Sam and E-J's Adventure

Armed with a Matias food pack, which consisted of beef sandwiches, biscuits and two bottles of wine, we set off on the night bus from Salvador to the former dutch colony of Recife, otherwise know as "the Venice of Brazil" due to its many rivers and canals.

We arrived at 7am both feeling a bit dazed and tired and quickly found a map of the city and an address of a hostel. We then set off on the city metro for the town centre. Arriving at our hostel we where told we couldn´t check in for four hours, so decided to find somewhere else. After a few hours on the hot streets of Boa Viagem we finally found somewhere. Our dormitory was shared with a lady, who worried us slightly with the words " I love red wine but my medication forbides me from drinking it!!"

The hostel owner armed us with another map of the city and the highlights of what to see. Sam by this time was struggling to keep his eyes open, while E-J trying to be polite, took in as much of his information as she could. Half an hour later, having heard the entire history of Recife, we set out for the centre. Apparently, the old shopping centre had an impressive view of the whole city, when we reached the top, however when we turned up at the post office, we realised that maybe we hadn´t listened to the kind words of the hostel owner as well as we should have!

We walked around the centre for a while, taking in the sites of the Palace of the Princesses and The Palace of Goverment. After enjoying the fine, colonial architecture we caught a taxi to the old town of Olinda, which translates as oh beautiful.

We soon discovered that our taxi driver also wished to take on the role of our enthusiastic tour guide. Humouring him, we politely looked interested as he pointed out what he considered to be the important sites of the police station and the supermarket! On arriving into the historic, downtown area, our taxi driver / tour guide insisted on waiting for us and escorting us to our next destination. Reluctantly, we agreed and enjoyed a beer looking out over one of the best-preserved colonial cities in Brazil.

After a pleasant meal and a drink we thought we'd successfully lost the taxi driver, but then spotted him sitting two tables behind, watching us with a large bottle of beer!

After a stroll around the market stores, our over friendly driver took us back to Boa Viagem beach. On arrving, he tried to claim the whole trip was 30 quid! Sam disputed this, gave him just less than half and we both jumped out, sharpish! The late afternoon was spent enjoying a few beers on the beach before heading back to the hostel for a well needed early night.

We awoke early the next morning and enjoyed a brief stroll along the beach reluctant to go for a swim with so many signs warning us of shark attacks. After E-J had sat with the lady sharing our room and been made to go through all her wedding and family photos, we said goodbye to her and the friendly staff at our hostel. As we walked away they called out "have a great trip Becks and Lady Di"!!

We then took a long bus to Maceio, the capital of the state of Alagoas. We arrived just as the tourist board was closing and luckily caught the lady at the desk as she had missed her bus. She gave us some useful information and we managed to find accommodation relatively quickly in the beach area of Jatiúca.

The next day we checked out of our room early and headed for the bus station to leave our bags in left luggage. We jumped on a local bus to a recommended, beautiful beach called Praia do Frances. After forty minutes on two buses, we finally arrived and took in the beautiful white sands and warm water, which varied from a clear green to an intense blue colour.

Taking another bus journey back, we spent a few hours, drinking Caipiroskas on a beach bar, in Jatiúca. As the sun came down, feeling quite relaxed we headed back to the bus station and collected our luggage to begin our ten hour bus journey back to Salvador.

The bus trip to Salvador was not as relaxing as we hoped. The sweatbox of a bus, with stiff upright seats was driven like a go-cart for the entire journey and we barely slept a wink. This possibly explained why we arrived into Salvador an hour and half early! The bus driver was probably feeling pleased to have broken the journey record! This was not good news for us as it was coming up to 5am and our hostel wasn´t answering the phone. We spent the next two hours enjoying the delights of the grotty bus station before we finally arrived at our hostel at 7am.

After a few desperately needed hours of sleep, we took in the impressive old town of Salvador. The former colonial capital of Brazil really looked stunning with its cobbled streets, glamourous churches and detailed architecture.

We looked around the area of Pelourinho and visited the ornate San Fransisco church. Throughout the streets we could hear the constant sounds of samba bands playing, and could appreciate that this is where all the traditional Brazilian dance and music stems from. As the day roled on, constant samba bands walked up and down the streets, with almost 100 people following, dancing away, loving the sounds with a beer in hand!

The evening was spent enjoying a typical Bahian meal along with a couple of Caips. Tired, we went to bed only to be awoken in the middle of the night by a torch flashing through our window into our room. The almost ever calm E-J, jumped out of bed and sprinted for the door, whilst Sam stood by the lockless window. Worried that we were about to be attacked, E-J, fumbling for the key, eventually made it downstairs and alerted the owner. She raced up only to let us know it was the workman turning off the water!

