Simon LeBon said it best

So here the adventuring really begins. Rio de Janeiro (said to be one of the worlds most beautiful cities) is our jump off point to a 4 month treak around South America. Although we nearly didn't make it....

LOvely view. And Rio in the background

How long do you reckon you need to give yourself to check in to an international flight? Say...2 hours? Think you might scrape it through in an hour? Think again if you're travelling from Miami to anyhwere in South America. For a start, it seems de rigeur among travellers to bring everything they own on the trip, which means that each passenger has to go through the checkin process with approximately 8 suitcases, 2 dogs (no joke), their extended family and a roll of carpet.

Marge captures the spirit of Copacabana

And to top it all off, once you've queued up for 2 hours to checkin, they then point you to another queue so you can stick your bags through security.

Oh the joy.

Between jigs and reels we were the last people on the plane, sweaty and befuddled but looking forward to touching down in Rio.

Anyway, we arrived in Rio in one piece (and quelle surprise, the bags made it too) and took a bus directly to our hotel in Copacabana. It was about 2 blocks from the beach, but other than that, it wasnt exactly what it had said on the tin at hostels.com. Sinead and I are quickly learning to read between the descriptive lines regarding hostel facilities. For 'funky' read 'decorated by someone on acid', by 'vibrant athmosphere' read 'bar never closes and the speakers go all the way to 11' and by 'close to evertyhing' read 'close to nothing but situated on a main road'. Old fogies that we are, we've since moved off to a more sedate, lower key hostel in Ipanema. It's like a backpacking hospice - everyone is really nice, and it's quiet and civilised. I can't wait for breakfast to see if they pre-chew our food.

Smugshot

Rio so far has been an exceptional place. Firstly, we were bowled over by the size of it. Driving in from the airport, the city just seemed to sprawl ahead for miles. Then we set eyes on the slums, which ran up and down every hillside and really shocked both of us. You hear about these favelas, but seeing the extraordinary density of houses built from a few blocks, sheets of plastic and corrugated iron, with open sewers running down the streets really blows your hair back. We've booked in for a walking tour of the favela's tomorrow to see first hand. If I don't make it back, I'd like Jim Whittle to have my CD's and Denis Quill my tie and cufflink collection.

We have done a few bits (other then sit on beaches) and I'm trying to upload photos to prove it....unsuccessfully given the crummy computers I've had to use to date. One of the nicest things we've seen here has been the Sugar Loaf, and the cable car running up to it. It featured heavily in the Moonraker Bond movie, with Jaws chasing Bond from one end to the other....Villans aside, the views from the top were outstanding, and seeing the half-moon sweep of Copacabana as the sun set was fantastic. We're heading up to Corcovado (the one with the Big Jeezy Creezy on it) tomorrow afternoon, so should have seen both sides of the city by then. And as for Sunday....well a match in the Maracana is obviously in order. I'll be a soccer fan if it kills me....