I didnt realise it had been so long since Id done a blog! Hopefully you have seen that Ive added a few new albums of photos and finished uploading the inca trail pics. Since my last post we have visited the Christ the Redeemer statue, spectacularly perched on top of the mountain, and Sugar Loaf mountain which I have to say offered one of the best views I have every seen. Rio does seem to have it all blue skies, a backdrop of mountains, fantastic golden beaches, the lake that I like so much, the tropical trees and plants, friendly and cosmopolitan people.. Everyone Ive met who is from Rio is damn proud to call it their home.

On Saturday night Stella and I joined the street carnival in Ipanema and had a lot of fun. Its the gay district so we met some really lovely people and the good news is there were straight guys there to play with too ;) Last night we went to the Sambadrome to see the samba schools parade and it was an awesome show. We were pleased that our budget seats still had an excellent view of the parade and ended up sitting next to a brazilian family who were great fun to watch and a really lovely lady and her daughter who explained the meaning of all the floats etc. My favourite was the school whose theme was climate change. Their costumes included penguins, toucans, cheetahs, sharks, fish etc etc and the floats were tigers that roared, gorillas etc etc and a float which had all the dancers dancing under water showers. My favourite part of the parades were the dancers that danced the samba individually between the sections of the parade, they were so fabulous and so glam - the costumes so amazing. Having said that we spotted one woman who sported the high gold sandals and the feathered headress but no top and more shockingly no pants!! Three of us confirmed it - no pants. That takes some serious body confidence. Or maybe she just left her outfit at home!