Another ferry ride and a couple of hours on a bus and we had arrived at our final destination on the tour. It seems odd to me but our tour only had one afternoon and one night stay in Rio de Janeiro. It is probably the most famous place on our tour and the whole group has been looking forward to it immensely. Fortunately we all booked extra time in Rio.

The afternoon that we arrived we decided to book ourselves onto a city tour which works out cheaper than doing it ourselves and got all the cultural stuff out of the way to give us plenty of time on the beach. On this tour we piled into a minivan with a rather sleazy tour guide and visited all the famous sites. Of course we went up to see Christ the Redeemer statue which overlooks the whole city. It is very large up close, very busy and the sun was behind the statue which made it look like a silhouette in all the photos. Still I shouldn't complain because most of the rest of our time in Rio it's been hidden behind the clouds so we were lucky to see it at all. We also took two cable cars up to the Sugar Loaf Mountain. Basically just a mountain with some nice views from the top but we were lucky enough to catch the pink sunset as we took the cable car back down. We also visited a couple of neighbourhoods including Lapa, a bit of central and the arty Santa Theresa where we walked the mosaic steps. This is a piece of work by an artist who was given bits of tiles from all around the world to stick on the steps and give a mosaic effect. It was really very cool and although I couldn't find either England (only London) or Pakistan, Bryan was very happy to have found two tiles from Wales. We were advised to only go halfway up the steps because at the top there are often muggings so maybe my tiles were up there somewhere. We also saw the city's cathedral which is unexpectedly modern. It seems bizarre at first but from the inside it really is quite nice. Check out the photos which show it better than I can describe it!

After this we went for our final meal as a group to a restaurant on Copacabana beach. It was fairly pricey so unfortunately Bryan and I had to make do with sharing a pizza once again as it was the best value thing on the menu. If I never eat pizza again I'll be happy! Despite Rio being known as a party city, we were informed that nothing happens until Friday and Saturday so given that it was a Monday we had to make do with a bar out of the way somewhere. It turns out this must be a G Adventures favourite because the other group was there who we keep bumping into and of course in true G Adventures style it was overpriced. Not only that but we had to pay 15% service charge on top of the drinks prices despite the fact that we were going to the bar to get drinks! The place did liven up eventually and it wasn't too bad for a last night but since most of us were staying on anyway we didn't need to do the emotional goodbyes.

The next day we said goodbye to the last of our private rooms and walked to our much cheaper hostel. Fortunately, Kenneth was our new roomie so since the three of us were in one place, and Joe only down the road, most people came to us before heading out. We had looked at the weather report and seen that we only had two days of sunshine before the rain and storms arrived so we decided to get as much beach (and tanning) time in as possible. As we were staying in Copacabana (I can't tell you how often I've had that song stuck in my head) we didn't have far to walk to the beach. Unfortunately all my clothes were in the laundry, including my bikinis, so not only could I not do any proper work on my tan, I also couldn't go in the sea to escape from the scorching heat! Although it was a nice beach, with very soft sand, I'm not sure what all the fuss is about. It's very crowded and this was out of season and the main road is right next to it so you always hear the noise of traffic. You also get people coming across to hassle you to buy things constantly so you can never just relax.

Contrary to what our now ex-tour leader had told us, there was actually a club open on Tuesdays and we arranged with the rest of our group to go there. It was the old standard free Caipirinhas until midnight, during which time there was a Samba band playing and all the locals were doing some incredible samba dancing that all the rest of us were too ashamed to get up and dance until the "gringo" music came on. It eventually did come on and all of us danced with the exception of Bryan who sat on a table and slept most of the night. It was a dangerous concept they operated in that club because you are given a card when you enter and all your drinks go on a tab which you pay when you leave. It means you have to make sure you keep an eye on what you spend and also means having to queue up and pay before you can leave.

