With the experiences of Sao Paulo still bouncing around in my now perversed mind, I found myself surprisingly a tadd apprehensive about Rio. I don't really know why because the place is truly amazing looking back, maybe I just wasn't up for any more random crazy s*** by that point. But as soon as I got there and settled, my mood quickly changed. You would think maybe we would want to take it easy after the mind-f*** festival the day before, but of course we had already booked to stay in the no. 1 party hostel in Rio, Mellow Yellow in Cocacabana. So no rest for the wicked as they say. The place was nice enough with loads of stuff to do and recommendations about Rio, as well as a cool bar up top, a jacuzzi and a funky chill out room. But being the cheap backpackers that we are, we booked into the cheapest room which was a filthy 24-person dorm. The bunks were 3 beds high and the lockers were scattered about all over the room so everyone was always getting in each others way, and it's not like the room was that big. Plus it was roasting in there with just a few measly fans, so we were in for an uncomfortable few days. But funnily enough we didn't have any trouble sleeping at all and were only very rarely woken up by people coming in late after a night out, so all in all it wasn't so bad. Anyway so Rio, the city of Samba, is as you would expect is a vibrant mammoth of a city, with vivacious South American charm oozing through the buzzing industry. This is epitmoized best by the downtown area where we spent the first full day traversing around the busy streets and exquisite colonial buildings embedded amongst tall skyscrapers and multitude of electronic shops. It's as if the place is designed to grab the tourist on all fronts and firmly envelop them in the Rio's charisma, pulling the heart towards the beautiful historical churches, theatres and museums whilst appealing to the modern-day mind by promoting a thriving metropolis of 21st century commercialism. It was pretty crazy just walking around and taking it all in. The language barrier made for an interesting lunch as well at some stand up diner where we had the whole place pointing and shouting to communicate what we wanted. That's the strange thing about Rio, you never order your food at the counter, you have to pay for it at some booth at the back of the store and get a ticket, which got to be a major pain in the arse after a while, what with not speaking Portuguese. Anyway after that fiasco and experiencing the medley of downtown, we cruised back and chilled on Copacabana beach, which is a massive expanse of beach stretching for miles and pretty pristine as far sas beaches go, it was really nice. That night we were aching to go out and experience Rio's famous nightlife, so we went out to a club with some people from the hostel and got pretty hammered. Unfortunately however, we hardly took in the local culture and the night was pretty s*** because the club was mainly full of tourists and played popular Western music, which I can get at home. But that didn't prevent an apocalyptic hang over the next day, I think we reacted badly to some of the local alcohol, as I barely made it out of the hostel and Ben only just managed to make it to the beach to ride it out. Not our most productive day of the trip to say the least. The next day we were back in the centre stocking up on essentials before taking the subway (which was pretty cool because they didn't bother building proper stations so it's literally just a system of platforms and tracks in underground caves) to Botafago and Guanabara Bay to take the famous cable car up to the peak of Sugar Loaf mountain. It offers an amazing view of the bay and all of Rio, with the Christ statue on the mountain on the other side of the city. So we got some awesome sunset pictures, probably the best on the trip which is really saying something given how many we have, with the lights of Rio and crazy orange swirling clouds in the dusk sky. That night we were determined to do something a bit more cultural than a gringo infested club so we went to a salsa club with some Brazilian girls from the hostel. It was a kickass night, with a really talented salsa band playing whilst everyone was twisting and turning rhythmically to the music. And also I've got to say that the girls were mind-numbingly drop dead gorgeous, typical Brazilian beauty's that I had been eagerly anticipating before we arrived, which transcended the fact that they barely spoke English and I made a fool of myself failing miserably when they tried to teach me samba. But who cares they seemed mildly entertained so it was an enjoyable night for everyone. The following day we hit another famous beach in Impenema to chill out and babe watch before finally taking the long bus to go to the Christ the Redeemer statue. But the bus took ages and when we got there, the cable-car had broken down (which apparently never happens, I mean what luck is that?!) so we had to pay an extortionate amount for a cab to take us up there, only to miss sunset and arrive there in the dark with cloud all over so that you could only see Jesus's feet. Great! Pretty much the main thing to do in Rio and we f***ed it up. We caught glimpses of the whole thing occasionally when the clouds parted but apart from that we couldn't see s***, of the statue or the city below. So after a few comedy shots as a consolation we returned to the hostel with our tails between our legs and relaxed in the jacuzzi with a beer to drown our sorrows. That night we hit the renowned Friday night street party in Lapa where we cruised around and took in the local festivities in the streets with some cheap beer in hand. It was pretty jokes and again good to see a more local side of partying. Needless to say it didn't get as crazy as Sao Paulo. Although having said that, we tried to go into a salsa club late on, but as we were about to go in, some guy came out and got the s*** kicked out of him right in front of us by some other guys who were waiting outside. I mean they went to town on him it was messed up. One guy had the metal pole from the cue barrier for the club entrance in his hands and was swinging it about all over the place like a madman. And I got blood splatter on my t-shirt when the victim copped a mean right hook in the face from another dude right next to me. So anyway we bailed from there pretty quick and decided to cruise around in the streets a bit more where funnily enough we felt safer than being inside, lest some crazy b****** have a crack at us. But apart from that it was an interesting night and a fitting end to our Rio experience. So yeah I think that's about it before the monster journey across the country to an as yet unknown destination. Of course Rio is an undeniably awesome place with everything to keep you entertained in terms of culture, beaches, partying, etc. Definitely one of the coolest places on the trip, even with us missing out on a lot of things like visiting local favelas to see the poorer side of Rio and going into the forest. But you'd need weeks in Rio to take it all in, something we never have on this trip. But another short and eventful bombardment of varying experiences.