A bike ride and a long plane flight

Ahhh, it was finally here, our last day in South America. Luckily we had a pretty big day planned which included exploring the city of Santiago one last time.

The lovely Santiago streets

We decided to pack our bags early and after being here for a few days already, the room and our clothes were still covered in confetti from the soccer match a couple of days earlier. This stuff was almost impossible to get rid of!

For today we had a bike tour planned which would start at 2:30pm and go until about 5pm. Our flight was at 2am so it was going to be a very long day indeed, so we wanted to make sure we were tired so that we could sleep well on the plane.

Time for a bike ride around Santiago

Again we went exploring, but it was a bloody freezing day so we had to rug up. Even Adam had gloves on which was a rare sight. By now it was about midday and we had found a nice little outdoor reastuarant with heaters that had the France vs Nigeria match playing.

So we settled in here for the match, but later had to bail given it was absolutely freezing outside. We walked about 100 metres only to find a nice little cafe that also had the game going, but inside and with the heater going. Doh.

We watched the second half in here and ordered some coffees and a delicious yoghurt cake. France went on to win 2-0 which was pretty cool given we had seen France play twice live already this tournament. By the time this finished it was about 20 minutes until our bike ride, so we headed off.

Meeting a new friend on our bike ride

On the way Adam dropped his phone smashing the screen, so it was not a great start to the bike ride. Luckily it was still usable so we were able to get some good photos still.

We met with out tour guide, a young girl in her early 20s name Nacha who was super nice. She had just completed university and was an English teacher, so that was good news for us given hardly anyone in Chile spoke English.

Nacha took us around the city and showed us all the parks and famous political areas. Along the way we even picked up a friend; a stray dog who followed us for about 75% of the way. Even when we stopped and went inside buildings, this dog would wait for us and then follow us again.

A pretty famous area of Chile

He seemed like a pretty nice dog, but at one intersection he went off and then come back with a pigeon in his mouth. He ended up killing it and leaving it on the side of the road as we were driving off. Not something you see every day!

It was a great tour. Chile has so much history, some of it pretty gruesome, and Nacha taught us heaps while keeping it nice and up vibe. We even stopped for a hot chocolate half way which was fun and she told us how much she loved soccer and how shattered she was when the Chileans lost to Brazil.

She gave us some ideas of how to spend the evening, telling us of this epic shopping centre just up the road. It was epic indeed, with about 8 levels of shops, so we settled in here for a few hours. We found a Hard Rock Cafe and watched the end of the Germany vs Algeria match, which Germany won 3-2 after extra time.

We then went exploring to kill a few hours and then came back to Hard Rock for tea. We both ordered haystack salads which we usually do when we go there. We then had another hour before going to the airport so went exploring some more.

Germany vs Algeria at the Hard Rock Cafe

It was then back to the hotel to collect our bags and then head to the airport. We booked a taxi which we were told would take 15 minutes, but after 35 minutes of waiting we decided to get one ourselves. Once we got to the airport we saw a massive line of people and yep, it was of course for our flight which had been delayed for 3 hours....

Luckily we were flying Premium Economy so we cut to the front of the queue and bought ourselves into the lounge. The wait was pretty good, Linnie made a bed and went to sleep and there was plenty of free food and drinks to be had.

Linnie enjoying a haystack salad

So instead of flying at 1:50am, we took off at 4:30am in the end. Within minutes of boarding the plane we were both sound asleep and missed breakfast. Before we knew it we were back in Sydney, and then in Melbourne, and then in Ballarat.

It was about 3pm by the time we got to Ballarat, so rather than go home we went to the movies to see 22 Jump Street, then it was time to finally head back home.

What a superb trip, some memories that will last forever and this blog has captured all the best bits. We can't wait to look back on here in years to come and relive it all again.

Our trip to The Andes

Today was our trip to The Andes. We had to get up early and meet our bus driver at 8:15am for what was a 1-2 trip up into The Andes. We rugged up as we had since found out that Santiago is one very cold place!

Enjoying ourselves in The Andes

Along the way we stopped for some breakfast at a BP equivalent and we stocked up on M&M's, chips and some drinks. We also had the chance to hire some snow boots and waterproof pants which later turned out to be an inspired purchase.

With all our supplies now purchased the next stop was The Andes, finally. We went along some very narrow and windy roads which were reminiscent of our trip to Cusco, but the scenery here was absolutely amazing. There were some epic houses in the hills which we have no idea how they got built.

