On the 1st October we took a flight from Buenos Aires to Sau Paulo, then caught a connecting bus to Rio de Janeiro. We arrived in Rio pretty late so caught a cab to a hostel in Copacabana beach to avoid getting robbed. When we arrived we were greeted by a man who reminded us of Borat! His English was interesting to say the least, most words were slurred and elongated for example for soap he said swappy swappy and ran off like Manuel from fawlty towers to retrieve some. He was very pleasant though, we knew then our time in Brazil was going to be very different.

The next day we took a walk down Copacabana beach. I think everyone automatically starts singing the Barry Manilow song in their heads and expects stunning beautiful people to be scantily clad on the golden sands. However, it was cloudy, spitting and the bodies were more fatclub than Baywatch. Although to Allison´s pleasure the men seemed quite toned and insisted on squeezing themselves into miniscule lycra swimmers.

Next we headed to Sugar loaf mountain where we heard you could take a cable car to the summit to get great views of Rio. When we arrived, we realised the cable car was really expensive. Luckily we were approached by a local tour guide, who said he would drive us to Christ the Redemer, stopping at the nearby 700m mountain to get a better panoramic view of the whole city. We accepted and were just about to barter with the guy when another guide came over and tried undercutting the first one. It was all getting a heated, at one point we thought the guides were going to start fighting, they were shouting what could only have been expletives in Portuguese. Still we saved about 20 Reals (5 quid) so everyones a winner!

The trip was really good, the guide took us up the neighbouring mountain where we could see the Christ the Redeemer statue and other famous Rio Landmarks such as the Maracana football stadium, Sugar Loaf mountain and Copacabana beach. We also ensured we got the classic Jesus in the hand picture (well we had to really we are on holidays). The journey to the actual Chris the Redeemer statue took us past a few Favelas (slums like settlements).Here the extremely poor live on the hillside with the scenic views while the rich live along the bottom where conditions are less than favorable. This was interesting as its the direct opposite of other city developments around the world. It creates a dramatic contrast between the rich and the poor by putting the two directly next to one another. The tour guide actually said that there is often violence between both communities. It is said that the poor who live in the Favellas make most of their money from drugs and bribe the police to keep them on side. Its very frightening to know that even the police are corrupt!

Anyway eventually we drove up the mountain to see the famous statue of Christ. However much to our disappointment it was too cloudy and we could only just see the outline of the statue. Blooming weather!

The next evening we went to see a football match at the famous Maracana football stadium. The Marcana was built for the 1950 World Cup, said to be the World ’ s biggest football stadium of its glory days. Most famously, it held the 1950 World Cup Final between Uruguay and Brazil when almost 200,000 visitors saw Brazil lose. Apparently they say it was the longest silence ever in a football stadium! Brazilians still don ’ t like to talk about it to this day. Knowing this and the fact that other greats played here such as Maradonna, Pele, Socrates, Ronaldo and not to forget Waddle and Hoddle, we were definitely excited about it!

We got tickets for the local derby, Flamengo versus Fluminese. Apparently Fluminese was the mother club of Flamengo so there was big rivalry, we knew it would be a great atmosphere. We arrived at the Maracana and even outside you could hear the roar of the stadium. All fans were singing outside the stadium and once inside we saw most were armed with huge flags and flares. Another great thing was that there whilst we were seated there were many people coming around offering beer and snacks. What more could you want, great footy, beer and superb atmosphere. Even though the quality of football was more Rotherham than Romario but was still well worth it. Like England fans, the Brazilians take off their tops and swing them around their head when they score, but unlike the usual obese Geordies all were quite toned which pleased Allison anyway. She never thought you could get eye candy at the footy!

The last 2 days we were in Brazil we moved from Copacabana to Ipanema. We were told this was a nicer area as Copacabana felt really dodgy. We were getting eye balled everywhere we went. Ironically on our last night we nearly got robbed twice on our way from Copacabana to Ipanema. The first time we were walking back and a group of boys asked for Rich´s wallet, a bit shocked by the whole thing we told them to hop it and strangely they did, although one of the lads had a good feel of Rich´s short pocket to find some cash, at least thats what rich said he was doing !

Next we got cash out of the bank and when we came out there were 2 young lads on bikes. it seemed like they were waiting for us. We both realised it and crossed the road planning to go into the nearest shop. Luckily they didn´t persue and we got back safely.

All in all we were a bit disappointed that Brazil was so rough. Even though we got out of the copuntry wiothout being robbed we felt we were going to be robbed constantly. Copacabana is not as Bazza Manilow promised, more hookers and drugies than music and fashion!

Next stop Buenos Aires.