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 staying. It was crazy, everyone was dressed up and drinking. We found a tree to stand on so we could see. Eventually it reached us - first came all the people in shirts with their samba group on, then the drums. They were amazing everyone was dancing with them and singing along. There were carnival songs playing from the lorry behind them which had the name of the samba school on and people waving in it. We joined after and followed - everyone was drunk and dancing (and worse!)

We didn't bring a phone or anything as we'd heard too many stories about people getting mugged but we managed to get a couple of pics from a guy in the hostel who took his phone, so not up to rob's standards!