Rio de Janerio

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We left Cuzco and flew back to Lima and on to Sau Paulo, Brazil. The nine hour wait at Lima airport was not as bad as anticipated but after two flights and a 6hour bus ride to Rio we were pretty tired. We had struggled to get a decent hostel as we booked so late as unsure of our plans but we ended up in Cococabana, we had a cool little appartment within the hostel and we were very excited to go to the supermarket and cook dinner! We also sampled the local delicacy Cachaça, the first bottle we picked up we quickly put down when a Brazilian started shaking his head vigourously saying no not that one and he recommended another one instead. Not sure about that, its certainly not at the top of my list of spirits!

The next day we went to the beach, yipee, the only disappointment was the fact that we couldn´t swim as the waves and current were too strong. I happily spent ten minutes paddiling up to my knees then decided to go just that little tiny bit deeper, big mistake, I quickly got swept under, dragged along the sand, cut my knees and came up spluttering minus my bikini top. Apparently it was a very amusing site from the beach, the locals were happily wading much deeper and were fine! I still have sand in my hair now! That evening we had a walk along the beachfront and watched the sunset at Ipanema which was very cool.
Friday we took the cable car from Urca up Sugar Loaf mountain and had fabulous views over the city, it was fantastic to look out over Rio. Our plans for the rest of our time in Rio had to change when the bad weather came, its barely stopped raining and is now pretty cold! We still had a great Saturday and met up with Laura and Dan, drinking Caiprinhas and watching the beach football. We headed over to Santa Teresa near their hostel to have dinner at a traditional Brazilian restaurant.
Sunday we went to watch one of the home teams of Rio, Botofogo, play at their amazing stadium out of town. The atmosphere was amazing although I can´t say the same for the standard of football! The Brazilians are certainly passionate about their football but it does make you appreciate the quality of the Premiership!

So we are now in Paraty, chosen before the rain for the fabulous islands and beaches, oh well! It is still a beautiful town and is safe to walk round at any hour so makes a refeshing change from Rio. We are looking forward to relaxing before we go to Sau Paulo on Thursday night to go out with Guy! Im preparing myself for a pretty horrific hungover 16hour bus ride on Friday as he´s sure not to let us off lightly!

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