That's all folks....

Well, what a phenomenal journey it has been.  


We finished our time in Rio with a trip to Sugarloaf mountain.  As it had been raining all morning (yes, raining in Rio!!!), there was no queue to get in the cable car..WINNER... and then we had an evening of caipirinhas in a local bar - wahoo.

Halfway stage

Can you see the big Christ on the mountain?

By the helipad

Sugar...ah, honey honey

Don't look down

Tim even had a shot of cachaça to finish the night off - they warn you not to have too many of them as they are lethal!!  

Cocktail hour

They can make you go a bit whappy

Last night in Rio

A shot for the end of the night

Go on then, I'll try it!

Our last morning (before our evening flight) was spent buying Havaiana flip flops for everyone and then walking along Ipanema beach one more time.

Bye, bye Rio

One last stroll along the prom

It was great to see my mom and dad at Heathrow and I got a bit teary, but I have to say coming home has thrown up a mixture of emotions.... you realise that life just carries on as normal, and the routine resumes (even though neither of us is at work yet).  We'd love to go away again so we'll have to get planning our next adventure.

Home once more

Home, sweet home

After lunch today with Tim, mom and nan (for my mom's birthday), Tim and I have been for our usual 3.5 mile walk 'around the block'....it's funny missing out on spring in the UK as before we left there were hardly any leaves on the trees and it was dark at 5pm...but now it's summer and everything is green, it gets dark at 9.30pm and there is new life on the canal.  

Hitching a ride

Walking around the block

So, I think we need to see our return as a new beginning and we will carry with us some amazing stories and wonderful memories from Project Maracas, our 2014 South American Adventure.

It's been a pleasure to share this journey with you.

Lots of love to all,

Kate & Tim. xxx

Down at the Copa.....

.....Copacabaaaaana (Barry Manilow sing-a-long).

Maracas on the Copacabana

Chilling on the Copacabana

Rio is awesome....need we say more.

We are staying really close to the beautiful Ipanema beach and have already spent far too much time in the beach bars on Ipanema and Copacabana drinking 'chopps' of beer.  Mind you, today was more civilised as we had wine with our lunch instead....haha.

The girl from Ipanema goes walking

Ipanema chopp

Copacabana sun

Copacabana chopp

Waiting for sunset

Night night Copa

We have spent the morning doing a walking tour of the central area learning about the foundations of Rio and also went to the Selaron steps where Snoop Dogg and Pharrell filmed 'Beautiful' (which I now can't stop singing!!)

Wha oh oh oh.....

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Beautiful, I just want you to know, you're my favourite girl

We also went to the Cathedral....it's like nothing you've seen before...all nasty concrete on the outside but lovely on the inside.

It looks like something from Doctor Who

Let there be light

Looking out from within

Yesterday we went to see Christ the Redeemer, which is fab... The little train ride up there is really steep with great views, and the view of Rio from the top is incredible, if you can push past all the other tourists!!

Let's see those maracas

The view

The people

The maracas again

Tomorrow the plan is to go up Sugarloaf mountain as it is our last full day of our trip before we fly back to the UK on Thursday eve....we can't believe we'll be home by the weekend, but, like a true Brit would say, it will be nice to have a good old cuppa.

Hope you all enjoyed the bank holiday...we've had 77 of them in a row. Whoop. Thanks for following us on our journey. Xx

Rio De Janeiro - home of the world's most helpful bus drivers

We made it to the big Christ thanks in no small part to a very nice bus driver who stopped and told us to get off the bus as well as all the passengers who were saying 'Christ' to us...we thought we had to go to the last bus stop but thankfully they knew otherwise..but the question is...how could they tell we were tourists?? Haha.

Jesus....he's big

Water, water everywhere....

....so the Ancient Mariner said, and that's exactly how it's been over the last two days. The Iguacu Falls have been spectacular and wet!!

We'll let the photos do most of the talking but as a quick summary....we went to the Brazilian side of the falls where you get fab panoramas, we also went to the bird park which was great....then today we've been to Argentina (as you do) to get up close and personal with the falls culminating in a frantic boat ride under the falls. Absolutely amazing.  Rio awaits. Love to all. Xx mwah.

PS. There is a blog from Timmy underneath this one too. Xx

A few supplies from the local supermarket

Maracas on the Brazil side

Just a couple of beers for two

Toucan play that game

Long John Silver is here somewhere

The Devil's throat

Big water

More big water

Keep your hands inside the ride

Scream if you wanna go faster

A leisurely boat ride

Wahoo!!!!

Yikes, a jaguar!

After a waterfall shower it's time for a real shower, but where did I put those towels?