Rio - Day 2!!

So Day 2 - who can believe it!! Don´t worry we WILL NOT be entering a log for each day but bear with us as we are buzzing because its the start of our adventure the notion of writing this will most definately wear off - well off me anyway! So got up today to do another hike - yup another one - how hard-core are we! Are we fit? Are we feck! Nearly killed the two of us! And Gary tore something in his leg and yapped like a bitch the whole way! This mountain was called Bonita and it stretches up 696m (we drove up the first 300m) but the views were worth it once we got up though. Amazing - the whole of Rio stretches out before you and black vultures soar overhead - I think they smelt my scorching flesh! We were with a few others so afterwards we heded for lunch - one of the group a Norweigien girl kept clling Gary "Gay" - he wasn´t too pleased but it made me laugh!

All the gang- oh how we miss them......

After lunch we went into old Rio before we headed to Corcovado to see the Christ the Redeemer statue! Old Rio is beautiful - nice to be away from the hustle and noise of the city centre - this is where Ronnie Biggs lived (infact in the Irish Pub there - very aptly named "Irish Pub" they sold Ronnie Biggs t-shirts!) and then off we went to see J.C.

Hiking Hell!

Fortunately we did not have to hike the 710m up to see the big guy. Pretty amazing once you do get up - really serene, I felt at peace, happy and at one with fellow man and God - infact so much so that I felt I knew wht the big guy was thinking right at that moment - "you can see my house from here"! No seriously it was pretty remarkable and an amazing sight. Surreal being there when I had only ever seen this sight on postcards and here I was! Gets your brain thinking too about the amount of work put into the 38m of Christ and the amount of peasant, immigrant and slave lives that must have been lost hawking that stone up so high!

The Big Guy himself!

When we got back I was a dead woman - so much so that I passed out on the sofa in the hostel - woke up sweating like a mad woman and had drooled all over my hand - homer style - mmmmm classy bird, attractive or what! Although who cares? I´m in Rio baby!!!

Ciao, Cailin xx

The girl from Ipanema