A good sleep away from the traffic of SP. Spent a bit of time fiddling trying to download some e-mails but eventually decided to head on south. We got away again about 10 am, Beto this time having his turn of tearful goodbyes. For me the journey south now is all a new experience, Trish and I having travelled this far south the year before.

Our objective was to reach the border with Uruguay – a small town called Chuy. After passing the town of Tubarao with it's old steel bridge across the entrance to its huge pocket bay we headed to Porto Allegre. Soon after we got our first glimpses of the enormous Lago do Patos (lake of ducks) which accompanied us on our left for almost 200 km. By dusk we had reached the Nature reserve Taim – which brought back memories of the Okavango Delta. Filled with birds and ´bishos´- I got to see my first Capivara - a kind of a big beaver with whiskers and sharp teeth. Lots of them swimming around grazing, chewing and chasing the storks. We elected to stop in Santa Vitoria do Palmar a few miles short fo Chuy for safety reasons – border towns always resemble the wild west !

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