I arrive in in Rio at 9:30am and successfully manage to get a cab without getting ripped off to the hostel in Ipanema, thank you James for the recommendation - the safest place in Rio, which was brilliant for me, as I was beginning to have the same freak out I had when I arrived in Bangkok, but at least I didn't feel unsafe. I don't think i have been been in such a fast taxi ever!!! My hostel was like a little house in a gated off area in a quiet road, it was very lovely indeed and I was in a 6 bed dorm with 5 aussies. The Hostel was great and the staff very friendly and helpful.

I dumped my stuff had a shower and set off in search of food, this is when the traumas started - I got shouted at in a famous burger joint because i couldn't understand what the woman was saying and then ended up with 2 frappucinos in Starbucks. So things weren't going well and I was getting hopelessly lost and couldn't ask directions, I was exhausted, hungry and getting seriously hacked off. It was at this point i swore and I announced I was done and just wanted to come home! Barely keeping it together I got back to hostel eventually and got in contact with Clair, who is a friend of a friend of a friend who is also traveling solo in brazil, and in Rio at the same time, we only discovered this the day we both left the states.

So having managed to find the subway station after getting lost again I met Clair at her hostel in the Gloria area. Its funny we had never met before but immediately got on, Clair had also had a nightmare that day so we were both well and truly ready for a beer somewhere! Armed with maps we went for a bit of a walk and ended up in St Teresa, which it later turns out it not somewhere you should go after dark. Anyway, we were fine, we had a drink in a nice little restaurant then came across a make shift roof top bar that had loads of people so we popped up for a quick can of beer, the views of lit up Rio were fantastic. We didn't stick around here for long and started to try to make our way to Lapa as we were determined to experience some Samba music, we were certainly not disappointed. We found a bar with a band and had a drink there, all was going well until they slapped a cover charge on us without letting us know beforehand, we wouldn't have gone in there had we of known, so being 2 very cost conscious travellers (me especially now, I need a job quick when I get back lol!!!)we argued the toss over what was probably the equivalent of a tenner in our best Portuguese……..which is completely non-existent! Anyway our persistence wore them down in the end and we got our money back. Well done us!

We then began to hear music in the square and thought we would investigate, Samba heaven! We arrive at the arches and found about 50 or so people with drums, shaker things, trumpets, trombones, clarinets etc……it was brilliant! This was as good, if not better than Memphis! Never thought I would say that, I could not stop smiling! A bit of a turnaround from earlier in the day. We had a fantastic night and danced our way into the early hr in the rain with our new best friend Brahma. I was amazed at how easily they were able to improvise and then everyone would follow, the result a fantastic rendition of Lucky. Such a friendly and happy atmosphere, I actually didn't want to leave but was a bit conscious of getting back safely……common sense does prevail sometimes :).

The next day I had planned to join the free walking tour, however owing to my complete sack of sense of direction I got hopelessly lost again and nearly ended up in Leblon which is the next town and completely the opposite direction of the subway!!!! i called myself a number of names over these few day, none of which are suitable for this, you would think by now I would be capable of holding the map the right way up! So having got the hump with myself I went and sat in Starbucks, just with the one coffee this time, took a deep breath and consulted the map again. This time i made it to the subway and made my way to Centro to have a wander around, and luckily for me i bumped into Clair and the walking tour, albeit for the last 10mins. We then set off in search of food and found a buffet, we figured this was be a safe bet at least we knew what we were going to be eating, and the best bit, they charge by the weight of the food, and it was delicious. We spent a good part of the day just looking round the markets and shops. The markets were great you could practically buy anything. The area we were in was very very busy, and the traffic is just crazy, this is somewhere you have to cross at the crossing and definitely wear a seatbelt, if you done you take your life in your own hands.

Having left the hustle and bustle, we headed back on the subway and made our way back, the plan for tonight was to start in Ipanema and then make our way to Copacabana. Ipanema is fairly quiet, it doesn't have loads of bars, but a few scattered on the pavements, mainly full of locals watching the football. Having sampled a few of the quiet bars we made our way to the subway. But before we got as far as the subway we ended up in Shananigans irish bar, and ended up staying there for ages. It was odd we arrived and were immediately handed a piece of paper which listed every single drink they sold, the bar tender then ticks off all the drinks you've had, so there is never an excuse not to to know how much you have drunk, not sure this is good or not. Anyway, at the end of the night you pay the cashier, who then gives you a receipt, you then have to give the receipt to the doorman so you are allowed to leave. All seemed very odd, but this seems to be the norm at most pubs/clubs. Whilst in the bar we mentioned we where we were planning to go and were told by the english guys at the bar that we shouldn't go as its not safe, so we stayed in the irish bar till closing and then got pizza and went back to the hostel.

The next day we made our way to Copacabana beach (during the day) and had a nice chill on the beach, actually thats a very bad choice of words, we baked on the beach, bought some random fried rice doughnut thing, i thought i was buying popcorn but apparently not. We couldnt even decide if we like them, but still managed to munch our way through the wrongly ordered 2 bags! My grasp of the portugese language is amazing! Having cooked ourselves for a couple of hours and having seen more thong bikinis than i need to see for the rest of my lifetime and very wrinkled old men in very small swimming trunks - i think i might actually have nightmares about that - gross! We made our way to Sugar Loaf mountain, we managed to get to the nearest subway station and were then given completely the wrong directions and ended up walking through some tunnel, I was made to jump out of my skin three times in that tunnel which clair thought was hilarious. We gave up and got a cab to Sugar Loaf, it was fantastic, the views of Rio and Jesus spectacular. We had to get two cable cars, to reach the top. We stayed up there for about an hour and then made our way back.

I then set off to the Gloria area to meet Clair for our final drinks, going to miss my rio partner in crime! We then set off to Lapa, well, we tried to get to Lapa and got massively lost and ended up in prostitute central! Making a very quick turn around we found ourselves in the safety of the main street with the bars and went into a bar joining another group. After about an hour we found a club that had 4 floors and left there in the early hrs having danced the night away to a live band. A very cool night.

The next day I left the hostel to join my new tour group for our 39 day tour of south america - very very excited!

much love xxx