Linnie looking like an angel

Now we were starting to get high and the green grass was now covered in white snow. Our first stop was a little town which was basically just restaurants and snow skiing shops, along with the chance to ski if you wished. We only had about 40 minutes here to explore, but it was good fun.

It was then back on to the bus and the tour guide said we were in for a treat as we got to go to a stop that they normally don't go to. We stopped by the side of the road in a paddock of snow and got to go exploring which was great. After a mini snow fight and falling over a few times in the snow, we had our fun and headed back to the bus again.

Holland vs Mexico at lunch

Our last stop was at the top of the hill where all the hotels, lodges and restaurants were, along with their famous snowfields. It was about midday and we had until 4:30pm to explore. After a bit of a walk around we found somewhere to have lunch and luckily they had the World Cup on.

Mexico were taking on the Netherlands and we got there in the second half right before Mexico scored to go up 1-0. We ordered some soup and hamburgers and settled in for the game. The Mexicans held a 1-0 lead for most of the second half before conceding a very late goal just before injury time.

Strange place to watch football

Then Arjen Robben took a dive in the penalty box and the Dutch received a penalty. They score in the 94th minute and claim a 2-1 win despite the disgust of many fans inside the restaurant. After that we decide to head on and do some more exploring.

We found a little snowfield and had a pretty cool snow fight, with snow everywhere from our hair down to our backs. Some Canadian's walked by and got some photos of us and we spoke to them for a while. They were pretty nice.

Time went pretty quick and we were then back in the bus. It was a long trip home, not getting back till about 6pm. We checked the scores from the Costa Rica vs Greece game and it was 1-1 after 100 minutes, but for some strange reason we couldn't get coverage on our hotel room television, so we set off looking for somewhere to watch it.

Ahhh, a home cook meal

After looking everywhere and realising we were going to miss the shootout, we walked past a phone shop which had a tv. We huddled at the window with about 50 others right when the shoot out started. Costa Rica ended up winning 5-3.

It was now tea time and given our hotel had a kitchen we decided to make a home cook meal. We found a local supermarket and made some stir fry and cooked mushrooms which was absolutely beautiful. It was our last night of the holiday which was pretty sad.

Heartbreak in Santiago, Chile

After a little sleep in we thought we'd go explore some of Santiago a bit. First impressions are this was a very nice city with a bit in common with European cities with plenty of bricks and cobblestones everywhere. We also noticed a lot of bakeries which was a change in scenery from Brazil.

Mapocho River with The Andes

Our aim today was to explore the city a little in the morning, then find somewhere to watch the much anticipated Chile vs Brazil second round match. We got quite a bit of luck coming in on the day that Chile were taking on Brazil and we knew it would be a big afternoon.

Without any idea where we were heading or where the festivities were we set off on our way and got ourselves a Berlinner for breakfast, basically a jam donut which was absolutely divine. They sold these in Germany so it took us back to our time there.

Next up we managed to find the Mapocho River which runs directly through the city from The Andes. There was a beautiful view of The Andes in the background which is what makes this such a beautiful city. We checked out a few stops and then realised the match was starting soon, so followed a few local fans kitted out in their Chile gear.

Chile vs Brazil time

That led us to a Fed Square type area that had a big screen, police everywhere and over 5,000 fans cheering as the game was shortly due to kick off. Of all the fans we saw on our Brazil trip, the Chileans were the ones who cheered the loudest and had the best chants and songs.

Listening to them belt out the national anthem was spine tingling. Kick off was just as exciting and the game started off pretty frantically. But things went quiet in the 18th minute when David Luis scored for Brazil and everyone dropped their head.

It didn't take long to get loud again as their star Alexis Sanchez scored an equaliser in the 32nd minute and the noise was absolutely deafening. They seem to celebrate their goals by throwing their beers in the air in which we were covered in, along with confetti everywhere. It was absolutely superb.

GGGGGOOOOOAAAAAALLLLLL

The two teams went into half time locked at 1-1 and that was the final score as well after they could not be split after 90 minutes. Next up was extra time and Chile almost stole the match in the last minute of extra time, only to hit the bar and fall agonisingly short.

Oh no, the dreaded penalty shootout! It was now a 50/50 and to say the fans were nervous was an understatement. It was an emotional roller coaster to say the least, Brazil had a 2-0 lead at one stage before some goalkeeping heroics from the Chilean keeper got them back to 2-2 on the final kick.

