Christ the Redeemer - Rio de Janeiro

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Our flight was 5 hours and we arrived back in Rio, where it had all begun. It was a bit early to head into Rio, so we slept on the airport floor for a couple of hours and then made our way to Copacobana.

It all came flooding back to us, the long 2 hour journey on the airport bus, passing the favelas and the crazy drivers. We went to Rio Ritz where we had stayed for the carnival as Rafa had said we could store our bags there for the day while we did a bit of site-seeing. From Copocabana we took the bus to Corcovado Mountain where Christ the Redeemer was on top. This is considered the largest art deco statue in the world and has been the iconic centre piece of Rio since being constructed between 1922 and 1931 and opened in 1931 to the public. It has hard to think of, or see a picture of film of Rio without this being the centre piece. It was awarded the New 7 Wonders of the World Award in 2007. It looks absolutely stunning as it overlooks the city.

We were so lucky, we had a beautiful day, the view was incredible and it was more than what we could have asked for on the last day of our trip.

No trip to Rio would be complete without a trip to the Havaiana store, stocked up on about 10 pairs, we went back to Rio Ritz to see Rafa for a drink.

Unfortunately the time eventually came where we said our sad farewell, not only to Rafa or the Copacobana and Brazil but to the whole of South America.

It had been an amazing 15 weeks and it is hard to believe what we had managed to fit in in that time and the distance covered. We arrived back at the airport and used our Airport Angel Cards one last time, got so carried away with the free food and drink that we nearly missed our flight, but on the plus side had had so much to drink that we both didn’t remember take off and woke up 40 minutes before landing.

Tuesday afternoon looking down on a surprisingly sunny London, home.

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