Ola gringos

10 days in and we´re having a blast. Seen all the sights including sugar loaf mt, the statue of Christ the Redeemer, the Maracana football stadium, hippie markets, Copacabana and Ipanema beach, Parque Nacional de Tijuca (hardcore do you want more jungle!!). I had to put my northface jacket on throughout the whole jungle hike in soaring heat and humidity as was terrified of any form of creepie crawly coming near me - sweated buckets! Having said that Neil almost jumped out of his skin when a leaf landed on his head!!

Saw some crazy monkey things, and some marmosets but nothing quite as exotic as the array of insects crawling around in our dorm room. It´s very relaxing to watch the trail of bugs wandering between the door and the window sill (bit like counting sheep). A new past-time has also been developed. It´s called stalking bastard mosquitos at 4 in the morning. Last night Neil stood for 20 mins armed with a pair of shorts until the little shit bag finally reared his head. Needless to say, at that point, the strike was fast and brutal and said mosquito is now splattered on ceiling along with two and half pints of fresh blood from Neil´s ankles (ps dictated by Neil, you may detect some exaggeration here!!)

Anyhow, Rio has been fab, met some really sound peeps and the locals are sooo friendly. Our heart strings have been tugged a few times and we are about to post home our first consignment of tat picked up from copacabana street sellers, including a wicked painting. The weather has been a tad tempremental (glorious sunshine shortly followed by tropical storms) but the rain only provides an excuse to dive into the nearest chopperia (pub) for some Skol and the mind bending local brew, caipirihnas! Unfortunately the cairpirhnas do not come cheap and at the current budget burn rate we will be home some time in May! No regrets though - and the pizza hut buffets and local sushi restaurants have also done us a treat. When in Rome... In seriousness the local food is superb. Copious amounts of meat constantly being eaten and breakfast is an amazing banana and oat smoothie on the street.

Tonight we have our first experience in a shared room with some crusty, dreadlock sporting freaks who play recorders and tamborines until 5am each night. There is a strong possibility that there will be blood on my hands (Neil speaking) - or the ceiling - by dawn. So it´s a good job we´re booked onto a 9 am bus to Buzios, a little fishing village up the coast (Riõ´s San Tropez) where we are going to learn to surf. Shabba.

Take a look at the pics. Let us know what you´re up to and keep the messages coming - even the ones about leaving the iron on were well received!

Big love and peace out amigos N+L xx

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