Well it has been an absolutely brilliant few days and I am loving Rio!! Arrived on Tuesday morning after a gruelling 18 hour bus journey and it was pissing it down with rain!! Had an incredibly lazy first day in Rio - met up with the Irish girls, went exploring around Copacabana in the rain and did lots of chilling out! The following day it was sunny so went to the beach in the morning which was really great - I have never seen so many asses on show (both male and female) and spent a lot of time laughing at the lifeguards strutting their stuff until they actually had to rescue 2 of my friends from the huge waves so I had a bit more respect for them!! In the afternoon we went to Santa Teresa which was a really pretty part of the town. The tram ride there was a bit scary as it was so rickety and people just hang on the sides. Had a few drinks in Copacabana then back at the hostel. Today has been a lot of fun. Went on a tour of a favela which was such an experience. It is in the rough part of town where the drug sellers and guns are and apparently they make 4 million dollars a month in selling drugs!!! Got a motorbike to the top of the favela which was so fun and just like in the movies where they go in between 2 trucks and the gap is closing you don´t think you could possibly fit but somehow we did! The houses are all stacked up on top of each other and they just keep building a storey on top of the roof of another - some of them look so unsafe and there are thousands in between the mountains it is incredible to see. The place is pretty filthy with dog poo, piles of rubbish and even rats but the children were hilarious and posed like supermodels for our photos. Afterwards we walked along Copacabana beach to Ipanema beach where I will be staying with Paula and it was so pretty. The views were spectaular and we watched the sunset which was so beautiful. Have just been for a delicious fish dinner and am about to leave the hostel and check into the hotel as Paula arrives in a couple of hours - can´t wait!!!! xx