Che Lagarto Hostel Budget Rio de Janeiro

After finishing up work on Friday, I got a ride with Mariana to the bus station downtown. I knew my neighbor left for Rio every Friday...but I just didn't wanna keep asking him for rides and having to leave early from work to go with him. I made it into Rio around 9:00 PM and grabbed a cab to the hostel I was staying at in Ipanema. See, after having stayed in Copacabana, I discovered that it was just stupendously far from all the venues I had to go to. Ipanema wasn't the best...but it was a l...

Oi fellow Cariocas -- the people of Rio -- and Gringos alike. I write today (well actually now over the last several days partly) leveraging the new technologies of the 21th century -- my iPod via a free Wi-Fi connection -- so definitely expect a higher level of typos as well as the occasional gibberish as my fingertips start going numb!

After drinking most the night with our new Irish friend -- Tom from Belfast -- we catch our plane to Rio departing at 4am (actually 4:30am). My well ...

First stop Rio, Ipanema, Che Legartho hostel. The hostel is 5mins from the beach, you can hear the waves from our room. What can I say it is just beautiful. The waves were huge, a very strong current but worth the dragging in and out for the big ones, the only reason we didnt spend all day in the water was because you would be wrecked being bashed around. On our first night we went out for some local food and cocktails, met up with Jack and Emma who were also on our flight to Rio. We had to h...

After the brilliance of Foz do Iguacu, I decided to head straight to Rio De Janeiro. After 22 hours on a bus I pulled into the station in a very dodgey area of Rio. Along with 2 English girls I had meet in Iguacu, I jumped into a taxi and headed straight to Copacabana. Along the way we got to see a glimpse of Christ the Redemeer , Sugar loaf mountain, Botafogo and the Favelaīs or slums clinging to the sides of Rio. Anyway I checked into a hostel called Che Lagato and this would turn out to be...

We are still in Rio as its such a cool city we dont seem to be able to manage to go anywhere else! We have been pretty busy the last few days. On thursday night we went to the Flamengo vs Sau Paulo football game and it was amazing, the atmosphere was like nothing i have ever witnessed, not even at fulham. We did it through an organised tour and im pleased we did cos there were hundreds of fans going mental, singing etc outside the ground before kick off and we stuck out like a sore thumb. Ins...

At the moment I am back in Xerem at the orphanage working on a document about how to improve the behaviour of the children in Casa do Caminho. Itīs not really their fault that heir behaviour is so shocking. They just never have been taught propperly and neer have been shown the right examples. Being so isolated helps in some ways but it also restricts them in others. I made some really good friends with some other volunteers. We had some good nights at the local pubs and i went with Marta to ...