hours on a bus to Brasilia, Brazil´s capital. Despite having bought the cheapest tickets, the bus was great with ample leg room and good drivers. We soon discovered, however, that Brasilians have a bad habit of listening to music from their cellphones at any volume level and at any time of the day or night.We arrived in Brasilia to what reminded me of a bit of India - a chaotic bus terminal and no one really knowing what was happening. Our Ruigh Guide book let us down by leading us to a closed down hostel, another that didn~t answer their doorbell and a third very pricy one. We finally found something. Brasilia is a hot, dry, dusty city and we were both ... read more

Having said our final farewells at CT international, we settled into our seats excited at having our own TV with hundreds of games and movies. 24 hours later, neither movies nor games could keep us entertained any longer. Sao Paulo is a vast city, covered in a thick layer of smog. With a population of 18 million,most locals live in high rise buildings. We arrived in time for an Italian festival, where we ate Italian food and were shoved along in a midst of a throng of people. Brazil is a melting pot of races and culttures, seemingly connected only by a common language and country. I, Phillipa, have been surprised at my level of Portuganish (Portuguese and Spanish mix) and have been communicating successfully. After walking about 30kms in 2 days, my feet were blistered ... read more