In Rio! It's great here, not as bad as people make it out to be!

Was so nice waking up in a massive room! Sad to say goodbye to this luxury :(

Will be back in Chile next month to visit San Pedro de Atacama on the way up to Bolivia and Santiago again just before I get my flight to New Zealand as I have 10 hours to spare!

Checked in, went to immigration to get stamped out. Turns out that the person who stamped me in forgot to give me back the exit paper! But luckily they had my details on file so the man just filled in a new one. Phew, no more problems please! Well, almost! Went into a cafe to have breakfast, finished then got up and left. Then a man was running after me, I wondered why, then I realised! I had left my rucksack in the cafe!! Thankfully for that man! Phew! Obviously I must have been tired!

The 4 hour flight went by sooooo quickly! Always happens when I'm reading so I think I'll read on flights in future instead of watching films or playing on my iPad!

Got through and picked my bags up no problem. Took me ages to find a cash machine, finally found one! The most difficult airport to find things! Got a taxi to the hostel I'm staying in, in Copacabana. Got my own room, with a shared bathroom though. It's the last night having my own room for a very long while, probably the last time on my travels! I have a balcony with a hammock which is quite cool! The staff are so friendly and helpful too.
The group I'm travelling with had already left at midday to Ilha Grande, where I'm going tomorrow. Made a mistake with the flight dates at the time of booking! So met a woman called Alessandra who gave me details of where to go etc. So I've booked a transfer and ferry to the island tomorrow. Apparently there are 16 people so an even bigger group!

I really wanted to see Christ the Redeemer while I'm in Rio, had to see one thing at least! It was getting late so was getting more difficult to get up there. So I decided the best option was to get a taxi up there and get him to wait for me while I got a van up to take photos and come back down. It was getting dark and got dark very quickly so got photos of Rio in the light (sort of) and in the dark with all the lights. Decided to walk up the steps instead of getting the lift. Wasn't all that bad. All the walking I'm doing is definitely helping!
The taxi driver was so helpful, bless him. The traffic there was so so so bad! Forget how bad traffic can be in the rush hour, haven't had that in a while! The journey back was so much quicker.

Was starving when I got back as it was half 6 and I hadn't eaten since breakfast at 7am this morning! So grabbed something quick. Checked out Copacabana beach for a bit.

Sad I'm not able to stay here longer, definitely going to come back here one day and stay for a week or so and see so much more! A flying visit for now!

Don't have to get up too early, yay! So hot here, will be even hotter in Ilha Grande apparently. Beach time :D