Well we have left the comfort of the Sheraton now and moved to a hotel nearer the centre of Rio. Its on Ipanema beach which is next to Copacabana beach. Our hotel is right on the front and our room on the 11th floor looks out over the beach and sea. You cannot believe how many people are on the beach its absolutely rammed or at least it was leading up to New Years eve, its a little quiter since, mainly cause the weather has gone pants. Its still red hot but ...

Well surprisingly we have spent the last few days on the beach sunning ourselves. Today was the day Craigs been dreading as he finally was no longer in his prime and hit 30. he managed to have 4 birthday cards, which beats my 1! We headed to the beach, and popped back to the hotel at lunch. I had organised the hotel to put ballons, banners and cakes in the room for him. No i didnt choose the colour of the balloons, thats not intentional honest. We then headed bac...

Xmas day and I know what you are all thinking......sun, sand etc....well guess what???? It was cloudy and rained! Never mind our xmas lunch more than made upo for it. The hotel put on what I can only describe as a sumptous buffet. There was a pile of lobsters 2 foot high and a mountain of king prawns, I just didnt know where to start. No turkey though but hey champagne and lobster, who needs turkey. Oh and the desserts how many differnt ones did I try, ...

So what have we been up to...do we really need to say. We'll give you one guess... Yes thats it Sun Sun Sun. Oh its a hard life laying back in the sun, then occasionaly stretching those legs and going into the sea to cool off. Dont worry we have been out and about aswell; On friday the first really clear day we headed to the two main sites. First stop was the famous statue of Christ the Redeemer some 700m+ above Rio. The views were absolutely fantastic....

Wow what can we say about Rio, life revolves around the beach. The people are laid back and friendly, the sand is soft and white, the sea is clear and blue, and the sun is hot hot hot. So a very different xmas to any other! We are roughing it in a junior suite in the Sheraton hotel which is overlooking the beach, and comes complete with jacuzzi. We have spent the last few days relaxing, getting up enjoying a big breakfast buffet before stumbling across the ...