07.37 We’ve woken up in São Paulo and Brazil. On the radio we can hear "Sign Your Name" being sung by Sananda Maitreya Francesco, or as he used to be known as, Terence Trent D'Arby, It is cloudy outside and the track just ended.

08.50 We’ve just had a hearty hotel breakfast with supersweet grape juice. We are about to take a stroll around in our home city. Like yesterday, it's World Cup football today so we have to plan our hours and minutes between the matches meticulously.

Peter is having breakfast at Hotel Rojas.

09.14 We’ve decided to walk along our "homestreet" Avenida São João towards the central parts of São Paulo. In downtown São Paulo, there are many homeless here people who sleep wrapped in thick blankets. Most of them are still asleep at this hour.

09.27 We’ve entered Vale do Anhangabaú. Anhangabaú means "evil spirits" in the ancient native american language Tupi-Guarani. We’ve not encountered any demons yet, but here is a large tent in the form of a half-football. It is quiet there now but it will probably be more hustle and bustle here when the World Cup matches gets going later today.

We are walking towards Anhangabaú, the valley of the evil spirits. The red football is a tent.

The monastery São Bento from the 17th century.

Saturday shoppers on Rua 25 de Março.

09.38 We’ve walked further and have passed the São Bento subway station and then we ended up completely unplanned on the shopping street Rua 25 de Março. From here we will now try to take ourselves to the monastery with the same name as the station, São Bento. There is football on TV already at 11.00 so we are under some time pressure. There is something familiar with the name São Bento. But I can’t figure out what.

09.55 We’ve kept on walking and we are far from alone. We’ve seen the monastery of São Bento, which is completely surrounded by modern buildings. This applies to almost all historic buildings here, monasteries, churches, etc. They are quite difficult to find because they usually are completely surrounded by high buildings. We’ve now reached the square Pateo do Collegio, which loosely translated means "school playground". São Paulo was founded at precisely this place already in 1554. It all started as a missionary station founded by some Jesuit monks.

Pateo do Collegio, the start of São Paulo was here in 1554.

Peter is writing down some notes in the middle of this neverending city.

10.27 We went to the Praça de Sé, Cathedral Square, where the city's beautiful cathedral can be found, where else one might wonder. In connection with it is the central station for the city's subway system. The main station is called just that, Sé. After that we went to the Rua São Bento where we saw a large group of youths in shirts/jackets with the football World Cup theme. There are TV cameras here. They are probably preparing for some TV transmission. Wait, wasn’t the train station in Porto, Portugal also called São Bento?

10.57 We passed Largo Café (coffee square) on our way home. I didn’t see any coffee there! Now we're back in our room again. It is now time for the kickoff in the third quarter final, Argentina vs Germany.

11.04 Things happen quickly here, we barely had time to sit down, 1-0 to Germany!

Catedral da Sé, the beautiful cathedral in the centre of São Paulo.

Peter on the Coffee Square, Largo Café.

12.26 2-0 to Germany, scored by Miroslav Klose, but wasn’t he offside?

12.32 Another German goal. It is not going very well for the countries we will visit this year.

12.47 Miroslav Klose scores his second and Germany's fourth goal. They seem to be at least one man more in all parts of the pitch. It feels like the Argentine players are in their teens, playing against German men. Too bad it isn’t a more exciting game.

13.11 Germany won and now we will head out to get something meaningful done before the last quarter-final kicks off.

14.14 We've been outside and we´ve seen more of the city. Among other things, we had time to take a good look at the Praça da Republica, Republic Square. It offered some form of market. We’ve also done some shopping for the evening and for tomorrow's bus trip. The candy which Christer bought is being sold in different countries in Latin America but also in South Africa and in Sweden!

The second highest building in São Paulo, Edifício Italia (168 meters).

Market day on Praça da Republica (Republic square).

15.29 After having read in our books for a while we´re ready for the fourth and last quarter final, Paraguay vs Spain. Who will become Germany's opponents in the semifinal? Will it be a country that we are about to visit?

