After leaving the daycare and favella behind with our t-shirts (gifts from the classes we worked with) we headed back into Copacobana. With the sun finally shinning again we were ready for the weekend. As it was Ann's last night we decided to go to a nice restaurant and experience some good Brazillian food! As been vegatarian is not easy here I had the one option call the 'vegetarian' so I was excited for my surprise to come - hoping it wasn't going to be a barbequed fellow veggie! Luckily it was rice and beans (just for a change!) with some vegtables, but there were new ones I had never had, a root vegetable we don't have apparently, a different kind of potato, palm heart and chuco...along with the nice white wine we had a lovely last night! Afterwards we headed back to the hotel for some pre-drinks and waited for Faye to arrive. To Faye's delight the pre-drinks did their job and she was left to play catch up! After a few drinks at the Lapa arches in the street party we went to go to a club, however I had left my id! So we stayed in a few traditional bars further up the strip with more Brazillian music and drinks!

When we woke to the sound of Faye's alarm we both felt awful! After calling for coke to be delievered I managed to sit up in bed to see the ammount of things I needed to pack before check out in an hour! As I went to get up I realised my knee was cut and my phone wouldn't turn on! I was then informed I fell out the taxi, ripped a hole in my only pair of trousers and sat on my phone! Successful night! Eventually, one hour late, we managed to check out and grab a taxi back to the first hostel I stayed in. At this point Faye decided to suddenly throw up (but actually due to dehydration with travelling as she only had 2 drinks!) but after felt alot better and we made the taxi ride without any repeat incidences! Once we had dropped the bags Faye, Kane and I decided to slowly walk for lunch while moaning all the way! After tag teaming the queue (one taking over while the other ran to the bathroom) all three of us managed to eat something! We then had to get a taxi home and rested until the evening when we went out for dinner and just stayed in the hostel lobby chatting ready for our city tour on the Sunday! This day was not a highlight of the trip so far!

Sunday morning, feeling fresh with the sun shining we headed out early to buy a new phone and get some more havianas before we left! On the way back we walked down the copacobana beach front watching the giant waves and listening to local musicians playing bossa nova. Making it back at lunch time ready for the Rio city tour. This is when I realised my sunglasses had been taken in the hostel, annoying as I really needed them for the tour! One of the cons of hostel staying, some people are scum! However as they were fake Ray Bans from Napels I didn't really lose too much! Once picked up we headed straight to Christ the Redeemer or Corcovado as they call in portuguese. Here we went all the way up in a mini bus and walked the last bit to the top! Although it was very busy we were lucky to have the sun back and clear skys for the photos! After we headed to Santa Theresa , the old town where the Portuguese royal family stayed during Napoleon's invasion of Portugal. This part of the city was famous for the yellow tram system but these have now stopped running due to an accident 9 months ago when 4 people were killed. However the district still has a distinct character with lots of little traditional bars and restuarants, shops and stalls. I really liked this part of Rio, it felt more real and less catered to the tourism industry. We then headed down into Lapa, unrecognisable in the day to the busseling street parties at night, to see the Lapa steps. Here an artist started to collect tiles from all over the world and cover the steps. It was started in 1990 and is an ongoing piece of art with people sending tiles and swapping them over with the artist now creating her own tiles with the pregant lady which often features her other work. The guide showed us the tiles from the UK; a red phone box, london map and lady diana. However while looking at the steps and the various tiles, I felt something hit my back. When I turned around it was a boy, around 8 years old, with a ball so I just turned back around thinking it was a mistake. Then the same thing, so me and Faye looked again and he threw it again! After working with kids on the ski season my tolerence is not the highest so I told him to stop it and he did it again! After one more time I kicked his ball away down the hill. In hind sight I think this may of provoked him as he came back running throw the crowds with the bloody ball, now wet after rolling through a puddle! After a few 'cross' words we walked back to the minibus laughing about my slight disagreement with a child, as we were talking I heard the pitter patter of a little b******s flip flops so I turned around to find he had chased me and throw the ball again! This time I just burst out laughing and realised that of course this would happen to me and were quite impressed with his aim as he was severely bong eyed!

We then moved on to a catherdral...didn't care about this to be honest and didn't really listen to anything but had a nice chat with the guide about other things! Finally we headed to the Sugar Loaf (the other major attraction in Rio skyline) as the sun was beginning to go down. As we got into the first cable car the sun was setting and the view at night was really pretty. When we were at the top we got lots of photos of te view then headed back to the hostel for the evening.

After a quick change and rest we made our way upstairs to the hostel BBQ and had a few cocktails and dinner just chatting to other people in the hostel for our last night before moving to the starting hotel for the next booked tour - In search of Iguassu!

On Monday , after packing up we made our way across to the hotel, which seemed like pure luxary after a hostel stay! We went down to ask about a hang glide as I really wanted to do one and so did Kane, but after long consideration I decided that £100 was just too much at the beginning of my travels and I'd seen the views and done a skydive 2 months ago so I couldn't justify it. We did however decide to do another trip to the National Park and the receptionist added a few other sights to the list. As we headed out we realised it was just us three and a random guy in his car as our tour...with a private driver for the day we headed to the attractions - the botanical gardens, national park, a big waterfall (forgot the name already!), Chinese view point and a view point of the hang gliders. In the botanical gardens we saw a giant butterfly, which flew abit too close for my liking to my face, a ghekko, which ran under Faye's foot in her flipflop and a humming bird, which nose dived at Kane as he was trying to get a photo! So with all of us having a very enjoyable encounter with nature and taking in the flora and fauna we headed off. The National Park became more of a taxi safari and we head through narrow roads through the jungle which I really enjoyed! On this route we saw both the waterfall which was really impressive and the view of the whole skyline of the city from the Chinese view point (don't ask me why it was randomly Chinese, we didn't know and as the guide was actually just a taxi driver with no english we didn't find out!).

Once we were back at the hotel we grabbed some lunch then got ready to meet the rest of the group and have our tour briefing!

So after our fun packed weekend of S's (sun, sick and sightseeing - the traditional ingredience to a great holiday!) we are ready to move on from Rio and start our tour...next stop Ihla Grande!