In the morning, after another poor hostel breakfast, we headed back into the old town, Pelourinho and watched the Capoeira martial arts dance. Sam was quick to join in!

We ended our time in Salvador listening to a live band before heading to the airport. Our taxi ride to the airport was driven by another maniac who got us there in plenty of time. This was probably helped by the way he constantly skipped lanes or took slip roads to beat the traffic lights!

When we arrived into Sao Paulo, we were greeted with torrential rain. We headed to Sacha´s flat in town and enjoyed a boozy evening, catching up until the early hours of the morning as it was Julia's last night. The next day we visited a local market near Cotia and said our goodbyes and farewells to Julia.

Our last few days in Sao Paulo where spent relaxing with Chris and Sacha as the rest of the family were still in Bahia. As the girls sat around enjoying a few drinks, Chris and Sam found time to hit a few more golf balls and play some more tennis.

Suddenly in no time at all, it was the 16th of January and it was time for our flight to Buenos Aires.

Sams Comments: The North of Brazil was really interesting. Maceio was somewhere I wished we had stayed long. As for the Samba, amazing, and the Capoeira dance was easy for me to master!!

E-J´s Comments: It was a real shock to return to roughing it, backpacking, especially when it came to the return of the cold showers, blocked loos and sharing a room with a rather eccentric woman! In the last 5 weeks, I am really pleased I got to see so much of Brazil, but I still find that we have only just scratched the surface and there is so much more to this place. I will definitely be returning, as I truly love Brazil.

Having got up at 5 am (Julia managing to oversleep her alarm), we made it to the aiport in plenty of time.

Three and half hours later we arrived at Costa do Sauipe, and met up with the Matias family. Instantly, we were all mesmerised by the beauty of the place and the rustic look of the house we would be staying in for the next 10 days. This place looked close to paradise.

We dropped our bags, caught up with the family and then decided to take a walk on the beach, which was about 200 from the house. We crossed a bridge over a small laguna and climbed the sand dune before we found a completely deserted and simply beautiful beach.

Sam, Julia and Nick immediately ran straight into the sea, while the rest of us enjoyed the view from the beach and also wanted to avoid the fatal 'portuguese man of war' jellfish.

After a brief stroll along the beach, we headed back to the house. We had a few delicious proseca drinks before heading to Praia do Forte, another beach resort twenty minutes away.

We had a few drinks and an unfortunate situation with a lack of service from the restaurant we had planned to eat in, ending the evening in a great bar with live singers and a couple of Caipiroskas. This left us all rather over refreshed by the end of the night.

Waking up to a great breakfast we relaxed by the pool. The usual indulgent 12 a clock caipiroska, made by the Caip runner himself, was then followed by a delicious, plentiful lunch. In the evening we headed to the village of Costa do Sauipe, which situates the three main luxury five star hotels. In this area there are also a few boutiques and restaurants. We all had a bite to eat and then watched an impressive samba band perform in the street.

After this, we watched a Brazilian live band perform on a stage in the middle of the village. Julia and E-J tried to get into the swing of the Brazilian dancing, but didn't feel they had quite the right technique when it came to shaking their bundas! (bottoms)

The next day was New Year's Eve and it continued in the same indulgent style as the previous two as we were treated by the Matias' extreme generosity.

When it came to the evening, the traditional Brazilian style of New Year, began to happen. Firstly, we all got dressed into white, which is what all the Brazilians do to bring peace and good luck to the New Year. We then had a big meal, with lots of delicious proseca and by 11am we headed to the small port where we caught a boat over the laguna to a part of the beach further down from the Matias' place. Armed with bottles of champagne, we all made our way down the beach to the waters edge and watched the waves glistering in the moonlight as we waited for midnight. All very excited, the Matias explained to us that at midnight, we would all go into the sea, ankle length and jump seven waves, making seven wishes. Also it is traditional to throw white flowers into the sea as an offering to the sea Goddess, Iemanjá.

When it was midnight an array of firelights lit up the sky and reflected in the sea, making it look so special and we all wished each other a Happy New Year before all running into the sea, hand in hand and jumping the waves.

We then returned to the beach (E-J, a bit more soaked than most, thanks to Sam´s over excitable leaps...)

