Hello Everyone,

Sorry about the lack of blog entries lately we have been having technical difficulties and have been flying for the last 3 days!!!

Well, we arrived in Rio on Thursday afternoon and we headed to a little cafe beside Copacabana beach for a spot of lunch! In the evening we had our final group meal at our hostel with Team Scotland and Anne and Jamie and Rich, the BBQ was delicious! Later that evening we went to a massive Samba Party which was a rehersal for the Carnival in February! It was amazing! There were people of all ages there dancing away to the live music! The atmosphere was electric with balloons, banners, streamers, confeti and sparkly outfits! We both definately to Rio for Carnival in Febraury one year now! We could organise a school trip to Rio! Cross curricular! We got back to our hostel about 4am, a late one but well worth it!

On Friday we went on a one day tour of Rio! However, the weather was a bit disappointing! We went up to see Christ the Redeemer but unfortunately we could not even see his head because of the weather, therefore, we were unable to see the spectacular post card view of Rio from the statue! Just another excuse to return to Rio at a later date! We took an interesting detour through one of flavelas on route to the footie stadium, an eye opening experience! We took a tour of the Maracana Football Stadium, it was massive! While we enjoyed it me mainly did it for all our family, friends and pupils who are footie fans so we could get some pictures for them! (Miss Smith is sure Int2 and Higher classes would have loved it)!

On Friday night we had to say a sad farewell to the other half of team Scotland, Elaine and Tim! They were headed back to the UK on Saturday after their year out traveling! We will definately be meeting up with them when we get home for a night out in the Priory! Mr Keir (Graeme) also joined us at the hostel for a few drinks that evening! A big group of us from the hostel headed to Lapa in the bus for a night out on the town! It was like a big street party with music and lots of Mr Keirs famous dancing!

On Saturday we went on a tour of the Flavelas which was a brilliant experince! The first Flavela we visited was the biggest in South America! We were given the opportunity to walk through one of the markets in the Flavela, we also went into one of the houses which took us up onto the roof and looked out over Rio! The second Flavela we visited was like a small community and we were taken into one of the schools there! No interactive white boards there! We also went into almost an underground system that ran amongst the houses, down there we found children playing, an internet cafe, a bar and shops! It was a fantastic tour and really interesting to see a side a life that is ignored by many people. Flavelas arent even marked on the map in Rio!

On Saturday night we waved an emotional goodbye to Jamie our tour leader and Rich our driver! We also had to say goodbye to big sister Anne and Mr Keir! But we will hopefully meet up with Graeme again in South East Asia! We had a late night on Saturday night because we were too busy chatting to people we who were about to start the tour that we have just completed of South America. We also made friends with an Aussie who has promised to put us up in OZ! Nae bad!

We were up very early on Sunday morning (we had 30 mins sleep) to catch our flights to Chile which went very smoothly! On Monday after a better nights sleep we spent the day having a look around the main centre of Santiago! Rachel experienced some of the fresh fish and Red wine down at the fish market which she throughly enjoyed!

When we arrived at the airport we were in for a pleasant surprise! Our flight to Auckland had been overbooked so they were looking for people to volunteer to go on a paid flight to LA to be put up in a 5 star hotel, with breakfast, lunch and dinner included, plus $550 dollars each! How could we refuse! So we jumped on a plane to LA!!!!!!!! Random!

Our FIVE STAR HOTEL did NOT disappoint! We have taken loads of pictures of our room! We had a double bed each, a very large flat screen tv, a coffee maker, beauty products, hairdryer, bath, shower, and towels!! We enjoyed a 5 course breakfast and a delicious lunch! We havent felt so clean in 8 weeks! It was amazing and we were getting paid for it!

We left LA on Tuesday night and arrived in Auckland today! At the moment we are just planning what we are going to do for our next 4 weeks in New Zealand!

PS: Hannah thank you for your message! We arrive in Melbourne on the 30th of November and we depart for Sydney on 28th December for New Year celebrations! My boyfriend Andy is coming over for a couple of weeks at the beginning of December, it would be great to meet up with you while we are in OZ! Either leave me a message on the blog or send me quick email! Hopefully see you soon chick! (Gayle x )

Missing you all! Take Care! Lots of Love Rachel and Gayle x x x