Hola people, well I made it to the Rio sunshine - the weather is stunning (great sunshine, min temp of 26 degrees at night and no humidity or mozzies). Landed yesterday and took a taxi (safest but expensive option after a long flight) to my hotel in Copacabana via some quite dodgy looking areas, namely the Favelas (more on these I hope later after Ive done a tour).

Booked 5* hotel with a balcony but soon discovered it is really more of a 3* with a ledge - but hey the views from our room over Copacabana Beach are to die for. So met Jon, and we have caught up on the past 15 months over a few Caipirinhas in beach bar, followed by numerous chopps (Brazilian beers) and that was about the extent of yesterday. Today we finally got out of our pits around lunch time and we are going to do one of the sights this afternoon - Sugar Loaf Mountain. Then hit the bars and clubs in Ipanema this evening (so not much changes in my travel priorities).

We are going to stay in Rio until Tuesday and then looks like we are going to escape the city life for a tropical island in the form of Ilha Grande (about 150ks outside of Rio) before hitting Rio again for Carnaval.

First impressions - hard to say as Í have only really seen the inside of our hotel room or a bar so far, but as soon as I find out what Rio is all about you will be the first to know. One thing I cannot get that bloody Barry Manilow song out of my head and it is driving me crazy, whilst Singin Jonny has The Girl from Ipanema in his...

Adios