For our third day we decided to check out Ipanema beach. This time I was ready with my bikini and we walked the reasonably long distance to the next beach. As soon as we got there I wished we had stayed on Copacabana because the waves were bigger, the sea dirtier, and there was an odd tidal smell around. We did, however, bump into Bryan's friend Jess yet again! A real coincidence given how many people were on the beach. There weren't so many beach vendors here so I was just preparing myself for a little nap whilst topping up the tan when a man came across selling a shuttlecock-type toy. I ignored him when he asked us where we were all from but the boys were playing with the toy and telling him their nationalities. He then asked if I was Brazilian, I said no but then he pointed to my bum and said I must be because I have a Brazilian boom boom! I was mortified but the others found this absolutely hilarious. I think the look on my face didn't help! I still can't work out whether this was a compliment or not. Whilst being on the beaches, we've had the pleasure of seeing a great many thong bikinis since the Brazilians are not big fans of covering up! Some have been deserved of a G-string but others have been truly hideous!

Later in the evening, we went to the cinema to finally see Taken 2. After watching all one hour and 15 minutes of it we realised why it had been so difficult to find it showing elsewhere. It was truly a terrible film! Such a shame because I had high hopes for the film. Oh well serves us right for not doing cultural things so the next day we organised a favela tour. As you may know, favelas are Brazilian slums and are infamous for being where all the trouble and crime originates from. However, we were assured that this was a very safe slum since the police had now taken back control from the drug cartels. Although perhaps a little voyeuristic, I thought it would be good to get an idea of how people live around here since favelas make up a huge proportion of the city.

We had a minibus ride to Rocinha, the largest favela in Rio and supposedly the second largest in South America. Once we were there we had a rather nerve wracking motorcycle taxi ride up the steep hill to the top of the favela so we could walk down. It immediately struck me as being very similar to Asia, noisy and bustly and of course poorer than the more developed side of Rio but it didn't feel dangerous or threatening. Unfortunately the tour seemed to be more of a money making scheme than an experience for the tourists but it was interesting nonetheless. We were taken to an art gallery where students were learning how to paint and of course were selling their artwork. We saw some local kids playing a song they had written using buckets and paint cans as instruments. Bryan has a good video of this which we'll put up when we can. The most unnerving part of the tour was walking past a group of armed police officers looking poised as if ready to storm a building. No one else seemed bothered by this at all but we were told that when the cartels were in charge then even the children walked around with guns in their hands. It seems that the governments have done a lot for favelas in recent years and in turn the residents have done a lot for themselves. They now all have running water and working sewage systems (although I saw an example of this and it wasn't too pleasant) they also have electricity but they smash the meters so they get it for free. People never used to come inside the favela to pick up the rubbish so they used to burn it all or just dump it. This has changed but unfortunately the people still have a habit of burning it. It all seems quite self sufficient with their own shops and bakeries and employ people who live in the slums to distribute the post because no one from outside could find their way around the maze.

The weather took a turn and started getting cloudy and a bit cooler. We did have one more attempt on the beach but had to leave after half an hour because the sea breeze made it very cold. We were very excited when the weekend came around because it meant we could experience some proper Rio nightlife. Joe made the silly mistake of thinking he was leaving on Sunday then finding out at the last minute it was actually Friday. This meant we went out on a Thursday for his last night and fortunately because Friday was a public holiday it was quite busy. We took taxis to the party area called Lapa where we found the "street party" - lots of stalls outside selling food and alcohol. It was expensive to get into a club and despite the showers it was a cool atmosphere on the streets and far cheaper. We didn't have a late one because we wanted to be fresh for Friday being the big night out.

So along came Friday and the big night out. In order to keep costs down, Kenneth, Bryan and I cooked spaghetti bolognais in the kitchen of our hostel whilst playing cards and waited for the others to come around to ours. We organised the night out through our hostel so we got transport to the club and entrance and free caipirinhas until midnight. Nearly everyone left in the group came along so it was a decent night out. They had a samba band playing at the beginning before the dance music started and we enjoyed ourselves so much we didn't get home until about 6am! Although about an hour of the was queuing up to pay our tabs and leave which was very frustrating.

