Arrived in Rio after a 12 hour flight. Hotel nice and friendly staff.

Day 1: Woke up at 5am as still on Irish time! Had most of my sightseeing done by 11am! Rio is a very catholic city and its tourist attractions include numerous churches, statutes and religious monasteries. The newest monastery is a cone shaped structure with ornate stained glass windows which can hold up to 22,000 people I'm not so sure a football game could be played here though!)Next stop was Christ the redeemer statue. I took railway to the top of Corcovoda mountain where Christ the Redeemer Statue overlooks the city. Train was cool, real old school. Half way up a samba band jumped on and had everyone standing up singing Copa Copacabana….(I know you're all singing along!) Views from the top were spectacular. Great views all around the city, from the business district to the beaches, the lush green mountains and forest parks and everything in between. A long enjoyable walk home stopping at every market along the way.

Day 2: Call from GAP (my tour Company)at 8am telling me that as compensation from moving my pre-night hotel that they would provide free tour of the city and discounted flavela tour. Score! Met three other members of my tour group to do the city tour. Dove & Tom (from the UK) and Stacey (US). All lovely. Was great to meet people as I found the previous day kind of lonely with no one to listen to my ramblings! The city tour covered some of my previous days expeditions but also a lot more. Weather terrible and view from Corcodova so bad that you could not see any of the spectacular views I experienced the day before. We also travelled through an area called Saint Theresa, which is the area where the original potugeuse settled when they first entered Brasil. Lots of narrow cobbled streets with a definite European feel. We also met an artist who had travelled the world collecting tiles from every country he visited. He settled in Brasil and undertook to repair a set of stairs which he covered in all the tiles he collected throughout his travels. He is constantly updating these stairs and you can send him tiles from your country and he will incorporate into his design. Finally we visited the Sugarloaf mountain, travelling to the top by cable car. We then went to a second mountain by Cable car. Views lovely but given the rain a little foggy. Dinner and drinks in the hotel before bed.

Day 3: Up early to check out of my pre-tour hotel. Myself and Stacey choose to do Flavela tour and we were picked up at 9am. Amazing and so worthwhile. Flavelas are Brazils slums located on the hill sides surrounding the city. Every structure is painted in different vibrant colours. The Flavela we visited was the Rosario Flavela which is controlled by Drug Gangs. (Don't worry mother Im safe!)We started our trip by riding on a motorcycle with one of the locals bringing us to the highest point in the flavela. We sat on the back of the motorcycle and had to hug our driver for dear life to ensure we didn't fall off! (Siobhan, my driver wasn't as hot as in ChangMai but the experience was similar!) Along the way locals overtook us with hand guns in their back pockets or machine guns slung over their shoulder! Photos were restricted to certain areas and no photos of guys with guns, or guys dealing drugs were allowed. (We saw plenty of both!) We walked through the narrow streets, sidestepping sewerage water and daily rubbish and took a look at the different (legal!) industries that are operating in the flavelas including art galleries, grocery stores, jewellery making, plastic recycling etc. We had an opportunity to buy produce and experience some local traditional samba music and dancing. Bullet holes lines the walls of buildings, similar to the sights we experienced in Sarajevo.

We arrived at our Copacabana hotel/hostel and proceeded to try catch a few rays on the famous beach. It started raining! Meeting the rest of my tour group this evening. There will be fifteen of us travelling to Buenes Aires. Ive heard our tour guide Christian is a major party animal so a few big nights out are on the cards which should be good to help us all get to know each other. Will let you know how I get on!