We spent the next half hour drinking champagne and toasting to the New Year, then we headed to a bar, which looked more like a palm leaf, deserted shack (the only bar found on this stretch of beach for a good 300m) on the top of the dunes and had our first (of many) of the New Year's caipiroskas.

As we headed back to the house through the condominium, we passed a house that was covered in white balloons, blarring music with a load of people having a partying and celebrating the New Year. Before we knew it we were invited to join them and told to help ourselves to the open bar, overflowing with champagne and caipiroskas. Within minutes we were in the middle of the swell of people on the dance floor. E-J, Julia and Sach proceeded to spend the next three hours on the dance floor, taking over the place and letting the rest of the party know they had arrived!

At 4 am it was time to go. We said our goodbyes and thank yous and headed back to the Matias' place. When we got there, daylight was beginning to dawn. Sam and Nick had the great idea of watching the sunrise from the beach, so ran down, with beers in hand. E-J, Julia and Sach, slowly and more unsteadily followed. Young Chris, at this point had passed out on the outside bench.

When we got to the beach we all sat together on the steps at the top watching the sun slowly rise. We then walked down to the waters edge and sat on the sand, just by the sea. There wasn't another person in site.

All the colours of the morning light looked so crisp and so vibrant. It was such a magical feeling to be sitting there at 6:30 am in the morning and already feeling the heat of the morning sun on our faces.

We slowly stumbled back to the house, finding the walk along the bridge to be more of a challenge than normal. Julia and Sam also took great pleasure in repeating what they found to be a hysterical phrase of 'needing a night caip'. Sach and E-J just tried to humour them and stop them from shouting these words as we made our way back to the condominium.

When we finally reached the house, it was now 7:30 am and the sun was high in the sky. Chris was still passed out on the outside bench, with little chance of being awoken from his deep sleep. We all headed to bed, to wake up a few hours later to enjoy the day.

New Year´s day was a day of recovery and we spent most of the time on the terrace by the pool. E-J and Julia managed to go for a walk along the beach, but everyone else remained homebound. That evening, too exhausted to even talk we watched a movie before going to bed.

The following day we went to the Mango Tree for lunch, which was this wonderful restaurant underneath the most gigantic mango tree. The meal was delicious and after this we spent the rest of the day basking in the sun.

On the 3rd of January we headed past the North of Bahia into Sergipe and to another beach resort called Mange Seco (which means dried swamp).

To actually get to the beach it was a two hour drive from Costa do Sauipe, followed by a boat over a river, which took 40 mins and then a sand dune buggy ride over the dunes, which was brilliant fun. We were surrounded by palm trees, which made it look very tropical and beautiful. We were also told by the driver that the dunes are constantly moving due to the winds, changing the buggy's paths each day.

When we reached the beach, it stretched as far as the eye could see and the sand was so white and the sea, crystal blue. We felt so spoilt to see another absolutely, beautiful beach in Brazil. We spent the rest of the day enjoying the beach. To get back to our car we did the same journey as before. By the end, we were all exhausted (especially the two drivers who have to deal with all the maniacs on the road and believe us, there are alot!!!). The evening was spent enjoying a few games of poker with an abundance of alcohol. Sam proudly won, despite being called Chicken shit for never taking any risks.

The next few days followed in the same pattern as before, enjoying the beautiful house and the pool. The night before Nick and his girlfirend Jo left, the girls decided to dress up and have a few cocktails at one of the big, plush hotels in the village before the boys joined them for a meal.

By the time the boys arrived, the girls were absolutely flying. The meal was fun, though we were the last to leave the village and the girls needed extra support as they were practically carried back.

The following day was our last day with the Matias´so we decided to go to Praia de Forte and see the turtle sanctuary. This place helps to protect the sea turtles and rescues any that are found close to death on the beach. It was fascniating to see all the different species and sizes, in particular, the leatherback which has an average length of 2 metres. After this, we enjoyed a lovely meal in Prais de Forte before heading back. That evening we enjoyed another game of heated poker before retiring to bed.

The final day we spent on the beach and by the pool, before Sach and Chris kindly drove us into Salvador for our night bus. As much as we were excited to see a new part of Brazil we were also sad to leave the good company and kind comfort of our hosts.

Sam's comments: What a great place. A complete luxury. Totally indepted to the Matia's. Will miss the Caips!

E-J's Comments: The last few weeks have been like paradise and we have been spoilt rotten by the generosity of the Matias'. This has definitely been a far stretch away from backpacking. It's going to be quite a shock to the system roughing it again!

