Hey guys,

Sorry we haven´t written before now, we did try several times but the site kept crashing (honest!)

So where do we start? Ok...from the beginning....hold onto your seats:)

Taciana our host in Rio, met us at the airport......kept missing each other but we finally crossed paths! An eye opening ride to her house, as we passed through a notoriously dangerous area, where cars are hijacked frequently (Taciana has been hijacked 3 times!!!).......places close to cities and towns known as favela´s are where these gangs live, they are more like shanty towns, very under developed, most have no access to facilities which we take for granted daily i.e water, electricity......Taciana lives in a 3 bed apartment, highly secure, with running water and electricity ( but we have on many an occasion been bathing in cold water as we´ve been too shy to ask her to switch the water heater on!!!!) .......so today we went to Tijuca forest where we trekked for 4 hours, Maz got stung by a bee and cried like a baby!!! hehehehe! After our hefty climb we made our way to the waterfall, where because we´re so used to cold showers we had our first natural shower.......Breathtaking.......360 deg view of Rio, which was occasionally obstructed by low lying clouds...but at times we saw an amazing view:)

Bitten by mosquito´s, so we´re itching away at the moment!! Taciana has been an amazing host, with her two children....she took us along the coastal lines of Rio, so we took in the most famous beaches including Copacobana......oh yes we´ve been singing that song:) Expected model brazillian women but nice to know they suffer with cellulite too! Cuisine is very meat based with a lot of cheese, so we´re trying to eat as much fruit and veg as possible....

People are very inquisitive and often stop and speak to us in English. Rio has a lot to offer, but we think that our 5 days here has allowed us to experience most of it....including the Samba houses, where they were doing this very strange shuffle!! It seemed more like the moseley dance centre on a saturday night..oh dear!!!

Entertainment at every traffic light, with sellers (children from Favelas) running out to cars to sell beverages.....this i suppose is their main legal source of income as education is very poor here, its free, but parents like Taciana send her children to private schools, opening up various avenues.

There are many scare stories, car´s after dusk do not stop at traffic lights as hijacking is common place. People catch taxis and stay in groups, which we have been doing. SOme areas of Rio are more like fortress´s where they have cameras on every street corner (seems more like Big brother on a much larger scale), its a city behind walls. We didn´t realise just how safe it really is in the UK......but to reassure you that we are both very safe and have been with Taciana and her children during the evenings.....

We expected more vibrancy and energy from Rio, drums, laughter, dancing, singing in the streets, but its not really what we´ve found. We´re banking on Salvador!

Rio is a city bordering wonderful forests that are yet so young as these forests were destroyed to produce coffee beans, only 300 yrs ago these coffee trees were removed and the replantation of the original fauna and flora occurred. There is a sense of peace within these forests. Maybe this is the reason that the poorest of the poor live among the forest, with running water and natural fruits. The more affluent citizens of Rio move to coastal accomodation, where these cities grow......we on the other hand try and get as far away from the cities as possible!

Well, that was a long entry, but writing this journal really amalgamates our thoughts and experiences in Rio. Missing you all.....wish you could be here to experience this with us...maybe somewhere along the trail we´ll meet.....haven´t met the tinman yet:) xxxx

p.s Dals know as Little Miss Sleepy!!!