Windsor Florida Hotel Rio de Janeiro

... It was worth it though as we saw some tiny monkeys that were really cool. Monkeys rock.
Next day, went up the īBig Jesusī. Couldīt believe it, weather was nice, apart from up where jesus was, thick fog, and couldnīt see again. I queued for 4 hours to get the tram up there (costs R$36 each). Tram ride was cool, other than there was some teenage Brazilian prick on there who thought he was a comedian and ...

... and two Argentinians. Poor Haiz finds himiself alternating between spanish, english, french and at times Portuguese - the guide Martha is competent in all languages too. It's a real melting pot of a group.

The tour drives through downtown - us all crammed into the trailer part of a M*A*S*H style army jeep. We try on occasions to take pictures of the downtown (Centro), Lapa (the samba night life district), Santa Teresa (the old historic ...

... concentrated refined loaf sugar. The mountain is only one of several graite mountines that rise
straight from the water's edge around Rio de Janeiro. A glass-paneled cable car capable of holding 75 passengers, runs along a 1400-metre route between the peaks of Pão de Aįúcar and Cara de Cão every 20 minutes. The original cable car line was built in 1912 and rebuilt around 1973 in its current form. The retourn ticket is 40 R.

... of a peak with one of the most beautiful views of Rio. Christ's embracing arms extend 30m (98ft), which is a key element that enhances the feeling of the statue's superiority. It is a must-see for anyone visiting Rio. However, what it is not is one of the 7 Wonders of the World, as it was awarded in the contest run by a private company last year. The Temples of Angkor were left off the list in the vote-based contest as Cariocas were encouraged by ...

... Now we only have the long flight home left! We managed to kidnap another girl into our taxi to Ipanema to make it cheaper - OK, just in case anyone is thinking of contacting our Brazilian police friends, we didn't actually kidnap her......we drugged and bound her and then threw her in the boot!! Again, only kidding....honest! The apartment we have booked is brilliant. It is really modern and clean. There's loads of space ...

... to an event called "The Carnival Hangover" in a massive arena in Lapa. Must of been five thousand people parting with their last reserves of energy left after carnival. Many famous Brazilian bands played in the various arena's to the feverishly excited crowd. One of the Samba bands who played tonight came second in the Rio carnival top Samba school competition. As you could imagine they were pretty amazing! Half way through the performance the dancing girls made an ...

... On reaching the summit of part one, we treated ourselves to a very well earned beer and sat to admire the views which were (to quote Conor, Sean and Clive) AWESOME. There were such amazing views of Rio sprawling down below, and a great view of the planes landing and taking off at the airport just below. Well rested, we then took the cable car across to Sugarloaf Mountain itself and were rewarded with yet more outstanding views. On Friday ...

... It was a bit hazy - but at least we had a better view than our last visit. The sky provided a stunning backdrop with layers of stratus clouds and patches of blue. There were quite a few people up there - so we hung out for a while - admired the views - snapped quite a few photos and then went down to the restaurant and had an ice cream and a cold bottle of water before making our way back down on the train. The first taxi driver wanted to make a fixed price ...

... br>

We did the Lonely Planet walking tour of the centre, which was distinctly average but at least allowed us to see the highlights in a short space of time.



This is the headquarters of one of the huge petrochemical companies which have done so well ...

... of how it was living there while it affected his family and business. Canīt beat that about traveling. Everyone just has something so different and interesting to share either about their home country or somewhere they have been. Its impossible to run out of topics of new conversation. Very energizing for me .

Huge line for the internet right now so I feel the need to finish this later.

Talk to you all soon
Lindsey