Le Meridien Copacabana Rio de Janeiro

... a big crowd to a competing Samba group. We held signs, waved flags, and tried our best at the dancing.
The rest of the week flew by and we saw a lot of sights. WE ended up getting lost for the first time in Tijuca Forest (a lush rainforest near Rio), but ended up in a falvela (ghetto) and had the best and cheapest meal yet (rice, beans, mixed meat in blood sauce, fried pork skin, fried potatoes, seaweed, and oranges).
We went back to Impanema and watch the ...

... in the entire country being produced in the state with the same name, Sao Paulo is the financial heart of Brazil. For me it is only a city with a skyline (and not even a great one). Avenida Paulista, its central boulevard is being compared to the 5th Avenue in Manhattan and the city itself obviously with no other than New York. Sure, it has some good museums (MAM, Pinacoteca, and MASP – in the order we visited them), a subway system, 10 lanes highways, but is this ...

... leaned up against the pillar. Why? In his hands was a massive M-16 assault rifle. As I said, the gangsters are community watch. Our minibus back to Ipanema took us all the way to the top of the hill and through the entire Rocinha community (where I saw more gangsters with rifles in the narrow and steep staircases that are ubiquitous in the favelas) before returning back to the flats in Leblon and Ipanema.

A Night Out in Lapa and the Aftermath ...

Well we are off and running. Finally after a lot of planning and farewells in London we arrived in South America.

Admittedly it took a few days to find our travel legs - it had been some years since either of us had backpacked anywhere but in no time at all we were in swing with the backpackers way of life (well maybe the flashpackers way of life!).

3 days in Rio – a city in a ...

... people could sing along even though he said they weren't complicated enough to play. It's always the way that you get to know loads of people when you only have 1 day left or something lol. I think if I did a trip again I wouldn't book all my flights before hand and would play it by ear more, so you are free to change your plans and go to places with people you meet who might be going somewhere better or different. Got to bed at about 3am.

... vaar, hehe.. Og nei, vi dro ikke til Ilha Grande i dag heller! Vi snakket med ei venninne av Lene som allerede er paa oya, og hun sa at det var kjempedaarlig vaer og ikke noe aa finne paa.. Saa da vi like saa godt her i Rio hvor vi alltid har noe aa finne paa! I gaar motte vi noen lokale brasilianere paa gata rett utenfor hostellet vaart. Og til vaar overraskelse snakket nesten alle sammen kjempegodt engelsk, og var kjempehyggelige! Saa vi ble sittende en god ...

... God suggested you might get shot around these areas...but there was a hell of a lot to be learnt..! A top, top man in the from of Bernie Mac...an ex worker of the great Tupiniquim hostel, gave us a brilliant insight and tour. We even played 5 a side on a very nice artificial grass court at the top of the Favella.....and left victorious..!! A trip to Cristo Redentor, for me (don't want to sound too Mark Bright there), before we left, was the main iconic image to come to ...

... our stay at Rio was just to chill on the beach, drink some capahrinha's and shop. The beaches here are amaizing, 4.5km long at least 300m wide with hundreds of volleyball and soccer fields demarkated and thousands of suntanned bodies scattered throughout the length of the beach. All I can say is "You gotta see it for yourself!"

... Christ statue overlooking the whole city. Met australians that I did all my food shopping with, which was so absolutely cheap. I got about 4-5 days worth of fruit & rice and it cost me 20 reals, which is like 7 american dollars. great deal. There´s a BBQ tonight at the hostel so I want to get showered up before that as I´ve been traveling for almost 20 hours ...