"Tall and tan and young and lovely, the girl from Ipanema goes walking"…you guessed it; we are in Rio de Janeiro! And you have probably already gone to the end to see what's happened to the articulate humor of your British friend and his comically funny wife.They'll be back but first this is Kat and Doc providing a "celebrity blog" as Rob calls it.

We met R and A at our Ipanema apartment and after our tearful but happy hellos realized that the apartment was wonderful with large windows that overlooked the magnificent city.Ipanema is a little Rio community where the rich and famous live with great shopping and food within walking distance and a hippie market just off the beach.Rio has been amazing with a new adventure each day.Unlike many places I have visited, hardly anyone speaks English in Brazil so it is entertaining to watch Antony, Rachelle and Doc use a mix of limited Portuguese, Italian and Spanish to communicate.

The adventure I want to spotlight is our tour Rocina - of one of Rio's 350 favelas; a community of over 200,000 people entirely governed by a gang called Amigos y Amigos.In the favela, people pay minimal rent; steal electricity and water and in the general living conditions make the projects look good.The tour started by sitting on the back of a motorbike which weaved around buses and cars all the way to the top of the favela.The rain was coming down so hard on my face that for a bit I was forced to close my eyes but it felt like we were taking no prisoners.When the harrowing five minute ride ended I was certain that nothing in the favela could be as dangerous.

Walking back down the hill we wound through streets between three to five feet wide amongst the smells of garlic, urine and pot. Homemade electrical wires were hanging loosely between buildings and because of the rain, water was flooding the streets and waterfalls cascaded down the cobblestone steps.

Luckily, I was right and the bike ride was the most dangerous part.Throughout the tour, the guide was in constant communication with the guards holding machine guns and you could wander around without fear. The idea is that the favela should be crime free to enable people to feel safe to enter and buy drugs.The rest of the sights I will leave to your imagination but it will something I will be talking about for a long time to come.

More adventures to come in Iguassu and Buenos Aires - but we wish you were here!

Love, Kat

Before leaving Dallas we learned all we could about our upcoming adventure. The US State Department warns of getting mugged in Rio, possible guerilla activity in Iguassu Falls and being run over in Buenos Aires.

The adventure began in Dallas with a taxi that kept stalling and running red lights all the way to DFW.Three eventful (but I'll save you the details) flights later and Rio at last sans luggage.Our carry-on baggage had enough clothes to sustain us for 24 hours (or 48 with no sweating).On the way to our apartment in Ipanema our driver's car stalled at 4 times. What's our luck with taxis?

We packed swim suits to go to the beach and only saw it through a chilly rain - oh well. We ate Brazilian BBQ (like Fogo de Chao in Dallas) with meats are on skewers that are sliced onto your plate and served with good Malbec wine.The following morning we were greeted to more rain and went to H.Stern to hear their jewelry speal.We didn't buy but Kat was tempted by a pretty semi-precious ring.At last the luggage arrived at 8:30 pm in time to get ready for a night of dinner and dancing.We had good food, we drank good Malbec wine and I believe we danced a pretty good Brazilian two-step. A good time was had by all.

I have to admit that sadly we never played at the beach because of rain.We were also never mugged (maybe due to luck or just being smart). But Rio was fun.

Obrigado and good night, Doc

Ps. Rob I feel your pain.