Just arrived in Rio de Janeiro, but in bus station and can't really write. I will update more in the next few days about our warm reception by our hosts, the Wards who live in Rio.

Sorry.

UPDATE:

Em and I quickly got an appreciation of just how comfortable a stay in Rio we were going to have, as Roz had a complex matrix of plans ready on our arrival to make our arrival as stress and hassle free as we could possibly hope for.

We were taxi-ed to their front door and welcomed into their home, which is beautiful, and quickly enjoyed the comforts of being off the travelling road. The Wards, Russell, Roz and April (5 yr old daughter) live in Barra de Tijuca, which is about 30 minutes SW of Rio centre. Russell, Emily´s uncle´s brother, and his family live in a Condiminium on the 6th floor with a beautiful deck that enjoys splendid views of Rio´s mountaneous terrain and beach. Lucky us, we thought to ourselves when we were showed to our quarters and given a quick tour.

It can be difficult to be hosted and yet still get an authentic experience of your destination as you might when you´re a paying guest. However, Roz and Russ were great and allowed Em and I to go and come as we feel. We arrived in Rio on Wednesday the 28th May and spent the couple of days up to the weekend enjoying the beautiful beaches and scenery.

Our first night was spent sipping wine on the deck and enjoying the mild evening weather. Brazil´s winter evenings are similar to the evenings in Melbourne at the beginning of Summer, in temperature and feel. On that first evening, Rio was hosting a futbol (pronounced fuchbol) match between two local teams, a derby as we would call it back home. From the deck of the 6th floor, the green light radiating from the many TV´s in the many apartments in the six apartment blocks, could be seen. Then all of a sudden from about half of those living rooms would come a roar of celebration as their team had scored. Soon there would be dancing and fire crackers exploding on their balconies. Many of the young lads would yell out taunts to the suffering fans of the opposing team in neighbouring apartments. The game finished 3-3 (i think) and thus you could imagine the eruptions of celebration that punctuated the evening.

Russ and Ros have planned for us to head to Paraty for the weekend as a bad weather system is blowing into Rio and we would be better seeing something other than the beaches.