JW Marriott Hotel Rio de Janeiro

... visited 3 pousadas with me and one alone during her trip and 3 make it on to the hiddenpousadasbrazil.com site with flying colours:<br><br>*Pousada Pitanga, Santa Teresa, Rio de Janeiro (chic french meets bohemian Santa Teresa ...

... very close to rich and rising neighborhoods as the favela citizens are the ones who work in the service and construction jobs in these areas. As we connected to the local bus that took us into the hills, we passed through Alto de Boa Vista, which is a very poor community (though not a favela as people own their homes). The stark contrast between these various neighborhoods in close proximity and technically within the city limits of very wealthy Rio is ...

... Bus journey wasn´t too bad, couldn´t see a lot as it was dark already.<br><br>First impressions not great though, Rio is quite a dirty city, we´re actually quite glad we´re only here for a couple of days.<br><br>Hostel not too bad, beds quite comfy, room to ourselves with 6 beds! Have met some nice people but we´ve got quite a few things to see and do in very little time, so probably won´t be able to get to know them.

... pounds, a bargain. <br>The next day I trekked back to Copacabana to the hostel that Katie and Rachel were staying in as I had left my guide behind! It was about one hour on foot, but ten minutes in and a torrential downpour set in that would last three days. I got there soaked and met them having their breakfast, we arranged to meet later at an Irish bar where we did a Spanish quiz with a group of American businessmen. <br>Because of the weather I seized the moment to ...

... that wooden stage is now the best in the world before that it was the worst!!! So the guy got Will into the gear he needed to wear and gave him a little instruction, which entailed tellin him he had to run until there was no ground to run on!! It all happened pretty quickly there was a few ahead of him and then off he went! So u stand at the top of the stage and there is a ramp that u run down, he ran like a man being chased by a tranny at no.8 ...

... at four. She showed up at about half twelve and again at about two. We repeatedly explained to her and to the porter over the phone that if Camila couldn't be contacted, it seemed she was away from her phone, we would pay for a locksmith to get us out. The woman disappeared for two hours, it was now four o'clock, five hours into our sentence in the expensive appartment, when we managed to get the woman on the phone again. She amazingly said something like oh ...

I've just set up this blog while sitting at "home" in Rio de Janeiro preparing for my trip to Iguacu Falls, Curitiba, Buenos Aires, Montevideo and Santiago. Travel resources for this trip have been The Rough Guide to Brazil and to South America, Lonely Planet's guide to Buenos Aires, VirtualTourist, TripAdvisor, TravelPod, and various Spanish ...

... many other street parties. Also visited the Nova Cathedral which looks a bit like a sixties egypitian pyramid from the outside (well i thought so anyway) but it was really im impressive inside with huge stained glass windows and it can seat about 20,000 ( i think that the right stat!). The tour took us through a Favela (shanty town),which was really interesting, it was clinging to one of the many random hills in the middle of the city. Finally we went ...

... I've never seen a missed pen celebrated like that, it was insane. <br><br>You can see it very clearly on this video clip from my digital camera! <br><br> <br><br>With 5 minutes left until half time, the Fogo right back carved through 2 weak tackles, side-stepped a 3rd ...