16.17 Zero and no goals after the first fortyfive minutes. How many minutes are left?

16.44 Gerard Piqué of Spain received a yellow card and Paraguay, a penalty. A penalty which is... saved!

16.46 Antolin Alcaraz of Paraguay received a yellow card and Spain a penalty as well. A penalty which ... went into the net! But the referee signals that it isn't a goal. There were players in the penalty area. A new attempt, a new penalty and it is...saved. It's still 0-0.

17.10 All the Spaniards are in a heap. David Villa has scored 1-0.

17.23 Spain will face Germany in the semi final. "Only" one of the four countries we are visiting is among the final four.

18.54 It's dinner time. We are back at Prazeres do Sul. There is much food on our plates. We’ve taken very little from the buffet. We are about to enjoy grilled meat. This form of eating is called rodízio.

Christer is enjoying himself during yet another dinner at the restaurant Prazeres do Sul.

20.52 We're back home. We are watching the daily news. It mostly revolves around the World Cup! It is an ironic, perhaps even spiteful tone of the story of Argentina's journey out off the World Cup. There are close-ups of Diego Maradona and his responses to each goal Germany scored.

21.17 We are having evening beers and are watching Brazilian television. A program has a drag queen as host. It all seems to be related to couples kissing in various ways. People draw a note from a bucket and read it out loud for each couple. The other channels show soap operas. The beer is like the ones we tried earlier really great. Now we’ve found a channel that has parodied the national coach for Brazil, Dunga. He can be likened to a donkey and a comedian has made efforts to look like Dunga.

Sunday 4th of July

07.25 It is once again a travel morning. Today we will say goodbye, see you later, to São Paulo. Today we will use the bus tickets which we bought on Friday.

08.24 A pair of shoes stands outside of three windows in the house opposite ours. Are they airing or will a mysterious creature put gifts in the shoes?

09.15 We were a bit confused before the checkout. Christer reminded me to prepare the metro money. He then handed me 135 real and said, This is just enough so now you can pay. I thought for a while that it was money for the metro and couldn’t understand anything. The money was for the room. It costs to stay at this hotel. Just when we locked the room door and would proceed Christer wanted to re-enter. Inside, he spoke about his lost money. What money I wondered, to the metro? No, the answer was, for the room. But, I answered, you gave them to me. After that we shaped up, checked out and paid the debt. We took the metro from Santa Cecilia, changed at Sé and now we are at the bus station Tietê. Here we will relax for a while. The bus is not leaving until 10:00.

A part of the huge bus station Tietê.

10.07 The backpacks are put in the bus, the ticket is signed. When you go by coach in Brazil you have to fill in your name, address and passport number on the ticket and also identify yourself when you step on board. Now we are sitting on the chicken yellow bus from the company Itapemirim (http://www.itapemirim.com.br) with a ticket and a sticker was that match those sitting on backpacks.

11.33 We’ve just reached the top of a long hill. It is quiet in the bus and now it and the road turns left. It took to say the least, a long time before we got ourselves out of São Paulo. The city is enormous and has countless suburbs. We saw football matches being played in many places. They were probably in a lower division, given the players' body shape. Estimated time of arrival and end of this bus trip is 16:00.

12.23 Now it remains 290 km before we get there. The sun shines in through the bus window and there are beautiful views, hilly and wooded.

13.12 The bus stopped and we got off. It is good with better cooler air and to straighten your legs. We are in Registro. Here in the city's port all the gold that was shipped to Portugal was registered during the early colonial times. It works well to travel but the sun shines in through the window. From this trip on, we will, if possible, sit on the bus's left side instead.

Lunchbreak in Registro.

13.25 It is possible to have lunch here, but we take it easy instead. The restaurant is called Graal.

14.58 We are heading down a valley and the sun is to our right.

16.01 The bus has stopped but the engine is running. We are at an Esso petrol station. Why does it stop? What happens now? We are so close to today's destination.

