Oh Rio, Rio....... July 20th - 23rd 2006 What an unbelievable city Rio is, probably the best city we have visited so far, bar none. In summary let's just look at the undeniable evidence, the 5 S's. Sun - Plenty of it, not a cloud in the sky. Remember that this is the middle of winter and it's 28 degrees!! Sea - Wesern Atlantic - Wicked, ruff as hell. Stu lost his sunglasses whilst trying to jump the 2.5m+ waves and also whilst simultaneously trying to withstand the vicious undercurrents. Swimming definitely not an option. Sand - Beautiful, golden with great babes lying on top of it + Samba boys hanging around waiting to give unsuspecting tourists a whipping at football Sex - What do you want me to say hey? Young couples everywhere need I say more? (not humping on the beach.... that we saw anyway!) Caiprinhas (not an S but brilliant all the same) - Lethal beverage made with rum and lime amongst some other alcoholic spirit, Cachça. One of these and you can definitely feel it.....two and you're nearly on the floor!! (and never try the Raspberry flavour one.....) Ok so if you want another S then have Sugarloaf mountain - Brilliant views of the city and mountains, huge rock formations, Christ the saviour up on the mountain opposite, Copacabana and a beautiful Sunset to match. Like I said what a city, where do we start? Rio is home to a ridiculous number of people (remember the 4th S?) about 13 million I think it said in our book, home to the favelas and areas of fabulous weath at the same time. Pretty much the only recommended 'safe' place to stay is Ipanema which is where we based ourselves. The first night after we arrived we went for another "all you can eat" buffet. This time Stu tried the chicken hearts and they were pretty good, kind of a cross betwen kidney and liver. The roast beef was equally as good and we left feeling very full once again. The Brazilians love for football was evident everywhere as Flamengo were playing Vasco de Gama in the Copa Liberatadores, amongst the cheering up and down the streets when Flamengo scored our waiter at the restaurant was also keeping a close eye on the game and at one stage whilst pouring the wine actually stopped and put his head back in anguish as an effort at goal went wide (TV's were on in the restaurant otherwise he would have had amazing eyesight). After exclaiming how much he loved his team he went back to his job pouring the wine. Mad for it indeed. The next day we are in high spirits at we leave to explore Ipanema. We head up the corcovado to see the Christ the redeemer statue with our slightly crazy taxi driver (who for some reason thinks that Stu speaks Portuguese). We are afforded our first fantastic views over the city with the Maracana and the city in one direction and Copacabana beach, Sugarloaf mountain and the lagoon and Ipanema in other directions. All around is the sea and it's a truly beautiful view. We have a quick picnic up there and pay homage to the statue which can be seen from pretty much anywhere in Rio. We get the taxi back down and the driver is obviously very proud of his city. We decide to head for the beach and with the girls looking on Stu and Joe decide to give the Samba boys a lesson in football. At least that's how we wanted it to turn out. About an hour later we leave totally humiliated (5-1) having had about 5% of the ball and we are totally knackered. Stu seems to have spent the entire afternoon on his arse having fallen over trying desperately to get anywhere near the ball. He is covered from head to toe in sand (still got some in me pockets now in fact) and looks a bit sunburnt as well. The day after it's still pretty hot and we go for a walk around the center of Rio. Let's just say that Rio is not famous for it's beaches for no reason, downtown Rio is pretty average with the highlight being a weird modern circular church which looks much like a beehive. We sort ourselves out a bus to Ihla Grande and all agree that the bus station is pretty dodgy and that we should spend as little time there as possible. The bus drivers in Rio are especially crazy, every inch of the road is theirs to use and speed limits in the city center do not apply. We actually thought at one stage that our driver was trying to break a record of some sort driving us into the center of town. In the evening we head out to a bar and have some tasty yet very evil Caiprinhas and a nice meal. We head off to another bar and realise that the locals don't really drink the Caiprinhas as they are much to sensible for that. The following day we head up to the Sugarloaf mountain after another swim and spot of footy on Ipanema beach. Sugarloaf was probably the highlight of Rio as we saw a beautiful sunset and it's a great vantage point to see the whole city. In the evening we head out for Japanese food and order too much but it was really tasty. On the Sunday we are sad to leave Rio and get a taxi to the bus station and look forward to a bit of R & R on Ihla Grande about 2 ½ hours South of Rio. Keep the messages coming please and we'll be home soon!!! Lots of love Stu & Amy.