5 things every traveller should know about Brazil

No.1. You might have to search for an ATM that accepts your card 

We'd not had any problems getting money out of the ATM in any country in South America. Then we got to Brazil. 

After crossing the border, we headed, with our bags to the nearest cash point. It wouldn't accept either my or James' card. Neither would the next two that we came across.

After traipsing around town in the heat with our backpacks, we finally found one that would take my card and got our hands on some dosh.

Rainy rainy Rio

By the Arcos de Lapa in the rain

After our successful and sunny day in Rio visiting the sugar loaf and the Christ the Redeemer statue, the rest of our stay in the city was unfortunately very wet.

Rio is very much a city to be enjoyed in the open air. But no matter, with our long experience of rainy British summers to help us, we were determined to get the most out of our time in the city, even if we did get a bit soggy.

The tale of the Sugar Loaf and the White Christ

The sugar loaf from Flamengo

We are lucky to have a friend in Rio de Janeiro, who let us stay with him while we were in town. He lives in the Flamengo area of the city with

Our top eight travel apps

We use a number of different apps when we are travelling to make help us on our way. Here our eight favourites.

Number eight: XE Currency Exchange is a money exchange app, which when it links to the internet gives you the latest up to the minute exchange rate for pretty much every currency across the globe. Its a massively useful app when

Where we stayed - Chile

The courtyard at Hostal Iquisa

San Pedro de Atacama -  The small family run Hostal Iquisa is a quiet and relaxing hostel, 10 minutes out of town. Several reviews on hostelworld complain

Beautiful Bonito!

From the Pantanal, we headed to Bonito – a town known for its proximity to some of the clearest and most beautiful rivers in the world. 

Nine South American Sunsets

A paddle in the Pacific

1. Lima: Our first South American sunset was in Peru's capital Lima, where on day one of our 6 month trip, I enjoyed my first ever paddle in the Pacific Ocean as the sun

The rest of our time in the Pantanal

Sunset in the Pantanal

The highlight of our visit to the beautiful Pantanal in South-West Brazil was undoubtedly the jaguar sighting on our first day. However, we also enjoyed the rest of our stay at the Pousada Santa Clara - which is about 5 hours out of Campo Grande.

Jaguar!

I hear our guide call out “Jaguar” in a loud stage whisper and see him pointing to the bank of the river. At first I see nothing and think he is joking, but then sure enough, between the trees and bushes, I see her eyeing us suspiciously.

Watching the World Cup in Argentina

Is that James...? Or Lionel Messi??

James and I are not really football people. However, we couldn't help but get into the spirit when spending the whole of the Brazilian World Cup in 2014 in neighbouring football mad Argentina.

Living in England, I thought I knew what a football mad nation looked like. How wrong could I be?