Covered in beer and confetti

Neymar stepped up for Brazil and made it 3-2. So here we go, if Chile missed this it was all over, if they hit it we continue on. Gonzalo Jara was selected to take the kick, much to the gasps of the fans. He stood up, took the kick and then saw the ball rebound off the side bar. Chile had lost :(

You could almost hear a pin drop. Chile fans were shattered, some on their knees crying, while most vacated the area pretty much instantly. It was actually pretty sad as we felt bad for them. The party afterwards would have been amazing had they won.

Columbia scoring vs Uruguay

Anyway after a day which saw us get soaked in beer and confetti and god knows what else, we headed back to the hotel and had a shower and asked the hotel clerk where we should eat tea. We also booked in a trip to The Andes for tomorrow which we were looking forward to.

We found a restaurant area and watched the Colombia vs Uruguay game with a bunch of Colombian fans. That was also good fun as they went on to win the game 2-0 and it was a pretty good vibe in there. After that we grabbed some tacos and headed on home to the hotel to round out a pretty exciting day.

Copacabana lives up to its name

Today we decided to splurge on breakfast and head to one of the nicer hotels along the beach called the Othon. With only a small amount of Brazilian money left we needed to save as much as possible for the taxi ride to the airport later on in the day, so we ate until we couldnt eat anymore with all great intentions of not eating until we got to the airport.

What an amazing beach this is

We slipped into our swimmers and took the back entrance of the apartment complex and swung back around to the beach, for some reason the door man won't let us out the front when we are dressed in towels and bathers...

Straight away we were offered some loungers to lay on and an umbrella to keep the sun off our faces, then he asked us if we needed any food or drinks to just call him over, he would even go and get us McDonalds if we wanted it, talk about amazing service! 

The beach was to die for, the sand as soft as pillows and the water was warm and inviting, until you got in too deep and it chucked out back out again, but Adam had the time of his life catching wave after wave, body surfing back onto the sand at great speeds, there really is no beach like it.

Saying goodbye to our room

We sat like this until about 2:30pm when we hesitantly had to leave so we could get to the airport in time, we could have stayed there all day. We called for our bill which we were 7 Real short for so the guy sent his little boy with us to collect the shortfall, a very trusting father considering he would have to get back through a 6 laned very busy road.

All packed up we left our little apartment, wheeled our luggage up the road and cheekily used the Othons concierge to book us a taxi, this worked out well as I didn't fancy standing on the side of the road hailing taxis like muppets.

These are two people we will NOT miss

Considering the roads were insanly busy the driver must have decided to take us on the back roads because we didn't remember seeing any of the old, graffitied and poverish scenery. We even drove past a favela which is the equivilent to a massive housing estate but for the very poor.

It took about an hour to get to the airport which was all in vein considering our flight had been moved from 7:10pm to 9:00pm... Not too happy as we could have spent a few more hours lounging on the beach.. So we set up camp at the airport and watched some tv whilst charging our devices.

Finally we boarded the plane which ended up taking off at about 9:45pm, this was Brazils final up yours to the public transport system, everything we have been on has been slow, delayed or terrible.. I hope they sort their shit out before the Olympic Games! 

Not what you want to see at an airport...

If I could sum up Brazil in a sentence it would be, An amazing counrty that ozzes potential, but is unfortunately run by idiots.

A few Zzz's later we find ourselves back in Santiago where it all started. With the time difference we got to our hotel at about 2am.. Happy to return to a spanish speaking country we were back to conversing with the staff and knowing what's going on. 

Our room was a very welcome sight, and even though we couldn't see much out the window of the taxi, Santiago looks to be a nice, clean, organised and friendly city that we can't wait to explore!

    

Day tour of Rio

This was one day we had been looking forward to for the entire trip. We had organised a full day tour of Rio, where a guide would take us to all the main attractions by car and give us a rundown on the history of the town.

Great way to kick things off

The tour did not disappoint. We were up nice and early to meet our guide Matilde at 7am. First off the ranks was a visit to the Christ The Redeemer statue. Matilde was amazing, she got us to the front of the queue and on to the very first train ride up to the top of the mountain, which was about a 20 min trip.

At the top of the mountain the first thing we saw was the massive Christ statue which was truly impressive. We also got 360 degree views of Rio which you can see in the photos. It was a fabulous start to the day.

