Sunday 6th Feb Sandy (my old work mate) arrive at 1.30am this morning. All tired and a bit stressed. I think she loves the hostel, not. The fact that she too is on a top bunk bed scared her. And when I showed her the showers that millions of people used her face was a picture. It is alright for me as I'm traveling but she is on holiday. But I did warn her. We went down to the bus station today as Gayle and I booked our tickets for Saturday. We are leaving to go to the Water Falls at Foz do Iguacu. It is a 23 hr bus journey! Nice. On the way down we got off at the wrong stop, ended up in the wrong part of town. Whoops! Bit rough, you could probably call it the slums! (well, it is nice to see all the sights). Sandrine used here best portuguese to get directions. We ended got to talk to some nice police men. On the way back we stopped off at the beach in Leblon. The sun was out today. Went in the sea but you can't go too far in as the current (thing spelt wrong) is too strong. I normally love the sea and the big waves but I only went in up to my knees as I was a little worried about being dragged out to sea. All the locals stayed shallow as well, and they say you should only go where the locals go. There are lots of street carnivals going on. Bumped into one on the way back from the beach. The street ones are not that good. Not fancy outfits, just groups of people and loud music. There is also a hippee market going on today. Got a nice necklace for a 1 pound. It is so cheap here. Ipanema is a know for being a hippee area and a gay area. We all went to the Carnival (the proper one) at the Sambodromo. Nightmare Brazilan journey again! It is over a Central. Normally would be a 20 min journey but took 90mins. Mini bus driver dropped as off at wrong place and it took at over 2 hours to find the entrance. There is not signs. Brazil is so unorganized. We eneded up walking around the whole stadium, and it is big. We were in the cheap seats, Sector 13. One the way there Emily got mugged! They stole sarah and here carnival tickects. Bummer! Very scary also. Sarah was a little upset and had a shout and cry. The group calmed her down and all was ok as we got them some more tickets. As it was so scary the groups stuck together, group bonding! The whole area was so busy, you had to be so careful. Someone grabbed my back pocket, but I only had my fags in it. I would have still fighted them for them! hahah (No, I wouldn't have, I would have handed my purse over also!) Once we got in the Sector we had to fight our way through. It was sooooooo busy. The was people busy. At one point I fell on top of some local girls. At this point I wish I had paid for the more expensive tickets. We finally got up on the seats in the higher area but I lost the group. Ended up watching the show with someone from the hostel. We found the group again about 4.30am. The show starts at 9pm and ends about 6am. The love a late night here. Not too sure how they stay away!?! Anyway, the parade was excellent. There are about 5 different samba schools, each last for one hour. About 8000 people in each parade. The outfits, dancers, music, everything, was fantastic. The atmosphere was super. It is somethings worth experiencing. After all that I was so glad to get to bed in the morning. (excuse the grammer and spelling, I tired)