When we arrived, we caught the metro to where we had agreed to meet our friend Sach and her brother Nick. We headed back to their flat in Sao Paulo, tired but relieved to be in the company of good friends who spoke the language and understood the culture of the country and for the first time felt we could properly relax. After a few drinks and a bite to eat we returned to bed to sleep in the most comfortable, luxurious bed we had slept in for months!

The next day we did some last minute Christmas shopping in one of the Sao Paulo impressive shopping malls and then headed back to the Matias´house in Cotia, just outside Sao Paulo.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing around the pool, followed by drinks on the patio and a lovely meal with all the family. We greatfully realised that our backpacking days would be on hold until we left the generous Matias´after New Year.

The next day we went to a drinks party of family friends, celebrating in the traditional Christmas spirit, but also in the boiling heat. It was so strange to be almost back to normality, having normal conversations about anything other than where we were heading next and without any other backpackers around.

The run up to Christmas was spent relaxing by the pool in the morning and the afternoon usually started with a Caipiroska around Midday. The youngest son, Chris (or Capi Runner as he became known!) always ensured that we had the finest Brazilian Caipiroska's. For anyone who is unfamiliar with the drink, this is made from the fresh fruit of your choice, crushed into a juice and then cocktail shaken with vodka and ice and a spoonful of sugar. It is simply delicious!

Fantastic, late afternoon lunches with the family were always enjoyed with plenty of laughter and between these and the evenings were either spent returning to relax by the pool or enjoying a lazy siesta.

By the evening the ever generous chief barman, Paulo (or The Capi Father as he became know) would open bottles of Proseca, beer or wine for us to enjoy before a lovely evening meal, which on occasion was a massive, sumptuous barbeque, cooked by the creative head chief, Nick. Then, after a long and always entertaining evening meal, we would relax into a film or roll into bed. We felt as though we were in heaven!

On Christmas eve we both thought of are family and friends, but the hospìtality of Paulo, Jackie, Diane, Sacha, Nick and Chris kept are spirits high. This could have easily been changed when Sam offered to reverse Sacha´s car out of the drive, managing to scrape the paint off one car and indenting another. This produced not his finest hour!

In the evening the Matias´s neighbours and family friends, the Pallins, kindly invited us around for drinks. We enjoyed champagne with them, looking out of their garden onto the magnificent golf course of the condominim. Sam felt pleased not to see any of the divots he had left on the course earlier that day!

After another lovely evening meal and a few drinks we all played the traditional Matias' Christmas eve game of charades, which had us all in hysterics and ensured that we were all in the spirit of Christmas looking forward to the next day.

Awoken early, we met the rest of the family and opened our overflowing stockings, which were laidened with beautiful gifts and chocolate! After this, we all passed gifts to each other from around the tree. Sam then had time for a quick Christmas day swim before getting ready for Christmas lunch. As we carried our many presents up to our room we both felt completely indebted to the Matias`s for providing us with so many lovely and amazing gifts.

Dressed in red, to ensure that we kept with the tradition of the Matias household, we sat down for a fantastic treat of traditional, English Christmas lunch. Our plates, full of turkey, potatos and vegtables, washed down with fine, red wine ensured the day felt like Christmas at home.

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The remaining part of the day was spent indulging in more drinks and chatting into the evening. After a light supper, we took part in the Matias´ family poker game. Trying our best at bluffing and imitating each other with crys of chicken or as Paulo put it, Chicken Shit, Sam finally took the title of champion. This completed an amazing Christmas day, which will never be forgotten!

As Boxing day passed with the same incredible hospitality, we said our goodbyes to Paulo, Jackie, Nick and Chris, who headed up to Bahia before we would join them a few days later.

On the 27th December, our great friends, Julia and Paul joined us and we had a lovely evening catching up and exchanging even more gifts!

The 28th saw Sam reach the grand old age of 27. He again felt completely spoilt by the wonderful gifts he recieved, his only worry being how he would fit them all in his rucksack!

Lunch was another memorable moment. Sacha´s, lovely Granna, Diana took us all to one of Sao Paulo´s finest restaurants, Fogo De Chao. Once sat down, we quickly realised that by turning our small, round table mats from red to green, a throng of waiters would surround us with skewers of different cuts of the most delicious meat! We all ate like kings. After a coffee, Sam was beginning to feel a little tired and then a surprise birthday cake arrived.

After the meal, we enjoyed a tour of the restaurant and saw how they cooked the meat before heading home all feeling incredibly fat! The afternoon was spent relaxing by the pool and in the evening we enjoyed a few drinks, before packing and getting ready for our early flight to Bahia the next day.