An amazing view

By getting up there so early we missed the big queues of people and the waiting in lines for photos, plus not to mention the long queue to get back down the mountain. Booking this tour with Matilde was already paying off!

Next up was a trip to Sugar Loaf Mountain which was just as impressive as the Christ mountain, maybe even more so. Again Matilde got us to the front of the line, literally cutting in front of over 100 people and probably saving over an hour of waiting.

Sugar Loaf Mountain is famous for the trolley carts that take you to the top, and was the spot where the Portuguese first came when they discovered Rio. It took two trolleys to get us to the top, with the first stop including a heap of shops and food outlets.

Sugar Loaf Mountain

They had a "create your own fruit salad" bar which was epic and needs to be opened in Ballarat! Next stop was to the top of Sugar Loaf and we again got amazing views of Rio from a different angle. This is one amazing city and we had only just begun.

Next we went downtown to see some beaches and the city centre which included some old buildings dated hundreds of years old. There was also a protest going on with some dude dressed as Batman, something you don't see every day.

The Buddy-Bears

We also got to see a huge church in the middle of the city which was shaped like a massive cylinder. Neither of us are religious people, not even in the slightest, but it was hard to not be amazed by the sheer size and design of this place. It would be amazing to be in a service at this place.

It was then on to the Selaron Stairs, another famous landmark of Rio. They were created by artist Jorge Selaron who over 20 years transformed a huge staircase in one of the rundown suburbs into a staircase of colours and tiles, which are now world famous. It was pretty amazing to see.

Who is this cheeky bugger?

Ipanema Beach was next. This is the beach where the luxury houses and rich people live and it was pretty impressive. It was beautiful scenery and what looked like big waves and warm water, certainly a beach we hope to swim at.

After a long but fun day, we were dropped back at the hotel. We decided to go for a walk on Copacabana beach and head down to the fan fest to watch the Russia vs Algeria match. Both teams were fighting for a second round berth, but it was Alegeria that prevailed.

Algeria vs Russia at Rio Fan Fest

We then went for tea at a pretty cool italian restaurant, which eventually turned out to be packed with Australians, surprise surprise. We then went back to the restaurant we had tea at the night before and had an awesome desert and coffee, then went back to the hotel to catch some zzz's.

Cycle and the Maracanà

Today was our first full day in Rio and it felt good not having to follow around a group of Aussies and do our own thing again.

Sipping on a coconut at Sugar Loaf

First on the cards was a bike ride around Rio, our guide Philip was a nice Dutchie who took us to all the main sights starting with the Copacabana Beach, then onto the Sugar Loaf Mountian area and then through some back streets where we stopped at a bar, or a dirty foot as they call them, for some drinks and snacks.

We then cruised to the famous Lagoon which is an impressive fresh/salt water lake that will hold the rowing events for the next Olympics, we could also see the Christ the Redeemer statue which overlooks this huge Lake. 

Linnie riding with Christ The Redeemer in the horizon

Then we made the round trip to Ipanema beach which lead us back to Copacabana, a quick 3 and a 1/2 hours and 24kms of information overload.

By this time it was getting pretty warm, about 30 degrees, so we changed into our swimmers and hit the beach. The water was beautiful but at the same time it was so rough and strong, after getting wiped out a few times by some huge waves we decided it was best to just chill on the sand and lay in the sun.

France vs Ecuador at the Maracana Stadium

Next stop was the very much anticipated trip to the Maracanà stadium for our last taste of World Cup action to see France Vs Ecuador, the most famous football ground in the world. It was famous for holding 199,856 people for the 1950 World Cup Final.

After a trip on the subway which dragged on for about an hour we arrived a tad late, but we managed to get there just in time for the national anthems and the players walking out. This stadium was nothing short of incredible and certainly lived up to expectations.

A packed house

The game ended 0-0 which was our first goalless match of the trip. However despite the lack of goals, it was a very entertaining match with plenty of attempts on the Ecuador goal with their superstar keeper making some miraculous saves.

One thing that stood out was the amount of police and military outside the ground. We passed through at least 200+ authorities just near the gate, all wielding weapons and full body armour  a far cry from what we are used to back home.

A view of the stadium from outside

With the match now finished we had a 30 minute walk back to the subway, another hour on the train and then arrived back to Copacabana pretty tired. The subway was heaving and you could barely move on the train, so it was a bit of a nightmare.

