Her humps, her lovely lady lumps.......i checked them out!

Rio has been conquered. Not that we got the best weather in the world while we were there, thus making it hard to do all the sights, but Rio has been done!

We arrived in Rio on the 29th December, and we were booked into stay at a hostel in Copacabana called Stone of a Beach. It was a really cool hostel only 3 blocks from the beach, and the people that we were there with over New Years were a real blast - a mix of people that we had spent Christmas with, plus a truckload of others all looking for a good time!

We went out the first night we got there to a street party in one of the suburbs of Rio, Lapa. The streets were full of people, and stalls selling food, booze, tequila shots etc. We ended up going into a samba club which was a real great experience. At first i thought we were the only gringos in the whole joint, but this was quickly proved wrong as i saw so many people dancing just as badly, or worse, than i was! I ended up getting disgracefully drunk off Caiprihina´s again (i really should have learnt by now that these are the most potent drink on the planet) and dancing horribly amongst Brazilian samba maestros. I still don’t know whether the headache the following day was from the booze, or a distinct level of embarrassment!

The following day our hostel had organised a boat trip for our entire hostel on the harbour of Rio. This was pretty much the only day of good weather we got the whole time that we were in Rio, which was a great break. The day was incredible! Free drinks and music on a yacht cruising the harbour looking out at Copacabana Beach, with the Christ statue staring down at you takes a lot of beating. Add to this a dance floor and swimming and jumping off the boat and you have a sure-fire recipe for success. We spent about 5 hours out on the water, and came back as the sun was setting, dancing with around 100 other people to FatBoy Slim and numerous other classics on a dance floor fit for around 30 people! Was one of the best days of my entire trip to date, and was such a perfect day to spend our first full day in Rio.

New Years Eve was upon us the following day, and after calling friends back home and having our ears gnawed off by ridiculous chat (what else should we have expected at 3am Sydney time), we planned our day. We decided to head down to Ipanema at around 7pm and get a good spot on the beach to watch John Legend and at midnight, the Black Eyed Peas rock out the stage in front of around 2 million people. I had been sceptical at first of the BEP headlining the event (i had initially heard that Elton would be playing and was quite pumped about that), but truth be told, by the time i got to the beach, i was quite excited about seeing them perform. We got stuck into the booze, which was made easy by the fact that there was a dude set up only about 2 feet from us on the beach selling beer and vodka etc so we didn’t have to go far! The only nightmare was the toilet situation. As the beach was so crowded, it took about 40 mins to go to the loo and back, and come closer to midnight you basically had to swim through people for around 20 mins to get back to our spot. A few novel concepts were developed to combat this problem (none of which involved the logical solution to stop drinking) and everyone was happy by the end (ask Josh about his method!)

The fireworks cracked into action on the dot of midnight (not like in Sao Paulo, where apparently they ran 30 mins late!) accompanied by a huge Brazilian dance troup rocking out on stage. All this while the rain poured down! It was a magical experience, and one i am so glad to have experienced with a really great bunch of people. The Black Eyed Peas started at around 12:30am and put in a great set. It was all a bit cheesy but a really good laugh to hear 2 million people singing about their breasts. All in all a great night, but unfortunately i have no photos to show for it as we were warned not to take wallets, cameras etc down to the beach. Shame really but probably not such a bad thing in the end as come midnight i reckon i had already had about 15 people with their hands in my pockets trying to grab what they could.

Over the next few days we did all the touristy stuff, such as going on a favela tour, taking the gondola up Sugar Loaf Mountain, taking the tram to Santa Teresa, going to an Irish Pub and checking out the Christ Statue. The favela tour was great, as you really got some understanding of how they work, and how the lower classes live in Brazil. These places are incredibly violent, with people going missing on a regular basis, never to be heard of again. They survive primarily of the drug trade, with the main man in the favela making around 4 million US dollars a month from cocaine sales. Of course you don’t see that side of things as you cruise around on the tour, but you do see many guys carrying guns on them, and some very smacked out people. The Christ statue was great also, although very crowded. I made it my mission to get as many cheesy photos as possible, and i´m proud to say i got quite a few. None of mine are as good however, as a Aussie guy staying at our hostel now, who managed to go up late in the afternoon and semi climb the statue, pull his pants down, and get his mate to take a snap of the occasion. Outrageously poor form, but sure does make for a hilarious photo

Since Rio, we have endured some horrible trips, but we are now safe and sound in Cuzco, Peru, acclimatising ourselves for the Inca Trail that we are starting on Friday. Who said acclimatising didn’t involve drinking copious amounts of Pisco Sours and dancing to cheesy tunes. Mambo #5 anyone!?!?

Will be in touch after we have followed in the trail of the Inca´s. I hope everyone had a great NYE, and look forward to hearing from you soon.

Until then…………….

P.S. Sam - i just got your myspace message. The travel beard has gone the way of your Movember moustache - straight down the sink. One month was enough! I dont know how those American baseball players do it really - they really arent very comfortable!

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