Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl ...

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We made it!!! Feel like we have done so much already so prepare yourself for a long old read!!

After an extremely long flight (only slightly delayed by snow) we landed in Rio de Janeiro!!

Making our way to a taxi, we were asked by another English girl if she could catch a lift with us. She lives in Rio and is here doing some research for her PhD. Turns out she lived in the red light district of Rio (Gloria) and when the taxi driver stopped in some back alley and they both got out, we both thought that we may have been had and something dodgy was going down!! Luckily this was just us being paranoid and we were not about to be robbed at gunpoint!! Our taxi ride continued to the South Zone of Rio and we managed to catch a glimpse of Christ the Redeemer, all lit up like a white ghost watching over Rio.

Once we arrived at our hostel in Copacabana, we went straight to bed as we had been up for almost 24 hours and were exhausted! Even though our room was roasting hot!!

Wednesday we woke early and went for our complimentary breakfast of fruit, bread and cake!! According to James every fruit on display is called a mango!!

Once fed we were off to explore the City of God! We had a quick stroll along Copacabana beach taking in some of the sights (quite muscly men in tiny shorts and fat women in psycadelic lycra cycling shorts!!I win!! Haha!) We decided that our first stop would be the Sugarloaf Mountain, getting 2 cable cars to the top which made James´ legs turn to jelly.

At the first point the view was breath taking (check the pics), you could see the Christo in the distance surrounded by mist which looked very atmospheric. James also made friends with some of the locals - 2 little monkeys with hair like Einstein!! Very cute!!

Once back at the hostel we had a traditional Brazilian meal, Felijoila, which was rice, beans and shredded meat!! Was lovely and gave us a chance to chat other people we are staying with. We also had our first (of many) Caipirinhas, the cocktail of Brazil, who are we to argue at £2 each!!!

Day 2 started with a morning stroll along Copacabana and Ipanema beaches, where we stopped for one of our beachside Coconuts!! Very refreshing! It had been cloudy the day before and in the morning, however it started to brighten up around midday so we decided to grab the opportunity to go up to Christo Redentor, on of the new 7 wonders of the world!!

After James managed in very broken Portuguese to find out where we could get the bus from and what number, we set off in search of Jesus.

Christo Redentor sits on top of Corcovado Mountain and you have to get and old school train/tram all the way up a VERY steep hill! Once finally at the top the views were absoloutely amazing! The statue itself is very impressive and it felt surreal to actually be there after seeing so many images of it bfore on the television and in pictures!! Definitely somewhere I have always wanted to go and so glad that we made it here to Rio!! The pictures just dont do it justice!

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Comments

[Auntie Deb]

Good blogging
Hi Jane Excellent blogging. Now I know what Tom saw in Rio. Simon is going to love the tram pics Take care and we will miss you at Christmas Love Deb

[Mama Stolls]

Nice Monkeys!!!!
XXX

[Laura Battle]

:)
hello friend in the back ground hahah aww miss you guys actua;lly crying right noooww howw saddd lol :( x

[Laura Battle]

:)
is that ferrgussss lmao :) x

[Laura Battle]

:)
one of the best phots soo farr :) X