We decided to hit the sack as we had another early start tomorrow for a full day tour of Rio. All in all, another awesome day.

Back in the air, goodbye Fanatics :(

It was a sad day today, to be leaving The Fanatics felt like our holiday was at an end, no more Aussie games or massive parties and most of all no more seeing all our new friends everyday. It was like leaving school all over again.

Copacabana beach is stunning

We pop in for our last breakfast and on the way out have a quick goodbye to our friends from Melton, Con and Ray, super top guys who we have shared many a meal with.. Sure they're probably in their late 50's but they were a pleasure to be around and gave us lots of laughs.

All checked out we head for the taxi only to find an airport bus dropping someone off next door.. Hmm.. I go up and ask the driver if he is going to the airport and sure enough he was, we scored a bus! $12 for 2 compared to about $60 sounds pretty good to me!

Get away from our food ya cheeky bugger

We check in at the airport, which is a bit of a process, you have to do it yourself on the self serve check ins now which would be ok but some of the info they want off you is just totally irreverent! We had to get the attendant to help us as our reservation wasn't showing up, one panic attack later and she finds us on the manifest.. Phew!

The flight only took about an hour and we had touchdown in Rio, it felt good to be back, even if we were only there for a total of 6 hours on our first day in Brazil. 

Driving into Copacabana our heads were going back and forth to each mountain looking for the redeemer statue, Adam spotted him high up on the hill, it's going to be great to go up there and see first hand how huge and domineering it really is.

Chilling out during the Colombia vs Japan match

We get dropped off out the front of our apartment which was in an awesome sport right on the beach, the hotels were stupidly expensive so we ended up booking an apartment off airbnb.com which is pretty much a place for people to rent out their own private residences. 

It wasn't too bad inside considering it cost the same as one night would have in a 12 dorm hostel.. No kidding the hotel prices were that ridiculous, some people are even sleeping out on the beach at night because they can't afford the accomodation. 

So we drop our bags, strip off to short and singlets and make a bee line for the beach, even the water was warm, Rio is going to be amazing!

Copacabana looks even better at night time

The fan site was on the beach so we walk on over and watch the Uruguay V Italy match with the water lapping our toes the entire time, it reminded us very much of the last World Cup where we would watch games while we swam at Durban beach, I'm sure we will be doing this again very soon here.

Starving hungry after our big morning we grab some lunch at a nice little cafe literally on the beach, whilst waiting for our food we were approached by a number of people and offered to buy a nice little coin purse, key rings, soccer tops, sarongs, peanuts and then necklaces... Honestly people, bugger off! 

We head back to a spot near our apartment and watch the next double header match Greece Vs Ivory Coast and Columbia V Japan, both were cps heaping up to be cracking games as this group was wide open for qualifying. 

Buying some artwork for our house

After we finish our drinks it's half time and we decide to go for a wander. We trapse up and down the streets, popping into shops until we are running on empty. We spot a Pizza Hut and decide to go in and see what it would be like. All was normal until we saw the prices, $30 au for one pizza!

Wtf! It was daylight robbery but we were hungry and tired so we got stuck in anyway and found that the pizzas are pretty much the same as home, just more expensive.. You learn something new everyday ;)

We have a bit of a rest before we head out on the town to check out the night life, soccer fans still everywhere and a lot of cops, there was a very cool night market and an art display set up in the middle of the road so we go over and have a sticky beak at the local talent.

We weren't disappointed, we ended up finding this amazing abstract painting of a beach in California, it was love at first sight so we get it rolled up, bagged and mark a spot in our house to hang it.

Off to bed but not before a big scoop of Brazilian gelati to curb that nasty sweet tooth, a great way to end any night.

Australia vs Spain matchday

The big day had finally arrived and we were pretty excited. It was the last match for Australia, but given we were playing against Spain it meant we got to see some of the greatest players in the world, as they had won the previous World Cup and the past two European Cups.

Kicking off the day at Batel Castle with everyone

We kicked the day off with a buffet breakfast, then we all met up as a group and walked to this huge castle setting in the middle of the city which included free food and drinks, plus guest speakers.

This castle was huge, we're not sure the history of it but it was pretty lavish. We enjoyed a few beers and mini hamburgers, listened to some of the guest speakers and caught up with a heap of friends we had made on the trip so far.

