Finally there...

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So here we are, finally, after a couple of flights. The first was fairly uneventful apart from Mr Kinobi (at least that´s what his XL England shirt said on the back - might have been a tribute to Obi Wan who, as far as we know has never been near a rugby pitch, aeroplane or Italy) complaining that it was too cold. The second was even more uneventful for the first few hours - so much so that we weren´t actually moving and both hads time to get through a film an a nap in the three hours it took them to de-ice the plane, runway and probably whole of Rome. In hindsight, a direct flight with British Airways might have been a better call.

Anyway, 13 hours later and the snowy chill of England was a distant memory and the steamy fug of Brazil hit us flush as we exited the airport. We overshot our intended destination on the bus because the driver seemed intent on picking up and dropping off passengers while moving.

After checking in to the hostel we set off on foot to find the beach, a mere two centimetres away on the map. Two and a half hours later, sore feet and a fair few wrong turns later after being repeatedly misdirected by Rio´s multiple stunning hills/mountains, we arrived at Ipanema, a hotbed of youth and exuberance. We felt like we were walking Wembley Way, although it was against the crowd. After watching girls playing an incredibly high-skilled foot-volleyball match and just general people-watching, we met up with Max and Will and then returned to the hostel, now awaiting an eventful night... TBC (hopefully). Pictures will follow (hopefully), if we are brave enough to walk around with anything other than ourselves.

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