The first morning waking up in rio. The view from the hotel room was great, beach out one window the mountains and Christ the redeemer out the other.

We had some breakfast and explored the local area in Ipanema stopping at the havianas shop where the shop was a lot cheaper than in australia.

After this we hopped in a taxi to copacabana and walked down the beach. We then stopped at a little cafe and had some lunch and a caipirinha.

After lunch we met our tour guide Andre outside the Copacabana palace hotel where we joined a couple from New Zealand. We then walked to the metro and jumped on the train before meeting our guide mario at the front of the favela.

Outside the favela mario pointed to a map to show us where we were going in the favela and what to see. After this we walked in, there was some security at the front but nothing more than were on the streets. The favela we visited is called Santa Marta, it's like a little community where the poorer people live as they can't afford an apartment. They normally spread up the hills with small houses on top of each other. In Brazil if you live in a lodging for 5 years you can claim it as yours. This favela even had a cable car due to it being so steep.

At the cable car stop the local children has painted bricks of all different colours which looked amazing. Once up to the third station we got out and walked around. There were many stray dogs and urine on the ground as they don't have good plumbing. There was also lots of rubbish everywhere. Mario showed us a part where he and his brother cleaned a section of the favela to plant veggies for everyone. We also walked to the Michael Jackson square where in 1996 he filmed the video for they don't really care about us. At this time the favela was still run by the drug lords so he paid them for protection.

After this we continued down, mario pointed out his house which is now a hostel. We walked through the streets learning that they have there water from a large container on the roof and their electricity is meant to be for each dwelling but instead have large circuit boards that can catch on fire. We also walked past the house of the number one girl for gymnastics in Brazil and past the samba studio. Mario told us they have recently chosen the women for the leader of the drums and were having a ceremony on Sunday.

After this we walked back to the start. Overall it is an amazing insight into life in a favela and why people live in them.

After this we continued on the tour and drove up coracovado to visit Christ the redeemer. Once up the top I was so excited to see the large 90+m statue looking over rio. It was incredible. After taking lots of photos we headed back down.

We then grabbed some dinner and went for a drink at a local bar called popeye which was great. I can't wait for another day in rio :)