Goodness me I leave you guys unattended for a couple of days and all hell breaks loose!! I know, I know, I want to finish uploading the Inca trail pics and then take some others (!) but Im just a bit loathe to take my camera out where its likely to get half inched. Arrived in Rio yesterday afternoon and barrelled up to our hotel thinking oo this is all very nice :) The receptionist said - and now you need to pay the other 50% of the room bill. Turns out Stella hadnt paid very much attention and the 150 pounds wed each paid for the week was only half the total room bill thus blowing our months budget by 150 pounds. Needless to say Beth was not a happy chicky and neither was I. We asked at some hostels but they were charging even more!! About 60 pounds per person per night for a bed in a shared dorm!! Carnival makes pricing go through the roof!! There were plans to get back on a bus and head straight back out of Rio but we realised there isnt anything else in Brazil that we really want to see and we cant bring the argentina flight forward because Stellas ticket is non moveable. So basically we are sucking up the expense and staying in Rio. Quite glad really cos its turning out to be pretty damn cool. I headed out this morning to explore, armed with a freebie guide book and walked part way around the edge of lagoa rodrigo de freitas (google earth it - go on) which was spectacular. Massive lake with high rise apartment blocks along the edge, beautiful sunshine, mountains tipped in cloud. brilliant sunshine,´palm trees. It was basically a tropical manhatten. Thats the feeling I get here. New York with palm trees. The best thing I think is in between the various districts youll get a mountain rising up, covered in green tropical forest, just straight out of the houses.So I went to the botanical gardens which were really nice. Some massively tall imperial palms, some lovely orchids and my favourite the Japanese Garden. Alas no photos but maybe Ill take my camera out someday soon.The day we left Ilha Grande we awoke to full sunshine. Youd know it wouldnt you. The day before it had tropical storm - poured it down with rain from noon till about 5am! We sat in the hostel watching TV looking outside like - we just cant believe it. Anyway, were writing that off as bad luck weatherwise but today in Rio the sky is blue. Im going to go and collect the girls from the beach now. We are staying at ipanema which is an upmarket area full of designer stores and juice bars and incidentlely the gay district, its been nice to walk around there today and gavea, another nice district. Looking forward to carnival - need to get some tickets booked but am hoping itll be a really great show. May head out to see a street bloco tonight. Was excited today to find a place that did salads. Yes I know. But there was no salad at all on ilha grande. All they did was cheesey pastry things and after a while you began to feel distinctly sick. They are also majorly into meat here. Meat and cheese. It aint the lightest cuisine in the world. I vote no. So today I had courgette, feta and pepper salad and it was heaven. Couple of explanations in answer to my message board (LOVE seeing your messages up there), Kyla I dont know whats going on with my hair!!! Day one in Peru it went - oo traveling are we - lovely - im going to go MENTAL. I noticed Beth looking with amusement at it over breakfast this morning. The general consenus is when it grows an inch or two longer the weight should hold it down a bit - stop it being so crazy.And Mum, youre right I never drank coffee before but I tried it in Peru and Peruvian coffee is AWESOME but Brazilian coffee is not so great plus it was giving me the jitters so ive decided to lay off it now. Until maybe frappes in New Zealand which are supposed to be good. Will get back to you all with more Rio news soon. Hope everyones doing well and that Rachel is enjoying the snow in Bonnie Scotland. Mwah!