The pickpockets of Rio are not worth their salt. Two weary gringos without the gumption to buy tickets for the correct month, in a hustling, run down maze of concrete, passengers and bemused staff; how much do they steal? Nada. The system of catching a bus out of Rio could use some work. In hindsight we were given a range of stops at which our bus could arrive and an 'estimated' time of arrival. Simple, just wait around those stops until the driver writes the destination and departure time of your journey on the front of his bus with white marker pen; if you can't see your bus, don't worry, even if it was due an hour ago you haven't missed it in the commotion, it's just late. We did not know this. Now we do. ... read more

We arrived at 4.30 am to an unexpected wet and dark Rio de Janeiro. After taking a rollercoaster of a bus ride, we were dropped somewhere near our hostel. It was raining pretty heavily by this time and after 24 hours travelling, spirits were not particularly high. After first arriving at a brown garage door, which I insisted was the right address, we then realised we were on the wrong road and after a walk to the next block we saw the welcome sight of our hostel. The hostel was clean and our private room had the unexpected surprise of a rooftop balcony, we dropped our bags and headed where all Rio residents would...Ipanema beach. However, as I've already mentioned it was raining, and although it had eased off a little, this out of character rain ... read more