Early morning beers, food and guest speakers

It was the last time we'd see most of these people as we were leaving the tour in the morning for Rio, while they kick on to Sao Paulo. We had met some good people and had good times and made memories for life.

There were about 2000 people at this place, but the best bit was yet to come. We all walked as a group for 2km to the stadium, everyone chanting and making noise. The locals absolutely loved it as they looked out on their balconies, or beeped their car horns or gave us high fives as we walked past.

2000+ Aussie fans walking to the game

The match was played Arena da Baixada, it was the stadium that they had barely finished building in the lead up to the Cup. We weren't expecting big things, but it was absolutely fantastic.

Inside the stadium the atmosphere was electric. Australia easily outnumbered the Spanish with yellow everywhere, and it was loud, real loud.

Australia started well and held their own in defence, but that was about as good as it got. A-League bound David Villa broke the deadlock in the 36' minute with a nice back heel as Spain went into the break with a 1-0 lead.

Arena da Baixada is one impressive stadium

It was much of the same in the second half as Fernando Torres and Juan Mata scored in the 69' and 82' minute to round out a convincing 3-0 victory. But it was good to know that every goal scored by one of their stars would have been more of a dagger for them than us, given they were already eliminated.

Despite the loss, everyone was still in pretty good spirits about a pretty good World Cup campaign. We lost all three games, but we proved we have a pretty good future with some exciting players coming through.

After the match we had an hour or so to find somewhere to watch the final Brazil group match, they were playing Cameroon.

Fuleco enjoying his last Australian match

We managed to find a group of about twenty Aussies and found a pretty cool Sports Bar / Nightclub called the Santa Marta. It was jam packed full of 800+ mad football fans, so we really got to experience what a Brazil match was like.

Brazil had taken a 2-1 lead by half time and by that stage we were almost deaf. These guys like to cheer, and I mean seriously cheer. They were jumping around, dancing and absolutely loving it.

At about 70' we decided to leave and check out some festivities at another place to experience somewhere else before it ended. One of the main busy streets was literally a ghost town, not a single car in site bar a couple here and there.

The Brazil streets literally shutdown on match day

People were huddled around shop windows scrambling to find a television to watch the game, while others were huddled around radios trying to listen to the game. The vibe was great and something Australian's wouldn't understand.

Not long later we heard fireworks going off (or maybe gun shots, who knows!) plus cheers around the city and car horns beeping. So we could only assume Brazil had scored another goal. When the match ended people were everywhere cheering on the streets. They had won 4-1 and topped the group.

We grabbed a few more drinks, then headed out for some desert and then headed back to the hotel. It was another awesome day and one we'll never forget.

Party town to The Big City

We head to the buffet breakfast (seriously, how are we not getting fat?!) have our fill and then await the bus to Curitiba. The fanatics staff assured us that it would only be around 4 hours so we check the not so reliable google maps and from our hotel to the next it said 4.5 hours.. Someone's pulling our leg here..

Curitiba is one beautiful city

Being burnt by the last bus trip we prepared for about 6 hours and it wasn't too far off. Our bus collectively decided that we didn't want to stop for lunch (such a waste of time!) so we burned on through and after only one breakdown that lasted about 20 minutes we arrive at Curitiba after 5 hours of high speed, death defying bus driving.

We jump off the bus and within about 5 minutes, without even having the old long trip stretch, a Channel 9 reporter had a mic in our face asking us about the next Aussie game against Spain... Shit, stage fright kicking in... So I miraculously pull an answer from god knows where and it ends up on tv back home, hell yeah!

View of our hotel room

Our hotel was quite swanky, it looked like something out of an old movie with attempts to modernise it gone wrong, everywhere you looked there was redwood, in the floors, beds, walls, bathrooms and all the doors.

We put on our walking shoes and head for Parque Barigui which is a HUGE lake with a running, walking and cycling track going all the way around it. 

The official FIFA fan site was meant to be here but they decided to change it to an old quarry that's about 1.5 hours away on foot.. Smart... This park would have been perfect, think Lake Wendouree x 10.

Curitiba streets at night

We weren't sure what was going on there but every second person had a Van Halen tshirt on and had about 10 piercings on their face and wore all black. Not judging but why would hundreds of emos be hanging out at a park.. It was odd.. 

So we do a lap, take it all in and then head out for some lunch/tea, we end up at a place called Subs which is an 80's American type place that has all the usual burgers and subs so we settle for a baked potato stuffed with beans and corn chips, we get a nacho and a potato in one, it was delicious!

