Our last week in Rio de Janeiro was as spectacular and luxurious as the first and, as I have become particularly attached to the place and the Wards, I thought I (Em) would steal Alex´s job for a little bit and write about our last week in the beautiful coastal mountainous Rio. Alex was going to punctuate it with his interesting facts so to make it less flowery, but wasn't up to it. So flowery it may be.

We returned from Paraty on Sunday night knowing that we had another week to relax and explore the city. For us, the thought of having a substantial period in a place that we felt comfortable was positively divine so we really made the most of the down time.

We even got into of a bit of routine. The mornings for me consisted of a run on the beautiful Barra beach (sometimes with Roz after walking April to school, otherwise after a bit of a sleep in).While running, I also tasted some of the Brazilian beach culture, centred around image, the sun, social gatherings, eating and drinking. The women would run (or walk) along the beach in their bikini tops (ouch, I say!!) and men in their tiny speedo-shorts and watch each other and chat and drink coconut juice and eat little fried snacks. It really was quite the Brazilian experience! On the way home from my run, I would usually pop into the Sheraton hotel and the nice man at reception would let me take a copy of the New York Times for Alex to read when I got home. Back at the apartment, Roz would brew some coffee, we would make juice, and Alex and I would eat a delicious spread of breakfast out on the deck while Roz started her studies for the day. Then, the middle of our day consisted of either a visit to the beach across the road, a swim in the pool, a little hit of tennis on the apartment complex tennis courts (although it was pretty much Alex teaching me), a bike ride on the beach (we found a cute, more secluded spot where we had a picnic one day and a coconut juice), a walk and even a spa and sauna.Then, at 3pm, April would come home from school and it was play time.I loved this time and will miss April dearly.Alex would sometimes join in play time and we would play ´go fish´ or do some drawing.I must say, I think Alex was having a lot of fun playing and he got more attached to April than I have seen him with any child (cute - he he!!!).´Play time´ would usually go until dinner out on the deck.April would have hers early and go to bed by 7.30 but the 4 of us (Russ, Roz, Alex and I) would sit and chat about the world and everything imaginable while eating yummy healthy food and enjoying the ocean breeze for hours.These times, for me, were definitely some of my favourite and the memories that I will treasure for years.We even feel refreshed/enlightened in our marriage from little pieces of advice and stories from Russ and Roz, who have had a lot more experience in marriage than us, obviously.

On the Thursday of our ´relaxing week´, we ventured into the city with Roz and her Portugese teacher, Evie.Evie, a proud Carioca (Rio dweller), was ecstatic to be able to show us her beautiful Rio and particularly, the two most famous sites, the 'Sugar Loaf' with amazing views of the city, mountains, beach, etc and, of course, the enormous 'Cristo Redentor' statue on the hill.

Friday was our 5 year anniversary (I say we still get to celebrate both anniversaries). I don´t think we really changed our plans much for it but we went on a ´date´ to the movies at an enormous Rio shopping centre.Perhaps not the most romantic of occasions but we had a really good time!

The weekend was an opportunity to spend some more time with Russ and April who didn´t have to be at work and school.On Saturday, we let Roz study and the four of us ventured down the coast and found a gorgeous, remote-feeling beach where April and I played in the water and we all made a big sand castle and just enjoyed the scenery of a the place with beautiful water, sand, rocks and palm trees…another surreal little experience!Then, Saturday night, Russ, Roz, Alex and I went ´out on the town´ to the infamous Lapa where we had some dinner and drinks and then walked around and soaked up the atmosphere Tomorrow, we´re off to Brazil´s famous wildlife region, the Pantanal for a 3 day safari. Should be a bit of an adventure!