Rio De Janeiro

Sorry for the slow start to the blog, it's just that things here have been pretty non-stop, and when I have had chance there hasn't been a computer free.

Anyway, we arrived in Rio late on Tues 6th Jan. The weather was humid but drizzly and when we got to the hostel we were told it had been like that for the past week. "Great" we thought, but luckily the next morning we arose to blue skies, sunshine and a very respectable 27C. The hostel is set in the most perfect position, just one block from Ipanema beach, which is the most stunningly set stretch of water that we've ever seen.


True to form, that day we walked and walked; all along Ipanema and then followed by Copacabana. The latter beach took me a bit by surprise, as it's much grittier than Ipanema, with a colourful array of folk all over the silky white sands. In the afternoon we went up to Christ the Redeemer - how they can make a lump of concrete look so beautiful is beyond me, but the statue gracefully peers down over the city from its heavenly position.




Day two we took the cablecar to Sugarloaf Mountain. Impressive views of the city made the hot and steamy queue worth while. Unfortunately by the time we got the the second (and the highest) peak clouds began to creep up from the sea and froth over the mountain top.



The bus drivers over here are pretty crazy, but with a flat fee of R$2.20 it's the cheapest way to get around. What we didn't realise was that the bus to the mountain was a circular, and so the ride back made for an interesting detour. We decided to jump off and visit the city's exenstive Botanical Gardens, which was a very relaxing way to finish the day out.

During the evening we went for a few drinks with some friends that we'd made in the hostel. I thought it would be a really good idea to try the local beverage, Caipirinha, which is a cocktail made from cachaça, sugar and lime (cachaça is Brazil's most common spirit and is a bit like rum as it's made from sugarcane). A few drinks and hours later I'm staggering back to the hostel, laughing my head off and telling James that I'm going to do the washing when I get in.

Funnily enough I wasn't feeling too good on Friday morning, in fact, I didn't really see Friday morning. Luckily we'd already agreed to spend the day on Ipanema beach. I scrapped my sorry self out of bed and we made our way to the shore. It took about 3 hours and a couple of dips in the wild sea before I felt anywhere near human again, and I swore that I wouldn't touch evil Caipirinhas again. James showed his support by feeding and watering me, and also giving reminders that there were worse places in the world to be suffering from a hangover!

Today we find ourselves having to leave this wonderful city, as we head southwest for a place called Curitiba, and then onto a small island. However that didn't stop us from having another great day on Ipanema beach with our new friends and aquiring quite a few tanlines along the way.