The next day, Bryan and I attempted to have a look around the centre of town. Unfortunately it was completely dead and we soon remembered it was a public holiday weekend so that must have been why everything was shut. As it was Kenneth's last night, those who were remaining (our numbers were dwindling) went out to eat at a Mexican restaurant and had a couple of quiet drinks at a bar. It was sad saying goodbye to Kenneth since he is the only one who has been with us since the start of the tour in Quito. That's 3 months of seeing his face every single day and we had kind of got used to it.

After a brief stint in Petropolis, we returned to Rio for our final 2 nights before ending our travels. I was hoping for some sun to top up our tans before we enter the ever long British winter but it was quite the opposite and rained the whole time. I guess it prepares us for our homecoming! We spent one day looking around central with its pleasant architecture and numerous shops. We treated ourselves to an açai smoothie which is a Brazilian fruit from the rainforest high in antioxidants. It's also really yummy and we appreciated the icy coldness since the humidity was almost unbearable. We then caught a metro to a bay in the district of Botofago because Bryan wanted to take a picture of the "floating head" statue we had seen there during our city tour. We walked for what seemed like miles on the miles of running tracks they have around Rio, passing many public gyms (like grown up climbing frames) and couldn't find the floating head so we concluded it must have been taken down since it was such an eyesore anyway against the pretty bay with the sugar loaf mountain and Christ in the background.

Our final day we were determined to go to the beach even if it wasn't sunny. But we weren't counting on consistent rain the whole day so after waiting a couple of hours in the stifling hostel decided we needed a new plan. In true Bryan style he remembered he hadn't bought any presents yet (seriously not one in nearly 8 months!) so we headed to a large market called Feira de Sao Christovau which happened to be a much longer walk from the metro than anticipated so we were soaked and muddy by the time we got there. Fortunately the market was worth it because it was enormous (apparently 700 stalls) and more like a big festival with bars, restaurants, live bands and old couples dancing in the rain. It was actually quite nice.

So the time had come to leave and we were concerned about getting to the airport on time, especially when we waited 45 minutes for an airport bus. Turns out we needn't have worried because after boarding the plane we sat on the runway for 4 hours while they attempted to fix the air conditioning that had gone wrong. After a near riot from some passengers they did manage to fix the problem but if we flew then the staff would go over their regulation working hours so we were told by the pilot that a hotel had been arranged and buses waiting outside for us. This turned out to be a lie and we were all just muddling around a closed airport for hours with no one knowing what was going on. We also had not been fed so were starving, very tired and getting grumpier by the minute. By some stroke of pure luck they managed to find a hotel with 70 rooms free on a Saturday night in Rio. The plane was full and we knew it was likely some people wouldn't get a room so ran to the front of the queue and tried as hard as we could to stop people pushing in (no one does queuing like the British!). It was every man for himself as we threw our bags into the hold and got some seats on the first bus. We were fortunate to get a room but it wasn't until 4.30am and still no food or drink and no one to tell us what time our flight would be.

We had a few hours kip before waking ourselves up early to get breakfast (very substantial) and find out our flight was going to be in the evening again. There were still no airline representatives around so it was all hearsay from other passengers. The day didn't turn out too bad though because the hotel was very expensive looking, with a rooftop pool, and the sun finally came out. It was a scorcher! When we went back to the airport I tried to speak to someone about our onward flight from Frankfurt to Heathrow (which of course we had missed) but they kept fobbing me off by saying it would be sorted in Frankfurt. Again our flight was almost 2 hours delayed and when we landed we spoke to the staff who said the connecting flight was nothing to do with them. So here we were stuck in Frankfurt, virtually no money left, and all the flights back to UK that day were nearly €300! To cut a long story short we had to sleep in the airport (I use the term sleep lightly) and get a more affordable flight back in the morning. It had officially taken us 55 hours to get to Heathrow! It was a miserable end to travelling but at least it made me glad to actually get home! Tip for anyone who may book a flight - never use Condor!