OH MY GOODNESS, WE ARE IN RIO!!!! Neither of us can quite belive that we are here, the final stop on our trip =( =(

We arrived in Rio after or final overnight bus and were devestated by the weather, black clouds and rain, just what we wanted for our last few days.

We are staying at El misit House hostel in Copacobana, just 2 a 2 minute walk from the beach. Ok its great in some ways but bad in others. Its a very small hostel so everyone all gathers in the tiny communal area which is great as everyone staying here is freinds and all go out as a group. The breakfast is amazing, pancakes, fresh fruit, a toastie machine and all sorts of fresh cakes, smoothies and proper coffee. On an evening the hostel has chef so cooks the most amazing dinners each night for only 15 reals (5 quid) its proper home food as well, lasagne, chicken dishes with rice and potatoes and loads of different salads. We have been so happy to not be eatig pasta, or having to cook. The down side is were in a 12 bed dorm with triple high bunbeds and the room is no bigger than mine at home, its is so crowded and only room for 1-2 people to be stood at one time. Also there are some very strange people and guys that stay out till 5-6am every night, we get woken up every half houR with peoplE coming in and out so not had a good nights sleep yet but cant complin its RIO!

Anywaaaay!

The first couple of days the weather was terrible so other walking around a few blocks and down to the beach we spent most of the tme in the hostel chattin woth everyone. Not really much to do when its bad. Because of this and a bit worried bout money the first 2 days we wee so fed up and wishng our time away. Even worse on Friday we were meant to go to a street party in Lapa with people we met but our bank card wouldnt work in the machine so missed out. We were gutted and mde us want to go home even more. In the end we sat drinking and building up our tab n the hostel.

The communal are is more like a living room and the tiny little table is set up by Garson each night as a bar. He makes the most amazing Caiparinahs, a cocktial with sugar, lime, rum and ice. Delicious.

Saturday was turn around day though. We have met girl from Clare aso from England and she is ace, we decided we would go to the Lapa steps on Saturday so all got up ealry and were over the moon that it wsnt raining. We took the metro to Lapa to see the steps. They were so cool, there just all tiled with hundreds of tiles from all over the world. From there everyone hda told us about Santa Teresa and how beautiful it was. We decided to walk s it didnt look too far. We were wrong, fter about half hour climbing p a mountain, we began to feel rather unsafe as we walked further and further up tiny little streets. Basically walking into a mugging or something. Finally a taxi drove past so we jumped in. We arrived in Santa Teresa to find there was absolutely nothing there so spent even more time walking around dogy streets. We gave up and headed back to the hostel.

That night we went for a walk on the beach front and down to the markets which were really cool, Copacobana looked good at night all lit up too.

Sunday and the sun was out! were were all up early to cth the bus to see the Christ Reedemer (The big Jesus statue) we figured it was cheaper to do it ourselfs rather than book a trip. We arrived at abut half 10 to find the next available train wasn´t for 3 hours. We could´nt belive our luck. Thank god though non of us knew that you could just s easly get mini van up, perfect and a lot quicker than the train.

What a sweat fest it was up there, it was so busy and people were just sliding past each other.

The statue was pretty cool and just huge. Yet another wounder of the world ticked off. It was so hot up there so we didnt sty too long. We jumped back on bus and headed straight to the beach for the first time. Very happy people.

The beach is really nice but the waves wow, they are so strong and just knock you off your feet, at one point I got swept under, Clare thought I was just swimming and waving at her untill I dragged myself up and explained I was actually drowning. She still thinks its hilarious.

Tonight we re finally going out. We hd bookd tickets to go to Fvel funk party and we all so excited. There are some really really irritting peopl in the hostel so when we found out it was just our little group going we were even happier. There were me and James, Clare, Daniel and Nigel, fther and son that are just hilarious and then Tamsin and Sophie. We had plenty of drinks in the hostel before we got picked up at 10.30. First stop was to another hostel to pick up a group of brazilians on a hen do so we stopped for a drink there.