16.48 We finally arrived! Christer said; guard our stuff, and left. I'm sitting on an orange chair/seat and I´m guarding our belongings. Christer has agreed to buy the bus ticket to the next destination. It is good to be prepared, to have wisdom. We are in Curitiba. We’ve also changed states. We have replaced São Paulo with Paraná.

17.17 From the orange seat to an orange taxi which took us to Hotel Tibagi (http://www.hoteltibagi.com.br). Teenagers on mopeds did their best to catch up with the taxi. Here at the hotel we´re staying on the twelfth floor in the room 1202. We have a refrigerator and a TV.

View from Hotel Tibagi in Curitiba.

We can see everything going on down there, not much...but..

18.14 CNN has taught us that Rafael Nadal won the Wimbledon tennis, that Hezbollah's spiritual leader died, about a female suicide bomber in Iraq and the upcoming elections in Mexico and Poland. Enough of news. I'm hungry. Do they have rodízio in this city too? It would be great.

18.54 We have arrived at the restaurant La Gondola, or rather outside of it. We are sitting on their terrace on a pedestrian street Rua XV de Novembro. When a beggar just turned up the waiter informed him that we were English speaking and did not understand Portuguese. Instantly the beggar asked us about 50 cents. The guy was dressed in a blanket and he was quickly named Blanket Bill. People in blankets were also seen last year in Lesotho by the way.

20.32 At La Gondola one of the waiters was whistling "Jingle Bells". Is it Christmas soon? No rodízio this evening but despite that large portions of good food. It was accompanied by the purchase of various groceries at Marcadorama. We bought something to drink tonight, tomorrow and for the next bus trip. On one of the drinks bought by Christer we found the Swedish word for ham, it is a type of fruit drink that comes in different flavors (http://www.skinka.com.br). Outside the shop one of the payphones was ringing and I was tempted to answer it. We also met Blanket Bill again. He seemed to recognize us.

22.37 After zapping around between different TV channels with news, analysis, continuing parody on Brazil's Dunga and World Cup bets and horses we will go to sleep.

Peter resting in our room at Hotel Tibagi.

The brazilian soft drink Skinka (Skinka means "ham" in Swedish.)

Monday 5th of July

07.46 Bom Dia, Curitiba! A new week has just begun. I’ve just had a shower. The shower has two showerheads, a wall-mounted up under the roof and a hose fixed, portable version.

10.00 Breakfast is eaten and the morning duties are finished. It's time to go out and explore, get acquainted with yet another Brazilian city. We will be looking at old buildings and a 24-hour shopping mall.

10.29 A man in orange overalls and a same coloured hat goes around and sweeps here at Praça Tiradentes. Here is the cathedral which bell tolls now, a park and the park´s benches. It is on one of these that we sit right now. Tiradentes is the nickname of the revolutionary Joaquim Jose da Silva Xavier. He was one of the leaders of the rebellion against Portugal in the late 1700s. Tiradentes means tooth puller.

To see this word on a sign is a bit funny for people speaking Swedish.

It´s easy to notice the taxi cars in Curitiba.

Food stalls and other things in the park Praça Osorio.

10.47 We had plans to go with a tour bus around the city. The bus does not go on Mondays and today it is Monday. It would have been nice to have a tour but also quite nice to stroll around the city.

11.23 We’ve been out on the internet. The Internet café is housed in a room in the cathedral and can be reached from the street. Now we are going to see more of Curitiba, primarily the oldest parts.

11.37 It is sunny, calm and peaceful. We’ve walked past Largo da Ordem and Praça Garibaldi. It's nice having a car-free part of town. There are restaurants, churches and many beautiful colourful houses. We are on a hill and have the more modern parts of the Curitiba further down the slope. Curitiba is one of the cities in Brazil with the highest standards of living and is known for being clean and orderly.

Catedral de Curitiba.

Curitibas car-free historical centre starts here.

Pigeons at Largo da Ordem.

Colourful houses in Portuguese style close to Praça Garibaldi.

