Intercontinental Rio Rio de Janeiro

It was a Tuesday- so we knew it would rain!. There's amazing outdoor jazz in the centre of Rio (Boteco Casual) with Cliff Korman and Co every Tuesday, and for the last 10 weeks the heavens have opened to stop in happening.<br><br ...

... slower. They told me that Rio was the tourist capital of Brazil and this is an international city. <br><br>Very, very good infrastructure, can drink the water, got a Metro train to any part of Rio and really Coppa, the tourist area, is 95% like the united states but thats the fantasy. But in the US youve got your Newerks, South West Atlantas and stuff, the seedy areas so all cities have em. Theres just more of em here.<br><br>Catch yall later up north Brasil<br><br>vaughnyb

... and misty Mata Atlantica (coastal rainforest), I thought I was deep in the jungles. Instead, I was merely a local bus ride away from the heart of Rio. From all the miradors, the buildings of the city crept right up to the bottom of the forested hills. I met a couple of young guys from the nearby Alto de Boa Vista neighborhood who were just out for a fun afternoon of hiking. This is the life. This was easily the most impressive natural urban park I have ever ...

... Rob´s card. So we´re on a mission to sort that, in the mean time we´ll use another card. Never mind!!!<br><br>Hoping to go up Sugar loaf Mountain later this afternoon and tomorrow and maybe fit in a couple of other things if we have time before we get the bus early on Thursday morning.<br><br>Also realised first thing this morning that I´ve forgotten the cable to connect my camera to upload pictures, so will have to see if I can get one at some point.

... the sea. The city piles down in the valleys and up the sides of jungle covered hills. Skyscrapers can be seen down below humongous favelas, shacks built one on top of the other to precarious extents. They say the biggest slums in the world are here, just one of them had a population of 200,000. As with all of Brasil there are two parallel societies, the official and the other. Strangely we were to end up imprisoned in the one because we were thought to be part ...

... here you have to fork out big bucks and quite frankly it is overated and overpriced. dont get me wrong i still had a great time but the amount of money you pay to come to this it really isnt worth it. the street partys didnt happen when they were meant to and were very hard to find. we only happened to stumble across one in lapa (party central of rio) which ...

I arrived into Rio at about 11 at night. Got picked up from the airport in an interesting taxi...thought i might loose my backpack out the boot! Met a guy from the czech republic who was staying at my hostel so when we arrived we headed straight to Copacabana beach, which was about a 5min walk from our hostel. Then we sat along the beach front drinking from a coconut....amazing!!! Unfortunatley I havent got that many photos of Rio as was advised not to ...

... in Ipanema, which was actually delicious. <br><br>We washed the lovely food down with a very nice Mojito!<br><br> <br><br>After a fantastic last evening we strolled back to the hostel, full of memories (and alcohol!) and looking forward to our last night's sleep of our 8 month trip. <br><br><br>Lots of love, <br><br><br>Al &amp; Katie xx

... half an hour it was all Fluminese and their #10 playmaker Thiago Neves was dominating the game. <br><br>He was wearing a neon coloured cast on his wrist, so wasn't hard to miss, especially for a trained commentator like myself! <br><br>Neves had an cultured left food and I ...

... I've found with Brasil so far is being "gringo", and judged as having money. I mean, sure, it's what these people are used to, and I can't blame them, but it's a new situation for me and it will have to be something I need to get used to. After all, some sacrifices need to be made. Overall, though, I actually feel more comfortable and safe here in Rio de Janeiro than I do in Vancouver. Just so long as one uses one's common sense, there should be no troubles.