ahhhhhhh...... well, the time has come friends to wave goodbye to Rio, South America and this blog. Rubbish.

We are genuinely upset at the prospect of leaving. Rio has got under our skin somewhat - it is definatley a place you have to visit/buy an apartment if you haven't already!!!!

Sooo, hangliding - very cool. It was over a bit too quickly for our liking, but an amazing experience none the less! Sophie was the first one to take the plunge and was on the verge of soiling herself/having a heart attack at point of take off! She has never been so scared! Mind you, if you look at the view from the ramp, you can understand why! Andy was as cool as a cucumber, and even had a go at flying the glider himself!

We visited christ a couple of days ago - he is well and sends his love! We only spent about 15mins up there cos there were about 5 million tourists scrabbling to take photos. The views were spectacular tho - as professed, however, we much prefer the view and atmosphere of Sugar Loaf - so much so, that we went up it again last night.

Yesterday - our last full day - we went to the gym in the morning and watched Cats and Dogs during our exursions (excellent film by the way - my how we chuckled!), then we spent several hours lounging on Ipanema beach, soaking up the sun and playing in the sea. Then, after a quick freshen up, we went to the wonderous Sugar Loaf. As we said before, we can't really describe this place to you - it's just absolutely beautiful. We watched the sunset and the night creep in whilst sipping on Caipirinhas and enjoying the ambience of the place - ahh, perfect way to end the trip. Then we headed back to Copacabana to have dinner at an eastern restaurant - (On the way to the restaurant we took a city tour - well, actually, we got the wrong bus, but we got to our location eventually! We appear to have adopted the laid-back South American attitude!) - the food was delicious and my god - there was loads of it!!! We waddled back to the hotel, slightly tipsy and very full, very happy after a great day. Our night was nearly ruined however, by a guy who thought it would be hilarious to chuck a pint of beer over us - Andy was about to knock him out, but thankfully we realised that he was only a street seller trying to sell us a joke pint, made of plastic - doh! Panic over, we went back to the hotel and had sweet dreams of our adventurous 6 month trip.

We´ve just come from the roof-top terrace of our hotel, where we have been sipping cocktails and admiring the view of Copacabana beach in the 30 degree heat - not a bad life. We also had a little chuckle to ourselves, cos we discovered that the hotel usually charges about 120 quid a night and we were paying half that! hehe! Expedia all the way!

So, now we have only a few hours left - we get a cab to the airport in an hour and a half, then fly out at 6.30pm. Where has the last six months gone?! We have had a great time, and hope you have enjoyed the blog - we have enjoyed making it! A big thank you to all you poor work-aholics at home, who have helped us sort out bank issues and general life stuff for when we get back - we really do appreciate it and will do the same for you if you fancy a 6 month jaunt!

See you all very soon, when we can tell you all about it all over again!

It´s been emotional.....