Checking out some night market

After bumping into some Aussies on the street we find out that there is a Parque de Espanà where it was all happening in terms of the World Cup, so we head on down there and it was heaving!

The USA Portugal game was about to start and safe to say every place we tried that had a tv was so packed that there wasn't any room to even stand. 

We end up leaving and head in the direction of the hotel to find somewhere but it was the same everywhere we went, packed house, so we dropped into a supermarket, stocked up on snacks and shaked up in our hotel room to watch the end, who needs other people to enjoy football and sugary foods!

Pool, sun baking and an epic cake!

After a nice sleep in we head off to our buffet breakfast and have a feast for the ages and then head out to the beach, towels in hand to lay in the sun and watch the world go by.

Nice morning for a lie on the beach

It isn't the warmest of weather so we didn't swim but we head back to the hotel and jump back in the heated pool instead. Turns out a few of our fanatics friends Az and Raz were in there too.

So we hung out there for a good two hours playing around with a soccer ball, a football and watching the slightly drunk Raz do back flips into the pool, we even made a whirlpool in the spa which got us all laughing.

Perhaps the nicest cakes of all time

After this we headed into town to watch the Germany V Ghana game and found a cute little cake shop that had a mouth watering selection of delicacies, so we ordered out usual hot chocolate and cappuccino and picked out a strawberry/custard tart topped with a thick layer of soft chocolate ganache, talk about scrummy!  

While we were eating we had extremely good live playing music in the background, what sounded like an entire band turned out to be one very talented guy that could play the shit out of an electric guitar.

This guy was a wizard on the guitar

A quick stroll around town saw us back at our hotel getting stuck into the buffet for the last time, Brazils food is a bit like ours, a mixture of everyone else's cuisine all mixed up. 

We watch the last game of the day and have a few drinks with the rest of the fanatics before we head off to bed, Florianopolis has been the perfect in between city to recharge our batteries and catch some sun before we head off to Curitiba tomorrow where it's been close to 0 degrees!

Beach, markets and a huge rave

The sun was up and out this morning to we got up bright and early and went for a walk along the beach.

The weird things you see on a Brazilian beach

The tide was up so there wasn't too much beach to walk on but the sand was white and sparkly and the ocean calm, it was quite peaceful. 

We spotted a guy that had dogs pulling a cart with more dogs in it, all off the dogs were tiny which made it look so bizarre. The owner just followed along side with a giant whip to make sure they're all keeping in line, I couldnt help but stop and stare, crazy Brazilians..

One of the Florianpolis islands

We strolled back to our hotel and jumped on a bus for a tour of Florianopolis and it's surrounds.

The first stop was an amazing beach where we climbed up onto some rocks and were treated with an amazing view of the entire coast line. 

We then went on to our lunch spot where we visited a huge shop that just sold Havanias and then ducked into the Black Swan pub to watch the first half of the Costa Rica v Italy match.

A packed Black Swan for the Italy v Costa Rica match

As usual it only took about 15 minutes for the pub to be filled with Aussies and the long wait for food starts, out bus was due to move on at 2pm and we only got our food at 10 to, so we had to scoff it down and then speed off to the bus, we made it... Just!

Next and last stop was to the city center where we went to a market and hit the shops which weren't overly impressive for a rich part of Brazil so we found a cafe after a lot of searching and had some coffee and a very tasty banana/apple pie. 

Linnie enjoying the bus trip

After some more exploring we headed back to the busses and arrived back at our hotel to get ready for the huge party that the Fanatics were throwing for not just us, but all the locals as well.

10pm and it was time to hit this rave, the bus we went on was awesome, it was more like a limo than a bus and we got to sprawl out on a sofa and weirdly enough play dominoes with some other guys that were on there.

The epic Fat Boy Slim gig

The venue was insane, we walked in thought the VIP entrance and were surrounded by a white curved room filled with lights, pumping music and disco balls, this was pretty cool until we stepped outside and found a huge outdoor structure rigged with hundreds and hundreds of lights and it was going off already!

We had our own area for the fanatics and the rest was pretty much filled with thousands of locals, with Fatboy Slim DJing later on I think he brought out half the city, the place was buzzing.

As we were waking out there was still hundreds of people piling in, it was going to be a big night in Florianopolis!