Hi everyone!

Sorry about not writing sooner but we've only just got a chance to sit down and think through all that we've done so far.

Our first 4 days have been spent in Rio de Janeiro and it has been amazing. Absolutely love the city, we've seen loads and the sun has been shining non-stop since we arrived. After our long flight on Tue we spent Wednesday recovering on the beach and caught up with friends from Athlone - Patricia and Grainne who were finishing off their travels in Rio. Early Thurs morning we headed off on an organised tour which involved visiting Christ the Redeemer, and the Sugarloaf mountain. The whole thing started with a 40 minute trek through the forest with me in my flip-flops!! But the views at the top were so spectacular, it was well worth the effort. We met another Irish couple on the tour who are just finishing off their year around the world so they've been giving us loads of info about what to do and see. We passed by the Favelas (slums of Rio) on a few occasions but we haven´t actually gone into them. Our Portugese is rubbish but we´re getting by with lots of sign language and a couple of Spanish words thrown in here and there! A highlight for Ger so far has been the 'all you can eat' meat buffets with huge pieces of gorgeous meat so he has rolled out of a few restaurants since we´ve arrived! On Friday night we went to a street party on the edge of the favela in a place called Lapa. It was totally crazy there, the streets were packed with people from all walks. It was kind of like a mini Carnival so we hung out with the locals and a few people from the hostel til 6am! The next day we went to the Maracana (football stadium) to watch a Brazilian league game. It´s a class stadium. Unfortunately it wasn´t full but the atmosphere was still good as those Brazilians really know how to celebrate goals!

Today we have arrived on Ihla Grande (paradise island as it´s sometimes referred to!) and spent the day on the beach. Looking forward to chilling out for a few days here before we head to the Iguazu Falls on Thursday.

Thanks a mil for the messages, really nice to hear from ye.

Take care, Linda and Ger