Vern: "Grrringooo!" shouted a shirtless man in a blue straw hat tapping me on the shoulder. We'd been found out, at our third street party of the day. Wearing our merino wool t-shirts and our all-terrain trainers, we'd done quite well so far to infiltrate the 40th Rio Carnival. Everyone else was in fancy dress, in masks and in drag so we were in fact the most conspicuous. There are many other foreigners but this is definitely a Brazilian festival for Brazilian pe...

Andrea: Christ the Redeemer - wonder of the world #1 in our trip - tick! We ascended the mountain that towers above Rio on a tram car through the jungle, passed an abandoned mansion and rattled onward to vistas of Rio, its bay and its favelas. Unfortunately the blue sky from sea level, which tempted us up the mountain, was partly cloudy by the time we got 3600 feet up to the statue. So the tourists played the waiting game. Most lying on the floor to take a photo ...

Vern: We made our way from our island-style hostel, Che Legarto in Ipanema, to our no-style hotel, in Centro (downtown). Navigating public transport was a cinch and Andrea's spanglisheguese is getting us successfully through most transactions. Centro is bustling, like the business district of most major cities, and there are hundreds of people walking in every direction. We haven't figured out the traffic lights yet which seem to go green or red together on three...

Vern: We arrived safe and sound in Rio and after an uneventful flight and an hour long immigration queue, the airport bus driver was determined to give us a little taste of buses to come. He ignored all 'Pare' signs and read the maps which tourists handed him while driving at full speed. We slept in a six bed dorm in a clean, professional hostel in Ipanema. Today it is 25 degrees, but unfortunately we brought the clouds and sporadic rain with us. Unperturbed, we...