A very soggy, grey and gloomy start to Rio, which made the English in our group a little homesick (especially when Louisa spotted the C&A on the high street)! Despite the weather, we were determined to cram in as much of Rio as possible in the 1.5 days that we had, and so we set off in our rainjackets, ponchos and umbrellas for a stroll on Copacabana beach (where we were staying). After all the fuss that Barry Manilow made about Copacabana, we all had tremendous expectations of wide sandy beaches, beach bars, and beautiful people sunning themselves on the sand or frolicking in the sea - what an utter disappointment when we saw the not-so-wide beach, fronted by a major thoroughfare which separated the beach from ghastly, featureless high-rise blocks (even the 5-star hotels looked like ugly apartment blocks), and there was not a soul on the beach nor the water - admittedly the foul weather had a big role to play in that. Undettered, we walked on down to Ipanema beach (another place I can tick off my list - the subject of one of my favourite songs, Girl from Ipanema), and whilst it was not spectacular, it was heaps better than Copacabana.

It was our last night as a group and we went for a superb churrascaria dinner, and all-you-can-eat meat-fest. It was sad to say our byes to the other 4, after spending so much time together in the last 6 weeks, and it was very strange starting afresh with the new group - and a much larger group at that - 15 of us in total!

We went on a favela tour the next morning with Louis (who owns www.bealocal.com) to Rocinha, which houses 200,000 people in an area no larger than 3 square kms. Only about 1% of the population are involved in drug dealing, but that is unfortunately what gives favelas a bad name. (I need to watch Elite Squad when I get back, as this is all about the police squad cracking down on the drug gangs in favelas). Most of the population are honest, hard-working folks, who earn their keep as cleaners, security guards, etc, who cannot otherwise afford to live in Rio. The drug gang that controls Rocinha is called ADA (Amigos dos amgios - friends of friends) and the acronymn is liberally grafittied on the walls around the favela.... marking their territory.

The tour started with a motorcycle ride up to the top of the favela in a moto-taxi - a very hair-raising ride indeed. We wore no helments, and my driver was taking the hairpin bends at much higher speeds than I would have liked, often overtaking vans, buses, etc with absolutely zero visibility of what was approaching us round the bend - a couple of times, we came face to face with a huge bus, before we ducked into the gap between the bus on my left and the van on my right. I was convinced many times that my legs would be ripped off from where I sat - and not wanting to chance anything, I clamped my thighs tightly against the driver's. I have no doubt that these drivers delight in watching the gringos squirm and swear at the tops of their breaths as they executed these suicidal / homocidal manouvers up the hill!

We made our way down by foot along the No. 1 Street through the favela. All the streets have names, and the buildings have numbers, but none of these are sign-posted. The favela community and the local post office know the street addresses well enough that no sign postings were necessary. In earlier times, a car used to be able to get down the No. 1 Street, but as the favela mushroomed, it is now only wide enough for 2 people walking abreast.

Most homes have illegally tapped into the electrical lines. For those who have a legal power line, their meters have perpetually read 000000001.

The favela operated on an open sewage system, and many times, we had to hold our breaths as we passed certain sections. Louis prohibited us from taking photos in certain parts of the favela, presumably because he had spotted an ADA member in operation.

We visited the studio / dwellings of 3 artists in the favela. One of them was a grafitti artist and was responsible for some of the pretty paintings adorning the walls and shutters of the favela. I bought an oil painting of the favela from Agosto.

Our trip to Corcavado (where the Christ statue was situated) that afternoon was not without incident. We arranged for a car to take us to the top, and as it was nearing the top, the car cruised to a stop. Our driver, Severino, attempted to restart the car a couple of times, but the engine was not even turning - that was when we noticed the low fuel indicator, and the petrol gauge pointing at a level distinctly below "E". He sheepishly asked if any of us had a mobile phone - we had to laugh - there we were stranded in the middle of the mountain, with no gas and no mobile phone. Fortunately enough, the car chose to stop just beside a lay-by, so we all piled out to push the car to the side - only it was pushing uphill on a windy road. We then flagged down a car so that Severino could borrow a mobile phone and call for assistance, whilst we walked the additional 20 mins to the top. It was well worth the effort - we had a great view of the Christ statue, and the views of the city below were stunning. With the gas supply replenished, Severino drove us off to the Sugar Loaf mountain - a very impressive rock indeed!

Our last morning in Rio - we went on a tram ride up to Santa Teresa, and whizzed through central Rio - it is indeed a beautiful and majestic city. I can now appreciate the saying "God made the world in 6 days; the 7th he dedicated to Rio."

We met our new group:

Ursula (tour leader) - Peru

Matt & Hannah - England

Tom & Kim - England

Julie and Derrick - Canada

Stephanie - Canada

Will - US

Heidi - 60+ yr old Austrian (nice that I was no longer the grandma of the group), with a home in San Diego, but co-habiting with her boyfriend in Canada

Kristina - Norway

Heather - Australia

Lisa - Scotland