11.42 On our left is a mosque. However, we have not seen any people of muslim dress in town, do they hide in the mosque? We are now in the park Praça João Candido. We’ve seen a bit more of the older parts of town. There are many beautiful things to see but now we should probably think about lunch and perhaps a siesta.

13.00 We're back in the room for a short stop. We must get rid of some fluids and to think about when, where and whether to eat lunch. Curitiba is a nice, beautiful and above all friendly city to walk around in. However, the 24-hour shopping mall is under reconstruction. Normally there would be restaurants and shops open around the clock there. They also arrange with free computers so that even the poorest will be able to use the internet here.

13.57 We are enjoying a buffet lunch at Spich Restaurant. Yes lunch buffet and lunch buffet ... It is simple, we eat a lunch buffet consisting of vegetables, rice, spaghetti and two kinds of meat. We are drinking juice. The best thing is the price. It hardly costs anything. In Brazil, you should really take advantage of the open lunch (11:00 to 14:30), buffet restaurants to eat like the regular workers do.

14.25 Good food and drink for 6 real (US$3). Christer just withdrew money from an ATM and we bought postcards in a newspaper kiosk here at Rua XV de Novembro.

Rua XV de Novembro, Curitiba.

Christer is walking through Curitiba.

Paço da Liberdade, a cultural centre that used to be a city hall.

15.08 We are home again. We’ve seen parts of the city that many, but none of us, have seen before.

17.31 This year's first postcards are written and left at the post office next to our hotel. Postage was expensive to say the least. We're far from home but we hadn’t counted on the same postage price as in Sweden. Now we are back in the room watching CNN.

18.01 Poland has a new president. The former died earlier when we were out travelling. We were in Budapest when that happened. The new one is called Komorowski.

18.35 We see a dog with a sausage in its mouth. We are sitting on some chairs by a table outside the Bar Mignon watching their outlet sign, symbol. It's time for dinner. It is strange but we are hungry again. We are just a few feet from where we had dinner last night.

19.48 Once again we had good food and drink. Now we are preparing for tomorrow. Names and passport information will be written on the bus ticket. It's better to write this now and avoid the risk forgetting it.

21.24 There is live football on TV. Vasco da Gama from Rio de Janeiro are playing the city's team, Curitiba. Vasco da Gama just scored 3-2. An irrigation system started just before the goal and sent a strong jet of water sweeping across the goalkeeper and Curitiba’s goal.

Tuesday 6th of July

06.56 It's mist outside and the sun is hiding. Today it is once again time to make a bus trip. We hear something rattling outside.

08.29 Breakfast is completed and everything is packed. We will go by taxi to the bus station. It was easy to get a taxi because taxis are lined up on the special "taxi stands" in various places in the city. There is hustle and bustle in the city and from the sky (where else?) the sun is shining.

08.43 We're sitting in some beautiful, blue seats in the waiting room/waiting area here in Curitiba’s rodoviária (bus station). The bus departs in fortyfive minutes. There are several other passengers waiting for the bus as well.

09.24 We are now in place on a bus from the company Catarinense (http://www.catarinense.net). Soon we will travel south towards Joinville. One of the fellow passengers is currently speaking on a mobile phone.

10.23 Ouro Verde (green gold), was written on a truck that we just drove by. Now the gears were switched down and we have 70 km left to Joinville.

11.07 The earth is reddish brown, the vegetation is green and on the horizon rounded mountains are towering up. The journey is pleasant and almost over. We have perfect legroom and really comfortable seats.

Our bus has just arrived to the bus station in Joinville.

11.43 We’ve come to the second largest city in the state of Santa Catarina. Many here descend from German immmigrants in the 1800's. Many also have Italian ancestors. Christer just bought bus tickets for tomorrow. We are about to catch a taxi. The taxis seem to be white in this city.

12.05 There was some confusion among the taxi drivers when we told them about our destination. In the end, one of them thought he knew but he was uncertain during the entire trip to Joinville Hostel (http://www.joinvillehostel.com.br) which is our new home for one night. We live in "Quarto Chop", the beer room. I sleep in the bed number 4 and Christer in bed number 8. It is quiet here. We have a large room with several bunk beds to ourselves. We were checked in by a guy named Pedro, originally from São Paulo.

