Blogs from Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, South America

Our last long distance jounrey went fine as we are rather used to them know, however once we got dropped off in Sao Paulo the fun began! Our bus arrived a few hours early so we arrived at 4am with no clue on where we were staying and as it is such a massive city this proved to be a major flaw. We waited an hour or 2 for the tourist information to open, which it didnt, so just got what we thought was the closest hostel in our lonely planet book and ordered a taxi in which the wrong area was written down for the driver, so ended up in the middle of what looked like the business district at 8am with no clue on what we were doing with our heavy bags, in the ... read more

Another new country to explore and sadly the last one of the trip. We finally made it to Brazil, land of big bums and tiny swimsuits. As always the journey to a new place is one to mention. For once it wasnt a case of horrible buses or me being sick but instead a first class flight from Peru to Brazil, oh yeah! Nothing quite like a bit of first class after 5 months of cheap travel. First stop was Rio De Janeiro and Ipanema beach. Its no lie the people in Rio are extremely fit, buffed up and surprisngly gay. I didnt realise just how large the gay community in Ipanema would be. That was my first observation, the second was that Brazilians dont seem to wear any clothes, they really do walk around in ... read more

Hey guys, as promised first update, arrived safely, travelling about 22 hours straight now, and my day in Rio has just begun, jet lag´s bound to catch up with me soon!! Sadly my phone is opting out of any local network so won´t be able to text till I get that sorted!! The internet is also not included in my hostel so won´t be updating as regularly as I´d hoped!! But I´m hear its very exciting, surrounded by water and the amount of trees everywhere, I thought Ireland was green!! Caught a quick distant glimpse of the Christ as iconic for Rio now as the eiffel tower is for paris and Big Ben is for London!! It´s only 10am and it´s already ¨26 degrees, sweltering heat and I think I forgot my sunglasses!! if that´s all ... read more

Yeah, I know. Two blogs in a row with cheesy titles. I guess I am on a roll here. Since I had seen the major sights that I wanted to see, I decided to take a 2 hour cruise around Guanabara Bay. There is something relaxing about a short cruise and quite honestly I was looking forward to just sitting for a while. I put on some walking miles over the past two days. Somehow I didn't plan my time well this morning, so skipped breakfast and coffee and high tailed it to the Metro station. It was an easy trip to the station, but out of the station I ran into what happens so often here. No signs. The flyer said to take the footbridge to the marina. That was all well and good, but ... read more

Hi everyone! We have spent the last week in the amazing city of Rio! We have had the best time and are very sad to be leaving. We met up with 3 friends from uni so it was really nice to be in a bigger group. We had all booked to stay in a hostel in an area called Ipanema which is next to Copacabana. Its a lovely area with a shops, cafes, resturants and a main square. Our hostel is only 2 blocks from the beach so we have made good use of the close proximity! On our first full day (Friday 24th) we headed stright to the Christ the Redeemer statue which hits on Corcovado hill. We reached the top quite quickly and the views of the city were breathtaking. We learnt about the ... read more

First sun burn, first days in rio, first hot birthday and having a great time. I mean who would have thought that kenny would be celebrating his 21st birthday in February without having to wear 2 pairs of socks, 2 pants, 4 shirts, and a north face! Even still the streets of Catete Rio are packed with people nearly all night drinking and dancing inthe streets. Charlotte and I have found some very serious guidelines to traveling after experiencing alot of miscummunicationa and problems. So to speak. First we have found to consider where you are staying. as some of you may now we stayat the art hostel. and this place is jam packed with a bunch of gringos (my new word meaning foreign person) there are people who speak french, spanish, portugese, english, and mixtures ... read more

After eighteen hours, two flights and numerous card games, we arrived in Rio de Janeiro. Driving through the city, directly to our left, cranes towered for miles, whilst to our right, favellas sprawled into the horizon eating up the hillside. The motorway became a clear indicator of the extreme wealth divide of a city in transition. Our first two nights were spent in the inner city area of Catate within walking distance of the Flamengo beach which became our first port of call. The beach, though not the biggest in Rio, lies in the shadow of Christ the Redeemer and overlooks Sugarloaf Mountain (affectionately re-christened "Sugar Hill Gang Mountain" by Pete). The views were truly spectacular despite the heaped cloads which hung heavy in the sky over the sea. As the weather improved on our second ... read more

So we arrived back in Rio more than ready 2 party all over again!We met back up with all the staff at Che Lagarto and with all the friends we had made from Lapa and went to another Lapa street party!This was even more crazy than the last time we went (if that is even possible). I loved it just as much as the last time we went, all the music and dancing and chaos!We spent more time in an area called Santa Teresa during the day which is a really chilled out, cool vibrant area filled with coffee shops, graffiti and people drinking and eting out on the street n the sunshine!I loved this area, it reall reminded me of camden in London, really laid back and edgy!The graffiti is amazing as well so bright ... read more

I literally fell in love with Rio the minute i got there! Now this may have been something to do with the warm temperature after travelling up from freezing Argentina but its an amazing city!We wanted to make sure we did everything we possibly could in Rio to make the most of our time there so that is exactly what we did!lol! The second day we were there we went on a tour of a Favela which was incredible! Now i have seen Favela´s in movies and on the TV but seeing one in real life was insane! I couldnt get to grips with the amount of brightly coloured houses stacked one after another up a huge mountain side!!We were driven up to the top of the favela on the back of motorbikes which was pretty ... read more

Day 1: Landed in Rio yesterday morning and checked in to our hotel, eventually - wow the traffic is bad! Had a quick coconut to drink down on Ipanema Beach in the sun before jumping straight into the tourist trips. First up we visited Corcovado to marvel at the statue of Christ the Redeemer. It was excellent but really busy. The views into Rio were good although a little obscured by the haze. We then went passed the Maracana football stadium, closed while it's being upgraded for the world cup in 2014, into a cathedral, saw where the carnival parade takes place and onto Sugarloaf mountain. We rode the cable cars up to Sugarloaf mountain at sunset and the views of the city were truly spectacular. In the evening we sampled our first cervesa and capirinha ... read more