Well hello again.

To bring you up to date quickly...

Wednesday 6 Sept was our last full day in Rio. We spent it, as intended, on Ipanema beach. Jo of course insisted on using one of the sun umbrellas from the hotel. I didn't mind at all since the sun was pretty darn strong on our lily white skin!

So we sat ourselves down and fought off the hundreds of beach sellers (drinks and food) for the next few hours until finally succumbing for a bottle of water and guarana. I take my hat off to the chaps walking up and down trying to earn a living in all that heat, it can't be easy. Anyway, a good time was had as we enjoyed the sights of the beach (Tony, I couldn't persuade one of the Rio lovelies to come back for you... when I explained the merits of Weston beach they preferred to stay in Ipanema!).

Anyway, must go... I will return to update you on travel down to Florianopolis sometime after my pizza and beers...

Ok, back again, only 3 days later and trying desperately to remember all I wanted to say... ah yes, the final night in Rio. By this time, my belly was starting to suffer from over-eating (JC, you would love it here). So we decided on a light-ish dinner. Well, those who know me well will probably not be suprised by the news that we ended up in a churrascaria for an all-you-can-eat buffet of salads, rice, fish, cheese, veggies and MEAT... so much MEAT. Waiters just walk around the restaurant carrying the barbecued meat on skewers. You have a little card on your table which you can display red side up (for no thanks - I'm stuffed) or green (for yes please, bring it on!). Very, very sore belly after this visit.

So many memories of Rio from the beautiful scenery and people, to the money (brand new shopping malls, expensive cars and houses) to the favelas and the poverty, to the beach and the 'outdoor' nature of everything!

Jo here now - Alex has finally let me have use of the keyboard, although he's still wittering and worrying in the background!!

I'll keep it short and sweet, but basically following some trials with the Brazilian internet servers and one phonecall later, we manged to book flights out of Rio and down to Florianopolis, to chill out for a few days around the island.