We drove along the scenic Paulista coast, stopped at a local beach to hang out, and ended up making it all the way to Rio de Janeiro.

06/05/2008 T Woke up to a glorious day so booked onto the ´Christ Redeemer´ tour for the afternoon and went to the beach all morning. A taxi collected our group including four English lad´s and Serg, a Spannish guy and drove around Rio and up to a viewing point on Dona Marta, from which you could see the statue and the city. After this we drove ...

The bad weather persisted a few days, which meant lounging around on the beach all day wasn't an option, so I decided to check out the favela on the hillside overlooking the ocean that I'd seen from Ipanema beach when I first got to Rio. I walked all the way down the beach, and up a winding narrow sidewalk, trying not to look around too much tak...

Norris and my trip began with a mood of celebration. A limo picked us up at our house in Seattle, providing me with my first ever limo ride. We sipped on mimosas as we said good-bye to the gray Seattle skyline. Seattle is a beautiful city, but it will be a lot prettier this summer when the weeather gets nice, so we were both happy to escape to t...

So we`ve finally got some sun! Its been beautiful weather ever since we arrived at Rio Backpacks. The hostel`s not as clean as the last one we stayed at but we do have air con and it`s good for socialising, people tend to do things in groups. Rio´s already getting smaller though, we keep bumping into familiar faces everywhere we go! First night ...

Well, all I can say is that I now LOVE Rio! The first few days were spent doing all of the normal touristy things, like going up Corcovado and Pao do açucar. Then I got to know the receptionists in the hostel, and got fantastic recomendations for shopping and going out. Again, there were some fantastic people in the hostel and we all had a great...

Rio de Janeiro, known as Cidade Maravilhosa It was a dark and cold night when.... No, it was dark but not really cold when we arrived. Local time was 5:20 am when the Jumbo Jet landed in Rio de Janeiro. Sleepy authorities had crawled to stamp passenger's passports and to check customs clearances and other papers we were given to be filled with i...

Today was another very exciting day. After gettin up after a crazy night with one of the hosts from the hostel at Lapa, a few a us went to a Brazilian soccer game. WOW!!! What can I say except that you just can't help getting as excited as everyone around you. Flags waving, people chanting. You just haven't experienced a sporting event until you...

We had lunch at Mariana's grandmother's house with her mom's side of her family. It was nice to see everyone. I got a lot more presents than I was expecting. For dinner, we ate at the restaurant at the Sofitel Hotel in Copacabana. They had a great view of all of Copacabana Beach plus Pao da Acucar. It was nice except for all of the French people...

After a week enjoying myself on the Costa Verde, I had to get serious. My Portuguese classes were booked in Rio for the next month, so I had to make my way there. Poor me(!) found myself staying with Suzana and Felipe Coelho and their daughter Leticia in the Copacabana district, 2 blocks from the beach! Such a tough life(!) A month passed very q...