Out with a bang at Rio Carnival!

Blue body paint and lots of beer - it must be Carnival time!

In case you haven't heard of Rio Carnival (where have you been?) it is a festival centered around the samba schools of Rio de Janeiro. Over five party-filled days, the schools compete for the carnival title. This involves colourful floats, costumes, props and some serious dancing!

The samba parades are amazing but the most fun is had at the blocos. Huge street parties (organised or spontaneous), the blocos attract thousands of  revellers decked out in every kind of fancy dress imaginable. They usually involve little more than a truck with some speakers and a load of cheap beer, but the largest bloco in 2012 attracted over a million people.

Our first fancy dress effort was smurftastic. After several beers, 15 cans of body paint and some Jagermeister; 28 smurfs hit the streets. A trail of blue carnage was left in our wake and anyone foolish enough to touch us spent the rest of the day trying to de-blue themselves!

Another great one was the Sergeant Pepper bloco, featuring a Beatles tribute band. There is something special about singing "Hey Jude" with a million people dressed as pirates, superheros, mythical creatures and other wacky stuff.

I was staying with my good friend Jonny in his flat right next to Copacabana and Ipanema beaches. These beautiful beaches are packed during the day and claiming a piece of sand for your towel can be tough. On the upside, you are never more than five meters away from a guy selling cold beer. The beaches are almost as busy during the night - it's just that the guy selling beer is replaced with a prostitute selling...well you get the idea.

Jonny and his friends took me up a huge hill overlooking the city. To get there we had to walk through the Vidigal favela, an experience in itself. The favelas came into existence when huge numbers of people left the rural areas of the country and flocked to Brazil's large cities looking for work. The majority of these people had nowhere to live and no way of paying for accommodation so they just built basic huts on unused land. This was often the steep land on the side of the hills in the city which ironically has some of the best views in town.

The climb involved walking through people's porches, steps and even along a wall at one point but the view on the top was worth it.

I also trekked it up to the top of the Corcovado to see the Christ The Redeemer statue. The walk seemed like a good idea from the bottom but after losing half my body weight in sweat over the 90 minute climb, I began to see the merit of the extortionately priced air conditioned train.

There was a sign at the top that described the statue as the "largest art deco statue" and the "5th largest statue of Christ" in the world. I'm not sure who researches this kind of stuff but I was in no position to argue.

One thing that is certain, its a spectacular sight to see. Not just because of the statue, which towers above the hordes in 30 meters of solid concrete; but also because of the location. This is probably the best view of Rio, and what a magical view it is.

And that's all folks!

I am sad to say that Rio was the last port of call before I jumped on a plane back to London. Sun & sand have been swapped for snow & sleet and it is so cold that I am wearing all my clothes.

What a year it has been. I have stood at the furthest point from the centre of the earth, swam with pink dolphins in the amazon jungle, changed a flat tyre on the salt planes of Bolivia, picked coconuts in exchange for a hammock, fought muggers in the streets of Quito with a Lonely Planet guide, seen more glaciers than I can count, paraglided over a lake ringed with volcanoes and done a million and one other amazing things that I thought I'd never do.

My father has been keeping track of my movements on this map. I might not have taken the most direct route but a lot of ground has been covered this year!

But none of that compares to the people I've met along the way, which is the main reason I love to travel. I have spent time with some of the kindest, funniest and craziest people on this planet over the last 12 months! They are too many to mention but that is what has made it so special.

So that's the end of my travels (for now). I hope you've enjoyed reading the blog as much as I've enjoyed writing it. Until next time...

Sao Paulo, Paraty and Ilha Grande...

There is only way to really appreciate a city of 19 million people - view it from the top of a skyscraper.

Sao Paulo is a sprawling giant of a city that never seems to end. We took a trip up to the 44th floor of the Edifício Itália building for panoramic views around the city. Buildings stretch out in all directions - the city never seems to end.

