Our entry into Brazil was not ideal: despite fears of future muggings and shootings in Rio we had problems before we had even got there when we realized someone had taken some money from our folders when we had left them in a hotel safe. So much for it being safe! (NB: we found the 'stolen money' sent home in something else when we got back to England. Oops!).So our first few minutes in Brazil were spent in the airport police office filing our report. Nice start! We were anxious enough and despite the police being very nice and helpful our feelings of trepidation were enhanced by the fact that everyone sounded like they were speaking Russian. Whoever told me Brazilian Portuguese would be similar to Spanish was lying!

After this first little hurdle we made our way to our new home for the next 9 days: Vila Carioca. We put aside our fears that it might indeed be an all night Karaoke because Carioca actually means resident of Rio but were wrong to do so: our first night was spent sleeping with the accompaniment of guitars, drums and singing. Oh well, it was carnival week, after all. We were in Botafogo, a relatively safe area as it is a business and residential area rather than one of the tourist areas. We met the hostel owner, Omri, and trying to get information about what I would be doing and wearing in Carnaval was like trying to get blood out of a stone. I would just have to relax into the Cariocan way of doing things. So, we went out for a bite to eat at a local place full of cariocans which came to be our local haunt for the next few days and one of the locals kindly helped us out with the menu and we got our first taste of a tasty meat dish accompanied by the popular fe jaô (black lentils) and it was helped down with some local beer. Things were improving already.

After a night´s sleep things seemed a lot brighter and we started off our Rio experience by going to see Christ the Redeemer. We caught a bus and got chatting to a local woman who helped us out and chatted away about everything and nothing: maybe people weren´t as scary as we thought here! We left her and arrived at the bottom of the hill for CTR. As usual, we wanted to try and do it off our own backs, the hard way, but we were told in no uncertain terms that it would take 3 hours...if we made it through the favelas. We were blessed with some wonderful views all over the city, Sugar Loaf Mountain and Copacabana and Ipanema beaches and did our fair share of CTR (Christ the Redeemer) poses. Rio certainly is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Unfortunately for those who came up after us, the clouds suddenly came in and pretty much stayed: gutted! We treated ourselves to lunch with a view of CTR then headed off to possibly the most famous beach in the world: Copacabana. Naturally, being there sparked up the song in my head which was OK for the first 5 hours but then got a little tedious. The atmosphere, however, was not: it was busy and bustling and watching the waves was amazing: the power was incredible. This was proved when we were walking along and suddenly a heliocopter swooped down to the beach and out a bit to sea and picked up some people who must have got into trouble. They then dumped them from their rescue bag back on to the beach! Our first night in Rio just happened to coincide with Valentine´s day. Dave thought he was doing really well as he claimed he had brought me to Rio just for Valentine´s day, and surely that should earn him some brownie points? Hmm nice try. We got chatting to a couple from England, Paul and Laura, who had been hang gliding that day and so we decided to follow in their air stream and get to see a bird´s eye view of Rio.

The next day saw us putting on our flying goggles and taking to the air: hang gliding over Rio looked like fun! I got a little scared when the guy told me all I had to do was run as fast as I could off the edge of the cliff and wouldn´t tell me about how to land until nearer the ground. We both put our faith in our instructors and set off and well, what a place to hang glide! We flew over the nearby houses and jungle then out towards the sea. In the distance we could see Sugar Loaf Mountain and we had a great view over all the nearby beaches. It was so serene and pretty that we had to pinch ourselves to check we were not asleep. After a few minutes of chasing the birds it was time to land and didn´t we come in at a speed? I had been a little unnerved running off the cliff but as the ground sped towards me I had butterflies to say the least but without cause. What a great way to see Rio! We finished off our afternoon with a stint on the beach before heading out with Paul and Laura to our first street party. Carnaval proper had not got started but the partying had already begun for Rio. After an obligatory caipirinha (Brazil's national cocktail) and a few beers we were getting in the mood and followed the music and the crowds down the street. I had no hesitation in getting up on the ´music truck´and dancing the night away with the locals. Disaster struck when Paul and Laura realized they had had their camera stolen: Rio was not a place to let your guard down. Still, we didn´t let this dampen our mood and left feeling well initiated into the carnival spirit and hungry for more.

