We spent a lot of the day chilling and went to watch the united match as it was raining. We had been told that though they started parading at 10 we had no seating allocated so to get in as soon as the doors opened at 6pm. It was meant to last until 5am - as we were leaving the next day we tried to pack and nap.When we got there it was incredible. It was so long that even after they started it took 15 mins to dance up to us. These were the first 6 of the special ...

Today we collected our sambadrome tickets then chilled out again and drank with a couple we met at the hostel before heading out to two blocos in Ipanema. Good thing they block the roads for them these are even bigger than the night before, all over the beach. There were so many people it was amazing, just going to one for a few hours then the next when it finished. No pics - not worth bringing a phone with so many people there.

Today we chilled out ahead of our first bloco (carnival street party). We spent most of the day on copacabana beach, wondering around, sunbathing and buying some flip flops! It's so big and there are mountains on both sides, it looks pretty. There were loads of people selling stuff but we couldn't find rob a carnival hat that he didn't think he'd look stupid in...We went out with some people from the hostel to one in Ipanema near where we were sta...

We started the day on a walking tour and saw downtown, the old palace, the municipal buildings (all guarded by soldiers since the World Cup due to protests) and the Selaron Steps, which were much bigger than I expected.We then got the cheapest Uber ever through Santa Teresa up to Christ the Redeemer, which was amazing and much bigger than it looks from the city. After that we got a bus over to Sugar Loaf. We arrived at the top of the mountain on the cable car lit...

We went on a walking tour of a favela with a local guy called Obi. It was really interesting, he told us about how the police took control from the drug dealers in 2011 (and that they preferred the drug dealers), how poor they are eg they 'borrow' electricity from the government, how they prefer to give all their money to locals doing small jobs instead of corporations. Amazing food and views too!Later we walked all the way along Ipanema beach up to anoth...