Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

Hello fans.

Ok, so here I am in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil - sounds pretty cool doesn't it?

After a very hectic and emotional last week in the UK it now feels good to be on the road. After all, we have been talking about doing it for so long. The goodbyes were pretty rough as you all know, but thanks to Matt and kate, the BA Lounge really helped sort us out. It meant we could escape the madness of Terminal 4 and finally call and text everyone again, and sort ourselves out.

Anyway, once we had boarded the plane we felt a lot better about everything and the flight was pretty good. I actually managed to get some sleep, but that was probably because of the lack of sleep I had had over the previous week.

We arrived in Rio at about 7.30am local time (after an hours stop in Sao Paulo) and it was bloody hot. I did my first bartering of the trip at the airport and managed to blag a cheap(ish) taxi to Ipanema. We are staying in a Kiwi guy's flat (Rob) with him, his Brazilian girlfriend (Sylvia) and two hostel workers, Jay (a Pom) and Chloe (his girlfriend who is an Aussie). So there is quite a mix. And there is a 7 month old (we think!) Dash-hound called Sunga - that's Brazilian for those tiny shorts the guys wear over here. Rob and Sylvia rescued her from the beach a few months ago when she was living off of sea water. Anyway, there a a really nice bunch and have made us feel very welcome.

So what have we done so far? Well we have ticked off a few boxes in our first 4 days as we wanted to get a lot of stuff out of the way before Carnival starts (tomorrow). On our first day we walked around Ipanema and Copacabana and it all felt very surreal. It took a couple of days to get used to the heat. It is bloody good living in shorts and a t-shirt again. It is over 30 degrees every day, all day, and at night it is in the high 20s.

On our second day here, and after a great sleep, we went to Sugar Loaf mountain for sunset. It wasn't the clearest day but the view was superb. We watched the city lights come on and the pictures I took will not do it justice at all. It actually started to rain a bit when we were up there, and then this huge storm came in over the mountains in the distance, behind Christ the Redeemer. It was pretty hair raising up there, especially the cable car ride back down in the high winds. We then got a local bus back which was an experience in itself. We were the only Gringo's on there, and the bus went a different way from which I was expecting, but it was all good. There were a few sketchy favella characters onboard but it was all good - even when the bus broke down in the torrential rain and we had to change buses. But we got home without any major dramas except for soacking wet Reefs - the sewers had overflowed!!

I got the flu on our second day which was a bit of a shocker and it wiped me out for most of the day. I had sweated some of it out on Ipanema beach during the day but needed to sleep for most of it. All of us from the flat went out in the evening to a new Aussie bar that had opened. The caipirinha's were fantastic. And we had a quality night into the early (late) hours.

H and I went on a favella tour yesterday, to Rochina, Rio's largest favella. And what an eye-opener it was. We booked a tour from the local hostel and when we got to the favella we had to climb on the back of some kid's bike, who took us to the top of the favella. It was pretty hair-raising as this guy took over cars, bikes and buses on blind corners. But all in a days work for these guys and we got to the top unscathed. So there we were at the top of Rio's largest favella - 6 people had been shot dead there last week when a rival drug gang tried to take over this favella. For those of you who have seen "Ross Kemp on Gangs" - well we were there, minus Grant and a film crew. The tour was brilliant and one of the best things I have ever done. And it was important to do it to see how most of the people in Rio live. We walked all the way down through the favella and it was very interesting to see how the people in there live. It really is a city within a city. They don't mind the gingo's going on a tour because some of the money is put back into the community - it helps to rebuild peoples houses, as well as fund a community centre for some of the kids. It seemed like a friendly place (probably because we were on a tour) and the kids loved having their photo's taken so they could see themselves on the screens. But it definitely had a edge to it - the group behind us saw kids with guns. There were times we weren't allowed to take photo's because there were dealers with us, but it was cool. I am really glad I went on the tour. I thought it might be a bit like going to a zoo and staring at the locals but we were the ones stared at.

Today H and I went up Corcovado to Christ Statue. It was a really clear day so the views of Rio were stunning, as you'd imagine. Mind you there were hundreds of tourists up there all walking around with their arms stretched out. It was incredible. We probably took as many pictures of people pretending to be Christ, than the views themselves (and has been well doucmented on people's blogs, I take a lot of pictures).

So here I am, sweating, in The Lighthouse Hostel, writing this while H is at the air-conditioned flat drinking homemade Black Russian with Rob. There's talk of heading into town tonight so sample some of the street parties. Carnival starts tomorrow so things are really hotting up here. Deep Dish are playing a gig so we may head over (I hate prog though but what the hell). Or we may just hang around here.

All I do know is that tomorrow H and I are going to the Maracana stadium to watch the local derby between Flamengo and Botofogo. I can't wait.

We still havent been hand-gliding yet. The one day we did get up early enough to go, it was too windy. So we have been a bit put off getting up early every day. But we will give it a go again before we leave (we are now leaving Rio on Wednesday because of accommodation issues on Ilha Grande - bascially we dont know if our original booking still stands because we cant get in touch with the guy - but at least we will be in Rio for all of Carnival).

We now feel nice and settled in Rio and are looking forward to Carnival. The beach life here is pretty cool and the girls don't wear very much. Mind you nor do some of the guys - in fact, some of them seem to go out to the bars at night in their very short speedo's. It must be like going to the pub in your pants.

Ok, I have waffled enough, but I really felt the need to do so. Here's some pictures. Enjoy.

Me and H at the top of Sugar Loaf Mountain.














The view from Sugar Loaf - City lights with Christ on Corcovado to the right.














The view from the top of Rocinha favella.














Rocinha favella.














Me, H and, erm, Christ!














The view from Corcovado - Sugar Loaf is to the left. The beach is Copacabana.