Goodbye South America - Hello New Zealand

We've had a fantastic three and a half months in South America and visited some amazing places that we'll never forget, but we're not sorry to be leaving. We may be back again one day though as we still have the Amazon and the countries in the north to tick off.  We covered a lot of ground which meant a lot of hours spent just travelling from A to B which was sometimes quite tedious - we're very good now though at just sitting around/travelling for hours!   We also won't miss group travel which could be quite draining at times, although most of the people we travelled with were lovely we much prefer to do our own independent thing.   Independent travel though was not an option for us in South America due to the language barrier, which could be difficult at times.

We flew from Sao Paulo to Santiago where we were in transit for six hours before boarding our connecting flight to Auckland. Santiago was a lovely airport though, lots of shops to look around and nice restaurants so the time flew by.  We boarded our LAN airlines 10:40pm plane to New Zealand and then the fun began.  Soon after were told there would be a 50 minute delayed take off as they were still refuelling?  We sat for two hours on the plane waiting eventually to be told the flight was cancelled due to a technical fault and would be rescheduled for 3pm the next day.  We were all told we'd be put up in a hotel in Santiago for the night but the communication as to what to do or where to go was appalling.  After exiting through customs and collecting our baggage we finally found where to get a bus to a hotel. The bus driver though obviously didn't know where the hotel was as he stopped to ask directions a couple of times.  Our bus dropped us all at the Novotel hotel, much to the hotels surprise, they knew nothing about the cancelled flight!  We were near the front of the queue so easily got a room, not sure if the people at the back did though. 3:30am we finally got to bed.  One bonus the hotel was lovely and served a great breakfast, somewhere we never would have paid for as over our budget.  We were picked up at 11am the next morning to return to the airport. We checked in again and luckily the flight left without any problems on time.

We arrived in Auckland at 8pm, should have been 4am, 16 hours later than scheduled losing a day of sightseeing.  New Zealand customs are renowned for being strict, we had to declare our walking boots and tent because we'd been backpacking in remote areas.   They were very friendly though and quick.  Our tent was taken for inspection but returned ten minutes later, we were on the shuttle bus and at our hotel for 9:30pm.  It is so nice though to be back in a country that speaks English, drives on the 'right' side of the road i.e. on the left, has decent cups of tea and that has a proper sewage system so we can throw loo roll down the toilet again!  This takes a bit of thinking about, throwing loo roll into a bin for three and a half months had become routine for us.

SAO PAULO

Our last morning in Rio, we had breakfast, packed then had a final wander and drink on Copacabana beach before catching a taxi to the airport to fly to Sao Paulo.   Here we met up with a good Brazilian friend of mine, Patricia, who spent a year living in the UK.  Patricia met us at the airport and took us to her mums house in Sao Paulo where she lives most of the time.  Her mum had been excited to see us, serving us drinks in her best cup and saucers thinking we were posh English people like Will and Kate!   Her mum served us a light lunch then Patricia took us for a drive around Sao Paulo and along Paulista Avenue.  We had a wander around some of the shops and art/craft stalls, ate ice cream then went for a lovely meal in the evening.  It was a public holiday day so busy everywhere.

The following day we headed out to Patricia's house in the country, near Botucatu, a three hour drive from Sao Paulo.  We were told Sao Paulo traffic was a nightmare and usually gridlocked, we were extremely luckily the roads out of the city were moving freely because of the holiday day. We stopped for a break on the way at a retail outlet shopping centre where Nigel finally found a 2014 World Cup T-shirt at a bargain price.  We drove a bit further then stopped for a delicious lunch, parmigiana - thinly sliced breaded beef covered in a tomato and cheese sauce.  There is a lot of Italian influence in the food in Brazil.  Just a short drive further and we reached Patricia's beautiful house in the countryside where we stayed for two nights.  It was in a beautiful setting, very peaceful and relaxing.  We had a lazy afternoon chilling and Patricia and I went on a short walk to a small pond and just got back before it started raining.  Patricia was happy to see the rain, it was supposed to be wet season but there's been no rain for the last twenty days or more. Sao Paulo is in a state of emergency for water supplies due to lack of rain for the last year.  In the evening we went out for pizza to a local restaurant.

The next day we all went for a longer walk around where Patricia lives.   We saw loads of lovely birds and plants and what we think were Cougar tracks.  Walking back we got soaked as it rained again but it wasn't cold.  Patricia and I jumped in the car and went for a coffee at a local estancia where they sell loads of local organic produce.  We then drove back to pick up Nigel from the house and went for lunch at another lovely local rustic cafe serving traditional Brazilian country buffet food. We had another lovely lazy afternoon, siesta time.  It was lovely to just spend time with Patricia relaxing in her lovely house and not be rushing here there and everywhere doing the tourist thing, thank you Patricia x.

We we up early on our last day in South America leaving Patricia's house at 6am to drive back to Sao Paulo to fly to New Zealand.