Jerry Jerry Jerry!

Boy was it great to get out of Curitiba the same night of the game. I couldn't bear hanging around with all the Aussies commiserating and congratulating. The perfect place to go was a beach town with nice weather and luckily that's what we had booked!

Jericoacoara (jerry-kwah-kwahra) is an old hippy town about 4 hours west of Fortaleza, right on the north side of Brazil. These days it's a bit like Byron - hippy pretenders, a handful of weed dealers and city slickers who've decided the city is no longer for them.

It's a nice place though - beautiful beaches and minimal development while still having the nicest shopfronts outside of the malls in the bigger cities. The streets are just sand too, so you have to get a 4wd to get you the last 10km.

Aside from some relaxing R&R we joined up with Tyler and the USA crew. Nina and I met Tyler in South Africa at the last world cup and I travelled along the garden route with him for the best part of a week....so it is good to catch up 4 years later!

Jeri is best known for it's sand dunes, beaches and wind sports and it definitely didn't disappoint! If it wasn't so far from Australia, I'd definitely recommend spending a few weeks there for a holiday.

The only downside to our Jeri experience was on the way back to Fortaleza and seeing possibly my first dead guy. He'd been hit on his motorbike and judging by the lack of activity by the onlookers and police, there didn't seem much likliehood he was getting up anytime soon. Definitely brings you back to reality as to how fragile life is.

The beachside town of Jericoacora in Brazil's far north. A 4 hour trip from Fortaleza, including a jeep over the sand dunes just to get there.

All the tourists make a dash for the dune close to Jeri at dusk to watch the sunset directly in front over the ocean.

We stayed at a hostel for the first 2 nights before moving to a Pousada to meet up with Tyler and company. Our hostel dog followed us after we left for the best part of the day to make sure we arrived at our new accommodation safely.

The constant winds at Jeri mean that it is a great location for kiteboarding.....so I took my first lesson with Eddie and Tyler!

My 14 year old kiteboarding instructor who could only speak Portugese managed to get me up on the board successfully!

Nina sipping away on one of her first Caipirinha's as we watch the sunset. This was followed by many, many, many more over the coming weeks until we realised it is comprised of about 1/3 cup of sugar for each drink

Tyler and Eddie enjoying the sunset.

A good night out dancing to a Samba band.

Dinner with live tunes. Jeri had lots of little restaurants with good food and good tunes.

Hi Nina! Notice the crocodile with boobs in the background.

Adult Daycare

After the highlight of Iguazu Falls, Campo Grande, a surprisingly city of 800k people, was next stop as the jumping off point for the Pantanal.

The Pantanal is supposedly THE place to see animals, more so than the Amazon. Snoozeville is more like it - well at least when the water level is high.

5 hours from Campo Grande and we settle into our tiny room on a moored boat....not quite the P&O Fairstar. Over the next few days we had planned a jeep safari, jaguar spotting by boat, piranha fishing and wildlife spotting on horse.

Do you remember as a kid doing school holiday programs where you were taken on pointless activities just to keep you busy? Unfortunately this was our tour....not much in the way of wildlife, sticking a piece of bamboo in the water and calling it 'piranha fishing', a 'jeep safari' which was just driving down the main road plus a guide who didn't really talk. What a rip!

Viva la Brazil

Crossing the Brazillian border was a piece of cake compared to the military like grilling you get in Canada or Australia....plus Nina has carried almonds through 4 countries now. In Australia you get prison time for that.

The morning in Brazil was spent on their side of the Igaucu falls, which in my opinion was much better. Nice panoramic views and a viewing platform right in the heart of the falls themselves. A gold star from me. Apparently we missed the bird sanctuary across the road though, which from what I hear was pretty amazing as well.

Following on from the falls we decided the first 18 hour bus ride wasn't painful enough and chose to take a much crappier overnight bus to Campo Grande about 10 hours away. It was my first experience seeing the 'middle america' greyhound patrons of Brazil. Mullets exist hear too.

It seemed like a good idea at the time….

17 hours on the same bus without so much as a single stop seems a bit silly when you’re near the end. All for either a glass of whisky or champagne and to save a few quid.

Next time we’re this silly we will at least pick the scenic seats. Hopefully the waterfall at the end makes it all worthwhile.