Lemon Spirit Hostel Rio de Janeiro

... Date Line. De acordo com Cindy Wilk em seu livro A volta ao mundo em 101 dicas, "O italiano Antonio Pagafetta, tripulante da primeira expedição de circunavegação do planeta (1519-1522), comandada pelo navegador português Fernão de Magalhães, registrou em seu diário a curiosa sensação de descobrir que havia perdido um dia em algum lugar do Pacífico."

... taking the **** out of the english language. Unfortunately in Brazil, just like anywhere, you get your share of bellends. People in Brazil generally though are very very nice.
Next day, spent day on Copacabana beach, beautiful weather. Beach is the most packed I have ever seen. I was suprised to see so many out of shape Brazilian woman as well. I´m talking proper rotten, which you know, is ok, but don´t ...

... dry my clothes -- yet I think the drying part still somewhat confused the nice girl working there (thankgod for bringing mostly synthetic clothes that dry ultra quick).

Despite having a huge meal at lunch -- as are all portions here -- my friends want to go to the popular Brazilian steakhouse/"buffet" in Ipanema. We arrive at 9:30pm -- this sounds late, but we were planning a late night anyway. Unlike the Brazilian steakhouses I´ve been to in ...

... who are so often preyed upon. The professors that I met with expressed an interest in having their students learn more about the possibilities that microfinance can offer to the people of Brazil.

One week was not nearly enough time to enjoy all that this city has to offer, so I do hope to return soon to this beautiful city with its welcoming spirit and wonderful people - maybe during Carneval!

Speak with you again in Prague:-)

... it onto your plate. It was pretty good! After dinner we went to see a Brazilian show. It was great, really colourful, lots of singing & dancing as well as bendy people, they provide such good entertainment. It was a fun night! 29/03 - We went back over to Copacabana beach & decided to walk over to the neighbouring beach of Ipanema. It was a really long walk, about 10kms, it was good though, it meant that we really deserved our beers once we got there. we just chilled out ...

... a laugh, mostly consists of these giant street parties all over the city, with lads selling drinks on ice every few feet along the paths... goin rate is about 1.50eur for 3 cans so cant complain. cant get over the brazillians, made friends with a gay brazillian chap the other night over a mutual love of ´Sex and the city´, him gettin so excited ´that i knew who ´Carrie bradshaw´is, him and his friends took me joe a chap from dublin and a crazy wicklow man who kept doing sealion ...

... do just that! When we went back down to Morro da Urca we sat on the lounges in the sunshine watching the world for a while before heading back down. En route to the cable car we saw a giant Jack Fruit. We had seen a lot of them yesterday on the ride up to Corcovado but here we had the chance to touch one. Apparently they are filled with quite a lot of liquid, we did not eat one while we were there though. Back down at the bottom we went for a walk onto the little local Urca ...

... power to warn anyone living in these areas that any crimes committed (apart from pedalling drugs presumably!) will be severely punished by them.

So as a result experts say that these favelas are remarkably free from petty crime and that tourists are actually ...

... they eat, and going where they go. So I head for Copacabana, the beach famous for girls from Ipanema and elsewhere. Rooms there seem to all be $50 a night, people renting out their flats to tourists apparently, and getting touts to hawk them. That seems cheaper now than it did then, and certainly not bad for a beach strip, but a beach strip past its ...