Rio was hot hot hot! We actually saw a temperature thingy which said it was 45 degrees one day! So, it is a little uncomfortable as you can imagine. The hostel we were staying in was nice, we met lots of people there. The first day we got there we went to the beach with Felipe, it was great having him around to speak the lingo! The beaches are so packed, all you can see is umbrellas left to right, and tiny little thong bikinis for the women, speedos for the men.... We saw a lot of bikinis that dont leave much to the imagination, and now we know why it is called a brazilian wax!! Brazilians love the beach, if they have a day off they go to the beach! That night we went out for a few drinks but were pretty tired from the journey and the heat so ended up having an early night.

The next day we met Felipe again and went to a different beach which is further south of Rio which was about an hour on the bus and a lot quieter than the beaches in the city. When we got back we went to watch the sunset, but it clouded over a little bit but on the plus side, then moon rising was amazing, it was bright red! We went back to the hostel and met some people for a few caipirinhas (alcohol + ice + lime) delicious, but lethal so didn`t have too many. We all went out later to Lapa which is a district of Rio where every night there is a massive street party. They have food stalls and beer stalls, music and lots of people. We ended up getting home at 4am, it was a really good night. The next day obviously we got up pretty late and just wandered around. We watched some football in a cafe (which is not hard, there is football everywhere!) and then had an early night.

We booked a trip to go and see the Christ the Redeemer statue, which was really amazing but it was so busy as there was a holiday in Rio. It takes a while to get up there, I didn`t realise how high it was but the views were stunning. There is actually a chapel inside the christ statue for people to worship. After that we went to see the Maracana stadium, but it is closed for work for the 2014 world cup, so we couldn`t go to a game if we wanted to, but jack`s planning a footie match in the south with some friends. they had footprints of famous footballers outside, so jack got to step in pele`s shoes!

We didnt go up the sugar loaf, we thought we would leave something for when we get back to Rio in April. Rio is a really cool city, definately recommend it to anyone. It has a strange layout though as they have a lot of favelas (slums) next to really rich places. You will see tall buildings and nice houses, then on the hills lots of favelas as far as the eye can see. You can do a tour of them, but we didn`t but might do on the way back. Apparently the money goes towards building schools for them etc.

We are now in a tiny little place called Trinidade about 5 hours from Rio which is a tiny little village which beautiful beaches and rainforest. It actually has no internet or phones, but we are in Paraty at the moment for a day trip. Paraty is really pretty, reminds me of Portugal with all the cobbled streets and whitewash buildings. The bus from Rio to Paraty was excellent, reclining seats, air con and generally very comfortable. We didnt have a madman driver which was nice, as i hear there are a lot of them. we took a bus from the hotel in rio to the bus station, and the driver was crazy, he was even leaning into the turns as he took them like a rally driver!

Trindade is about 40 mins from Paraty so its not too bad for a day trip. Also we are going to stock up on food as its expensive down there to eat. I tried yoga yesterday, which was good first thing in the morning, with the rainforest surrounding and the sounds of the waves, very relaxing! I think we might do a boat trip tomorrow with some others from a hostel, it goes to lots of nice beaches and you can drink as much as you like but have to provide your own food. Jacks addicted to kosheena (pretty sure thats not how you spell it) which looks like a scotch egg but with a point, chicken in the middle and potatoes. The food in brazil seems to be meat, rice and beans, which is nice and you get good deals. As its expensive we`ll be buying our own food and cooking it and only eating out every so often.

We will be in Trindade until Sunday, havent decided where to go next yet. So, mother(s) we will not be emailing/phoning home till Sunday or Monday unless we come back to Paraty for another day, which we might!

Will be in touch when we get back to the real world! x