What we hadnt realised ws how far away it was. We drove for over an hour to the Favela so we knew we would be the only gringos there. As we rrived we were all so scared it was the dodgiest place I have ever seen, just hurrendously scary looking people alll dancing and drinking in the street, we all looked at each other like ´what are we doing here´ we were given a security guy that was about the size of an average 12 year old and lead through these big metal doors t what looked like a dirty garage. Inside however we were shocked, a huge huge warehouse looking place, a big stage, huge plasma screens and very skanky looking bar. We were shown up the stairs to a vip bit but that was the same just a higher level. At first there was barley anyone there but t soon started filling up.

It really was like something out of a the film step up, groups of guys just doing routines to all the songs. It soon filed up and there were literally 1000´s of Brazilains dancing away. It was just absolutely mental and have never seen anythign like it. We sacked off the vip bit and went straight to the middle of the dance floor, not that we coud dance anything like the Brazilians and stood out a mile away but we had THE BEST NIGHT EVER! Think we got home about half 5, 6 and ah were just on such a high. It was better as well as the group that went were all friends anyway so had so much fun.

The way home was hilarious, everyone was so drunk, James and Claire passed out the whole trip and missed out on watching the sunrise over Copacobana beach. Such a shame it was the most beautifull sunrise I have ver seen as cheesy as that sounds the sky was red a pink and yellow all lit up behind the mountians.

The following day was spent lostly in bed, food and of course the amazinf tea by our incredible chef.

The last couples of days we had more sun so we lazed about on the beach topping up our taqns for the last time.

The last few days have been so emotional for the both of us, we just cant quite believe that our amazing journey has almost come to an end. Of course on of the days we decided to have our farewell mc D's and I just couldnt stop crying at the thought of going home. Neither of us want it to end.

We have done our final bits of shopping for our presents which again was sad knowing we would soon be back in reality.

One thing neither of us can wait for though is to get out of this horrible room, we have not slept more than the odd hour any night as it is so noisy, people coming in and out all the time. I actually went mad at a guy last night as he decided to unpack his bag at 4am on my bed, clothes all over my head. Argh I went mental, i stopmed out of bed to the loo and accidentally kneed him in the face but I was happy as bad as thats sounds he wasa nightmare.

So its now Tuesday, our final day, I have course have been in tears and think James could of shed a few at some point on the beach, we both just went and sat mile away from every one else just so depressed. It sounds really bad and we really should of made more of our last few days but we where juts overwhelmed with this horrid thought of going home.

Our last trip of our journey was to the sugar loaf. We caught the bus, with Clare of course to the bottom. We had decided we would climb the first section after being told it was a path and would take us half hour, it was not a path it was a blooming mountain so me in my frilly white dress and pink shoes would not have got to the top.

Wow the views were just out of this world, we stayed up there for hours taking pictures andw aiting to watch the sun set and for the lights to come on over Rio. Well it has to of been the most emotional moment of our trip, It was just sooooo sad for both us, I held in tears the whole time. But what an high to finish the trip on, we really felt like that was the most special thing we could have done for our final night, it was just beautifull and can say neither of us will ever forget the feeling standing up there reflecting back on our trip.

We got back to the hotel and Spent a good hour in tears in our room. I dont care how pathetic we sound. E ventually we pulled our selfs together and after waving off Dan, Nigel , Tamara and Sophie we were left with the company of many Caipirinahs and hecticness in the hostel.

Cryyyyyyyy.......its here, our last day. Up we got and went out to buy another couple of pressies and another sad afternoon on the beach oh and of course another McD's.

Before we knew it we were stood on Copacobana beach waiting for the bus to the airport. We just cant quite believe its over. The airport was rubbish, no shops, no bar, nothing to take our mind of the fact that the next time we were on land we were going to be back in England. As we got on board I think I cried for a good few hours. Eventually we both slept, the last thing I wanted to do as I knew how quick it would make the flight.