Merlin Copacabana Rio de Janeiro

... obvious. Light shines through the stained glass windows filling the church with warm colors and a cross with a suffering Jesus hangs down from the center. You can also find more shopping in the center, but this shopping is for the locals, where socks, children's clothes and panties are sold. The buildings in this area are adorable so it's a good place to kill some time. There is a botanical garden in south west Rio, which was mildly ...

... art for the gallery. Our guide knew everyone and was often stopping to say hi. We were stopped by some kids who wanted to play us music but their instruments were locked inside a building. We waited for a few minutes but they couldn't get in. Just as we were about to move on, they got in and came running out with their instruments - a plastic tub, a metal tin and a wooden stick. They made a lot of noise and we gave them a bit of money. The Favela was really cool and ...

... Rob´s card. So we´re on a mission to sort that, in the mean time we´ll use another card. Never mind!!!

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.

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.

... statue of Christ that overlooks Rio from the tallest mountain. A relaxing train ride throught the steep forest hillside brought us up to Christ. The views were incredible, and made Sugarloaf look minature in comparison.

I gazed down at the huge cemetary in the distance, and remembered that homeless people actually lived in the tombs as make shift homes. In fact over 1 million people live in the favellas of Rio, the slums built into the ...

... Redentor! C'était tellement bondé qu'après 3 photos et 10 minutes à lutter pour pouvoir avancer, j'ai fini par redescendre...

Le reste a été un peu plus calme. Le Sambódromo et son musée étaient bien marrants (regardez les photos!), la Catédrale étrange, et finalement le clou du spectacle a vraiment été la montagne du Pain de Sucre. Nous y sommes arrivés en fin de journée, alors que les touristes commençaient à en partir, et nous sommes restés là-haut pour voir le soleil se ...

... back down the massive hill as they wanted 150 Dib Dabs for the trip down in a taxi. Moses said we could probably just bum a lift off one of the cars going back down. I'm sure he would do that even if he was on his own, but there is no way I would. In the end he flagged a taxi headed down hill and managed to pursued them to take 10 dib dabs as they were going that way empty anyway so it was better than nothing (good plan).. We got to the bottom and ...

... worried as on our first flight there was another couple with the same seat numbers allocated as us !! We were at the back and there was nowhere left to store our small carry-ons as everyone was allowed so much stuff....Colin got stroppy, so staff made others take some out so we could put ours up....only fair !!! we had burgers for breakfast on first flight followed by burgers for lunch on second...we didn't realise that COPA was a subsidiary of Macdonalds !! just as bad though ...

... all dribbled over), Tracy had carpaccio beef and pizza, Dors and Bea had chicken. We all shared and we all drank the strongest Caiperinhas you´ve ever tasted. Seems the further south you go the stronger they get. A lot of the locals corrected my samba, - no I was dancing like a baiana, I needed to lift my chin and shut my legs to dance like I was from here - LOL We had a blast and headed home at midnight, tired and very satisfied with the good food and the good ...

... a different feeling and perspective of a country as you peer out of the dirty bus window. So I'm going too give it a go and resist the temptation of flying. There maybe one or two exception's to this pledge. I may visit Easter Island and the Galapagos which will certainly require a plane journey. First we'll have to see if my budget stretches that far. Both are extremely expensive excursions but would be amazing places to visit. When I arrived in Florianopolis, I ...

... from beer to ice creams to fake football jerseys and bandanas.

Most of us invested in a fake Botafogo top for 30 R$ (8 quid) while some people (like Katie) went for the Botafogo bandana, which was very stylish!



With every minute we got closer to ...