Silicone + speedos = Rio!

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The moment we stepped off the plane we knew we felt at home.
We glided through the airport with no complications and when we arrived at the hostel we were greeted with a lively atmosphere, with the whole hostel preparing to enjoy their Saturday night!
Buoyed by the atmosphere (and the hostel's caipirinha bar) we immediately got ourselves ready for our first night out in Rio.

We all (approx a group of 10 to 15) headed to Lapa - filled with bars and clubs.
For 2 Reais (approx 50p) we got into a cool hip hop club, and if you didnt fancy paying the entrance fee, you could always join the hundreds of revellers outside who were enjoying the music for free and dancing on the streets!

Partying aside, while in Rio we have been eager to get to know the city, and decided to visit some of the must-see attractions. Our first stop was a trip to Corcovado and the statue Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer).
Opting for a taxi ride up the mountain instead of the train, we encountered our first experience of being ripped off as 'gringas'.
After the taxi driver originally quoted 20 reais, once at the summit, he attempted to charge us over 4 times the original fee!!! After arguing for over half an hour, he refused to leave and stayed and waited for us to go up to the statue and come back.
We were damned if we were going to be ripped off so badly, so we ended up spending over an hour at the statue hiding from the taxi driver, and trying to figure out our escape route... proving difficult as he was positioned at the one and only exit point! Damn!
The only word we could understand him saying was 'Policia!', 'Policia!' so we decided we had to confront the situation!

Thanks to one coffee shop worker, two tourist officers, a military police officer, and a couple of tourists, (having a 9-way english-portuguese translated discussion is not easy) we met the guy half way, and he agreed to take us back to the street.

Advice number 1: get your quote before you travel and have them write it down if your portuguese is not up to scratch!
Aaaah well, live and learn!

The Corcovado more than made up for the couple of hours of stress that taxi man caused us, with views of the entire city. You also have to admire the Christ statue that stands 38m high, his left arm pointing towards the north of the city, and his right arm towards the south and Copacabana and Ipanema.

Eager to continue visits to the typical tourist attractions, we caught a couple of cable cars to Pao De Acucar (Sugar loaf mountain). Standing 395m high, we were offered alternate views of the city and the opportunity to fill this travel blog with yet more views of Rio.
If your interested in some other views we advise heading to Ipanema or Copacabana beaches. We bought our books with us, but its hard to concentrate on a novel when you have an array of surgically enhanced butt-cheeks and breast enlargements popping up here there and everywhere! And if thats not enough, the men are speedo crazy here! Granted perhaps 80% of the male population have perfectly formed six packs, the others are just as eager to show the world their protruding hairs from places you dont want to know!! (wax please!!)

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