Joinville Hostel.

13.44 We got information about the city and maps from our friendly hostess Kely who appeared after a while. We now have access to an ordinary city map and also one showing buildings with interesting architecture.

13.52 It's time to see the city and some food would not be wrong.

14.32 We have moved along various streets down towards the centre and are now in Shopping Mueller, a shopping mall. It's really hot today, +28°C. Inside the mall, it is cool anyway. It is time for lunch and we are having it at Risotto Mix, one of the many eateries at the "food court" here.

Joinville

Rua das Palmeiras (Palm street).

Christer is having a simple lunch, pasta, meat sauce and a Fanta.

15.01 There are many beautiful houses here in Joinville. They are clearly influenced by German architecture. Here are half-timbered houses of various sizes. The most magnificent one is Hotel Tannenhof. Now the question is whether we´ll watch today's World Cup game here downtown or if we have to walk home again?

15.38 We saw a bit more of the city before turning back. We stopped at a sport centre where there was some form of sport going on and we also studied one of the excellent outdoor gyms which sometimes are located in Brazilian parks. Now we look at the ongoing game between Sneijder and friends and Forlán and friends, that is, the World Cup semi-final between Holland and Uruguay. We bought a cold beer each and placed us on the couch watching the TV here at Joinville Hostel.

German architecture in Joinville, Hotel Tannenhof.

An outdoor gym, quite common in Brazil´s parks.

15.49 Holland has one foot in the final. Giovanni van Bronckhorst has just scored 1-0 with a nice shot from somewhere between the centre line and penalty area.

16.12 It's all equal again. Diego Forlán has just scored with a shot similar to the Dutch one.

16.59 Holland is back in the lead. Wesley Sneijder has struck.

17.02 One shoe in the finals now for the ones wearing orange. Arjen Robben has headed in 3-1. The game is being watched by the two of us, Pedro and sometimes by a curious German guy who tries to follow the game. A few German students stay here. The city's university has placed them at the hostel because they spoke hardly any Portuguese and had trouble staying at the usual student accomodations. They have apparently been living here for months.

World cup football, Holland vs Uruguay.

17.20 The fat lady can’t sing yet. Uruguay has scored, it´s 3-2. There is just a few minutes left.

17.24 It was dramatic to the end but now the lady can sing and the orange guys can celebrate. We´re neither singing nor cheering. However, we will probably head for the centre and a dinner.

18.34 The wind is blowing in through the open window. The beer we´re drinking is called Opa Bier and is brewed here in town. Isn’t "Opa" German for grandfather? On one wall there are pictures of Santa Claus. We are at Pizzeria Fatirela and have logically enough ordered pizza. There is calabresi, whatever that is, on Christer’s pizza. We believe that it might be some kind of sausage.

18.58 Things do happen here. An elderly German-speaking gentleman, perhaps an opa?, came and asked if we knew what shrimp is called in Portuguese. We knew it, well Christer´s Swedish-Portuguese dictionary did. By the way, shrimp is called camarão. The German was about to order a pizza with shrimps on it.

Small but nice kitchen at Joinville Hostel.

20.38 The opa greeted us cheerfully when we left the restaurant. We're back home. We talked about Brazil and Sweden, and received some valuable information from Kely and Pedro. We have been told to try the Eisenbahn beer when we get to Blumenau tomorrow and what we should see when we come to Florianópolis. In addition we said hello to Kely’s dog Mel (meaning honey). Mel just had 12 puppies of which 11 are still alive. We were accepted directly by Mel who seemed to wonder why we didn´t have brought food for her. I’ve wondered this before and do it again. Why are we so often, popular and accepted by the dogs wherever we travel around the world? We’ve had theories that we might smell like them when we're on the road but this time at the start of the trip it can´t be because of that, or?

Peter is watching football.