We have an exciting end to our homestay to report. After being left with a messy kitchen and no keys of our own, we decided to strike out for greener pastures on Monday. We'd had the song Copacabana in our heads since we got to Brazil so that's the first place we tried. The good news is we found a fantastic hostel with our own kitchen and super friendly front desk staff that speak English. The bad news is that our homestay was not especially supportive of our decision to move. This became clear when they sent us an email accusing us of theft and threatening that they would contact the police and "send the hounds after us."

We'd avoided pickpockets and muggings only to find out we're the criminals! It led to a lot of unnecessary drama in the end, but we learned the valuable lesson that it's probably a good idea to do a little more research on future homestays and that maybe a referral or two from a friend, or even a stranger, might be in order.

But other than a little Bonnie and Clyde action our stay in Rio has been a lot of fun and fairly uneventful. Once we were somewhat sure we wouldn't actually run into a problem leaving the country we were able to enjoy walking on the beaches at Copacabana and Ipanema and scaling the peaks of Sugar Loaf and the famous Christo statue overlooking the city - one of the newly named seven wonders of the world.

We decided to hike up to Sugar Loaf rather than take the cable car but like many directions you get in Brazil the trail to Sugar Loaf is unmarked, just a dark, windy staircase heading up a hill from the main concrete tourist path at the base of the mountain. We stuck to the concrete path with me saying "I bet this doesn't take us up to the top - I'll bet you $5" - which seems to be the standard size of our bets, and Josh insisting we stick to the trail. That is until we hit a big water tower with a sign that said "Dangerous trail, only undertake with professional guide" in both Portuguese and English, and included the number for a search and rescue party. To me this was ample reason to proceed on - I was totally convinced this was the way to the top and those Brazillians were just overly cautious and concerned about liability. Bolstered by one woman's encouragement to "go up on ahead" - at least that's what I interpreted, we climbed on until the trail literally turned into a sheer ridge with small footholes and Josh heard a rattling sound in a nearby bush. At that point I had just started getting excited about getting off the beaten path (I've been reading my brother's blog - he and his girlfriend are hiking the Pacific Crest Trail and averaging over 15 miles per day so I have a little hiker envy) but luckily cooler heads prevailed and we made our way back to the concrete path and did finally find the hidden trail up to Sugar Loaf. The real trail may not have called for a search and rescue team but I did feel entitled to a bit of smugness when we reached the top on foot and beat the tour groups to the views and the hot chocolate stand.

We've also really taken our time here in Rio, which means that we're able to just relax and take it easy instead of being on the go go go. Some of my favorite times here have had nothing to do with sightseeing but more just doing everyday things like seeing a movie in English - in this case the pretty bad latest chapter of Indiana Jones - and this morning watching the men's semifinals of the French Open on the cable TV in our hostel lobby. (With the added bonus of glib commentary in English and a very loving partner who made both breakfast and lunch so I wouldn't miss the exciting action.) I owe him big.

Tomorrow we're scheduled to go on a Favela tour in the morning and have tickets for a big semi-final soccer game in the evening. I can't wait to do both - two things totally outside my typical comfort zone and realm of experience.

On Monday we have a flight to head North to Salvador, an area we've heard many good things about both from guide books and friends who've lived and visited there. We plan to check in again before we leave Rio but depending on our fugative status we may or may not be able to report exactly where we're heading...