Thanks! Bit of a late reply. Been caught up in work, unfortunately :\. I visited Brazil last Januari and traveled a bit to the South as well. No further than Florianópolis, though. Beautiful beaches in that area and life there is less hectic than in Sao Paulo. Brazil is just so enormous that there are many differences in culture and climate within one country. I enjoyed the country a lot. The people are warm and friendly, the food is nice and there are always unexpected things happening (for better or worse ).