Despite a full day aboard a bus, lovely as it was, we were feeling a little groggy but we still mustered elation at the glaring sunshine which welcomed us to Rio de Janeiro! Our first stop was the area of Ipanema where we spent the best part of the afternoon looking for vacancies, unfortunately, due to a religious festival the previous day there was no space. Slightly despondent and extremely sweaty, we secumb to fatigue and got a taxi to Mellow Yellow - a hostel toted as the worst hostel people had ever been to, we were desperate! We checked in, Becky, Alice and I in 'Samba' and Jess, Ruth and Liat in the aptly ned 'Favella', a 24 bed dorm with bunks stacked 3 high! It was a dingy dump but we made the most of it.

A buffet dinner, a trip to the bar and we head out to the neighbourhood of 'Lapa', Rio's main samba district. Friday nights were purportedly samba central with a vibrant yet dangerous street party. We arrived and failed to see any form of street performance, musical or physical, as rain began to make it's way onto the pavements we made the executive decision to leave! Nobody was particularly interested in paying R$60 (£23) to go into a club when visiting a local street party. A little disappointed with the whole experience, we arrived home and head to bed.

With our second Brazillian let down under our belt, the following day we went to check out Copacabana beach. As soon as we got settled it began to rain! Things in Rio aren't going too well, we did manage to catch a shuttle bus to a shopping centre where we indulged ourselves in a guilty pleasure - "Sex and the City 2". Uplifted, a taxi home and we got an all you can eat BBQ at the hostel! Thoroughly grossed out by Mellow Yellow and with the discovery of a travellers biggest foe - bed bugs, I can't convey how happy I was about checking out! Idiotic staff, dirty pokey rooms and a horrible and dingey layout, the reviews we read weren't far off...


From Copacabana, we head to Ipanema; another beach separated by a large headland, reportedly much safer and nicer than it's more famous counterpart. We attempted another day at the beach but sadly the rain drove us into a Sunday street market instead which wasn't all bad. That evening we head to the aptly named "Le Boy", a Rio gay club with some of the best music I have heard travelling and my first experience of cover charges being biased toward guys over girls! We had an absolute ball, the music was great, the atmosphere was really friendly and everyone was really up for it - even the Essex boys who came along! We were driven home by the hideous drag show at around 4A.M. but I think it was necessary. After a taxi home, we pissed everyone in our room off and went to sleep, a good night all round!


The following day heralded my first South American beach day, beautfiul clear blue skies and blistering sunshine were on the cards! With some tanning under our belt, Liat and I head up the beach for a run (my first conscious attempt at exercise since my travels began!). On our return, the girls went a little overboard with buying bikinis off the beach vendors! Food and drink arrived in our laps every twenty minutes, we had no reason to leave...it is disturbing though how "Oi" is the way to attract someone's attention! As the sun fled behind Rio's landscape, we fled the beach, sorted dinner and spent the evening watching "The Blind Side", a surprisingly good offering from Sandra Bullock! Unfortunately, I had made a laundry day fail that morning and put all the clothes I owned into wash bar the clothes I was wearing. Having spent the day on the beach in my only shorts and tshirt, I encoutered several problems come evening time; firstly, having showered I had nothing to dry with and secondly I had no fresh clothes to put on! At this point the girls saved me and I ended up in Ruth's jeans and Liat's Brazil top, it was a good look for me...? Lord knows what I would have done had I been on my own!


The next day was another beach day, with sand sufficiently crammed into each and every orrifice, we head to a travel agent to enquire about heading to Salvador - it was a total rip off! The journey wasn't totally wasted as Jess and I managed to get our laundry so back home, showered and dressed in male clothing, our room was invaded by Essex boys we had met a few days earlier. Things went from bad to worse, mine and Jess' peaceful room was thrown into dissarray and after dinner, the boys just kept throwing drinks our way!! We head to a bar and many antics passed us by and much gossip was in the making, obviously it is irrelevant to you guys but it's pretty much what you'd expect when a group of girls mingles with a group of guys! A fairly uneventful yet enjoyable day in Rio.


For my final day in this Rio blog not a whole lot happened, we sampled Brazil's answer to McDonalds in the form of 'Bob's Burger' and head back to the hostel after a brief stint on the beach and all just montes out! Dinner was a simple pasta and the night passed watching 'Case 39'. One highlight to the day was that following nearly 3 and a half months, I finished my book; "The Dice Man". A fairly thought provoking yet extremely disturbing book filled with rape, murder and general immoratlity, it was an arduous read yet it did lead you to contemplate how you think about things. Luckily, I finished at just the right time, the Hong Kong girls are like a walking library!