Any city with 19 million people would have some good places to party, but when those people are Brazilian...well, good times were had. One odd thing that they do in the clubs is give you a drinks card when you enter the club. You use the card to pay for drinks throughout the night and at the end of the night pay the balance on the card. Turns out this is a bad idea because you don't really realise how much money you are spending until you get the bill. Lucky I am nearly at the end of my trip...

Next stop was the coastal town of Paraty. I kept reading this as "Party" and was wondering why there was a "Party" cyber cafe and a "Party" laundrette. To get there we had to go to the hilariously named Ubatuba and then stand on a local bus that took us the rest of the way. This was not ideal with a hangover.

Paraty is blessed with a lovely little colonial centre and some beautiful beaches. The cobbled streets of the old town must have the largest cobblestones in the world - some were 1sqm in size - which I am sure have claimed many a car's suspension in their time. Still, it looks nice.

We spent a day in Trindade, home to three beautiful beaches and some natural pools. The beaches got more and more stunning as we walked, until finally we were standing next to the natural pools - deep blue sea water surrounded with huge boulders and schools of tropical fish darting around the place.

Paraty also has a natural water slide. In the jungle there is a huge smooth rock face with a river running over it. You can slide down on your ass (or face first if you feel brave enough) and drop into a fresh water pool. Everyone who visits aspires to slide all the way down on their feel like the local guys. I managed was three meters before falling on my ass.

It is the tail end of rainy season but I have pretty much had sun and clear skies all the time I've been here - that ended when I visited Ilha Grande. The first two days on the Island involved lots of rain and hammock swinging, and swimming in the sea is much the same whether its raining or not. That said, I was glad when the clouds finally burned away so I could go snorkeling and visit Lopez Mendez beach, reportedly one of the top-5 beaches in the country.

The snorkeling was great! There is colourful coral and lots of fish. I even saw a turtle which was surprising as there were hordes of people splashing around with their masks on. Lopez Mendez is a beautiful white-sand beach where jungle meets turquoise seas and white sand. After the hordes had gone home it really lived up to the hype.

Well, I'm off to Rio for Carnival - my last stop on this trip. It will be good to go out with a bang! Here are some other things I have seen over the last week.

We came across hundreds of policemen practising their marching skills for a parade. For once, it was safe to take my camera out in the streets. Crime rates went up everywhere else in Sao Paulo.

Sonar beach, near Paraty. An hours walk in the jungle, but worth every step.

The team, looking cool in Trindade.

With all these boulders about, I couldn't resist a little climb.

Warm up for Carnaval in Paraty!

We were the last people on the beach in Lopez Mendez. What a day.

Curitiba and Ihla do Mel

The Island of Honey. How could I not visit a place with a name like that?

Ilha do Mel is a small island at the mouth of the Paranaguá river. Sandy beaches, a laid back vibe and good bars; the ilha was tailor-made for chilling out.

Yet another overnight bus was required, which got me as far as the town of Curitiba. I spend a night in a hostel which was both rubbish and expensive, but at least I was rewarded with some nice buildings on a walk around the old town.

After a short bus ride to Pontal do Sol (short meaning under four hours), I was on a boat to the island. After about 45 minutes on the island I bumped into Bill and Sam, who I'd met in Argentina, and we headed out to see some live music.

The island is beautiful, in a rugged kind of way. Jungle meets beach and occasionally there is the odd marshland in between. The beach is so shallow that you can walk about a mile into the sea before you need to swim but it drops off spectacularly after that, allowing huge container ships to pass through and up into the river.

Other than partying and lying on the beach, the only thing I achieved was a wander to the island lighthouse. This coincided with a tropical rainstorm that left us stranded on the other side of the island for a couple of hours - it was not worth it.

Well, batteries have been well and truly recharged so it's on to Sao Paulo for some partying! I will leave you a wonderful discovery I have made this week - Maracuyá (passion fruit) flavoured Fanta! Why don't we have this at home?!?!