The next day was to be the opening ceremony of the Sambadromo with the children´s Samba schools, so we were soon to get our first taste of the more `official´ Carnaval. Before this we set off to take a peek at the modern but not distasteful cathedral. The excitement about the evening was growing so we made our way back to the hostel and then set off with a group towards the Sambadromo. In order to get to ur seats Omri took us round the long way so we could catch a glimpse of the ´backstage´action. We were able to walk past all the children getting ready and have a preview of the floats to be used in the parade. We made our way to our seats and then the music and drums started: we were able to see the form of the schools: the best dancers were out at the front and they were followed by a chorus and a float. Then came the richly dressed pair which in the original days of carnival were a lady holding the flag of a school and a guy showing off his dancing but also protecting the flag from rival schools trying to pinch it. Then followed more chorus and floats. The vibe was infectious and we danced and waved the flags that were given out until we could dance and wave no more. I, at least, had to conserve my energy for strutting my stuff the following day.

Despite a late night we got up the next day and strolled to one of the crowning pieces of Rio: Pao de Azucar (Sugar Loaf Mountain). The journey up was by cable car to a sister mountain and then another to Sugar Loaf itself. Despite clouds swirling around we were met with more stunning views of Rio and the Cariocans below. Despite trying to relax I was nerviously excited about the evening. What would I be doing? What would I be wearing? Eventually I was to find out. Omri sat the group down and went through the song we would be singing: not only was it new but it was in Portuguese! ´Chewing gum´ (i.e. pretending to sing the words) would come in handy. Then we had our first and final Samba lesson and all that was left to do was dish out the costumes! I was to be wearing a tiger´s head with blue and gold arms wraps and trousers and a massive bow and arrow on my back. The costume was quite glamorous until it came to the shoes which were blue slippers like something kitchen workers wear. Oh well, I was expecting high heels so at least I would be able to dance!

I was a bit nervous for our Samba school as Dave pointed out they were still painting and sticking together our float quite near the time we were due on. I suppose they are just too big to make beforehand. We also panicked when one of our group disappeared - Omri finally found him helping to push a float which had got stuck on telephone wires! Omri was not happy and said this wasn't the time to 'try and act like a local'. Oops! There was a lot of waiting round before going 'on stage' but even this was amusing: as we got nearer to entering the Sambadromo the drinks sellers were seemingly not allowed in that area but this did not deter them from fishing for business, literally. Cunning Cariocans had climbed the walls and hung down boxes of drinks. If someone wanted one they would put the money in a bag that made its way quickly up to the seller and then any change required would be dropped back down in the bag. Ingenious!

Then the time came to go on stage: we walked round the corner and despite fearing that I probably would not see Dave at all in the thousands of people I saw his face beaming at me straight away! I gave a few waves to the camera and then it was time to strut my stuff. I sang and danced and twirled and waved and was quite awed by the number of people looking back at me! My group had quite a few foreigners in it and they obviously didn´t know the song despite trying to bluff it and I was quite shocked by one man booing the guy next to me because he was not singing. He ought to try and get up and do what we did, miserable git!

All that was left after showing off to the world was to sit back and enjoy the other parades and eventually after a few hours of cheering, dancing and flag waving we headed back to the hostel for some well earned rest.

The folllowing days we relaxed and dropped in and out of street parties and went to a club in the popular Lapa area where some Brazilians took us under their wing and showed us how to Samba and explained a lot of the songs to us. The club was small but friendly but we could not understand how trusting they were: for drinks they just filled out a card that each person had and you just paid for all of them at the end of the evening. What if you lost your card??!!

One thing that seemed quite interesting was a favela trip: we felt a bit off about paying to go and see a load of poor people but in fact it was not like that at all. We went on our own with a guy from the favela who just took us for a walk effectively. We passed a man having a shower in the street with a hosepipe which is apparently what most of them have to do and then continued round and to the top of the favela: from there you could see the best views of the city I believe! The guide treated us to some locals fruits we found on the way and tried his best to tell us about life in the favelas in a mixture of Portuguese from him and Spanish from me. On the way down we bumped in to some guys from the favela who were casually sitting there smoking joints. It took me a minute to register the fact that they also had a semi-automatic each just sitting within reach of them: we had cheerily said hello to them and we wanted very quickly to say goodbye! This brought the reality of the favela to us.

To finish off out Rio experience we decided to treat ourselves to Sugar Loaf Mountain at sunset. We were blessed with a clear sunset and it was quite a good one as sunsets go but it was just after sundown when the lights of the city started twinkling and the colour of the sunset deepened that really made it special: what a gorgeous way to end a fantastic time in such a beautiful, vibrant city. We got a taxi back to the hostel: we didn´t want anything spoiling our time there!

Then it was time to leave most of my costume (it was too big to send or take!) and say goodbye to Rio and head off to our next destination: the Brazilian side of the Iguacu falls.