Hi Everyone, have managed to upload photos of Rio but they are in a completely random order and I have not had time to add comments. about to get on 20 hour bus ride! but should have internet access in next few days.

Finally made it to an internet cafe!!

After almost a full day travelling we finally arrived at the hotel in Rio at about 1am (3am UK time).

Day 1 - Weds 29th Oct - Rio

The first morning went for a walk around the ´Lagoa´which is a big lake in the middle of Rio. It was bit bigger than we were expecting though so after about half way round we decided to get a taxi to Corcavado (mountain with statue of Christ the redeemer on). We had decided not to do that in the morning as it had been quite foggy and we were waiting for a clear day but it had started to clear up abit.

We got a taxi to the train station at the bottom of the mountain then got the rickety train up the very steep mountain! It took about 25mins to get to the top, then when we got to the top it looked like the fog / haze had set in again. We spent about an hour at the top trying to get some photos of the city. It seemed to disappear and re-appear in a matter of seconds. It did have great views of the city though and was a really good way to find your bearings of the city. The statue itself was a bit smaller than I was expecting, I thought it would be much more dominating of the city than it was, but it is still quite impressive.

On the way back we got a taxi to Leblon and had some lunch there before walking back to the hotel in Ipanema, before crashing for couple of hours before heading out for the evening. In the evening we met up with a couple of people who were going to be part of our tour later in the evening, Nikki (who coincindentally was on our flight and is from Reading!) and Soo (who was staying at the same hostel Nikki) and they also turned up with a group of people who were staying at the same hostel as them). We went to´Garota de Ipanema´which literally meansthe Girl from Ipanema and is said to be the restaurant where the song was written - it was quite touristy!

After that 5 of us went to a bar that was directly opposite our hotel for a couple of drinks, and got back to the hotel just as thunder storm started.

Day 2 - Thurs 30th Oct - Rio

Had an early start on Thursday as we had a jeep tour of the national park and Tijuca rainforest booked. It took about 4 hours and the guide was extremely knowledgeble on Brazillian history and all the wildlife and plants. Saw a couple of squirrels (not very exciting) and a group of monkeys up in the trees (very exciting!!), and the views were quite spectacular.

Got a bit of a tour of the city on the way down too which was good in the open top jeep, including round the edge of one of the favelas, which I decided was close enough.

After a quick powernap in the afternoon (proving to be quite essential at the moment), we met up with the others and headed off to Sugar Loaf mountain to see the sunset. You have to get two cable cars up to the top of the mountain, which were practically vertical. The views, again, were quite spectacular (the whole of Rio is), however it had turned very cloudy and extremely windy up with a bit of rain, and we couldnt actually see the sun so we gave up and headed back down and went for a lovely dinner at a restaurant near by then headed back to ipanema.

Day 3 - Fri 31st Oct - Rio

Just had a leisurely day today as we had a fairly hectic couple of days trying to fit everything in. We did a bit of a shopping, made use of the hotel rooftop swimming pool (although the weather wasnt great again it was quite overcast, then went for a walk along Ipanema beach and stopped to drink a coconut.

In the evening it was the official start of the tour that we were doing from Rio to Buenos Aires so we had to go to the other hotel to meet the guide and the rest of the group for an introductory meeting. There are 13 of us on the tour and we then all headed out for dinner to an amaxing all you can eat restaurant where they just keep brining out skewers of food to put on your plate until you say you are full;

After that we had what for me was the highlight of Rio - a night out in Lapa. Lapa is the real party area of Rio where there are samba bands on the street, everyone out dancing having a street party and drinking very cheap drinks from street stalls. We went to a samba & salsa club after being on the street for a couple of hours, which was absolutely incredible. Within about 10 seconds of walking in all the girls had been grabbed by a Brazillian guy and were being dragged to the dance floor! They were all fantastic dancers though so we learnt so much.

Got back to the hotel about 4,30am and had about 3 hours sleep before we had to leave Rio and get bus to Ihla Grande....