Sam´s Comments: The hospitality of the whole family was unbelievable. I will never forget the experiance. Although I am glad that not too many people were on the golf course the day I played!

E-J´s Comments: Staying with the Matias' has made our Christmas so special and we feel totally overindulged by their amazing hospitality.

The ride to the port took no time at all, partly because we both passed out from our early and exuberant start. We were both really looking forward to seeing this beautiful island, which was once a former prison.

We shared a cab with a couple of dutch travellers to the harbour and jumped on the first available boat to Ilha Grande. On arriving, we realised that our hostel was at the other end of the beach and as there are no cars on this island, the only way to get there was on foot across the beach.

With our rucksacks pulling us down, we stumbled across the beach, which seemed to change from tiny pebbles to soft, fine sand about every five paces.

We arrived at our hostel with no booking in place, despite the fact that we had paid a deposit, but were luckily still given a room. Sam then slept for a few hours while E-J spent some time on the net.

In the evening, we explored the little town with it's stone and sandy pathways to various shops and restaurants, while looking for a place to eat. We found somewhere, which looked pleasant and looked out to the sea near the port. Although E-J was slighlty unsure of the menu, Sam persuaded her into having the appealing "house special".

We returned to the hostel for a drink at the bar, but then headed to our room as we could see the place was full of young, single travellers, hungry for some partying. Something we couldn`t face after being worn out by Rio!

In the early hours, E-J suddenly awoke feeling dreadful and spent the rest of the night in the bathroom with bad food poisioning.

The next morning, with E-J still unable to eat anything and Sam disappointed by the average breakfast, we boarded a boat, which would take us to the well known beautiful beach, Lopes Mendes. After the one and half hour boat journey we then had a twenty minute walk over a hill to the other side and to the beach. E-J, still struggling, took forever, slowly climbing up and over the hill.

When we finally reached the beach, it was a mesmerising view of clear, white sand, crystal blue water and luscious green trees. We found a quiet spot to rest and enjoyed the rest of the day on this beautiful beach.

We then caught the boat back to Ilha Grande and treated ourselves to another one of those "help yourself to as much as you like' icecream stores. The cost was then calculated by the weight and Sam seriously over did it when his came to 4 pounds!

That night, we ate at the hostel and after a drink or two we headed to our room tired of the usual small talk with all other backpackers; the usual three questions: How long are you travelling for? Where are you travelling to? Where have you been?

The next day the sky was overcast but we decided we would return to Lopes Mendes and see if we could do a bit of body boarding. Before we ventured into the sea we also got to see a few monkeys playing in the trees, which E-J took great delight in, especially by how tame they were and how close they would come to us.

Our body boarding experience was particularly amusing as the waves were incredibly strong, so the first challenge was trying to get out deep enough to catch them without being thrown over and dragged back to shore. E-J, also had the problem of not only trying to hold onto her board for dear life, but each time a wave hit her, it would literally rip off her bikini leaving her rather more exposed than she would like, this was much to Sam's amusement!

The hour of body boarding was great fun and we managed to catch the first wave together ,which we found hysterical, bobbing along simultaneously.

As it began to rain we headed back to the boat and back to Ilha Grande. That night we decided to eat out in town again and took the safe option of going for pizza. By the time we had finished the rain was now torrential and we had the challenge of getting back to the hostel via the beach. In the pitch black, flip flops in hand, we ran all the way back along the beach, with Sam pulling E-J along to make her run faster. By the time we reached the hostel, we looked as though we had jumped in the sea as we were utterly soaked, dripping from head to toe.

The next day we woke early and headed for the first boat back to the mainland at 8:30 am. Then a few hours later we were on the bus to Sao Paulo were we would be staying with E-J's great family friends, the Matias' for the next few weeks.

Sam's Comments: A stunning place, with incredible vegetation and wildlife,

E-J's Comments: Ilha Grande is beautiful and I would love to return here again, although next time I think Sam and I should choose somewhere a little quieter, away from all those backpackers game for a party. This place is so romantic and the beaches are out of this world. I am also pleased to say I'm a better body boarder than Sam!

When our bus drove through Rio, the first thing that hit us was the awful smell of sewyers and the view of thousands of run down and derilict houses. We began to question why everyone raves about this place, to us, it looked like a dirty and overpopulated city. We then arrived in the centre and got a taxi to Copacabana, where we were staying. The city seemed to transform itself into an impressive place, surrounded by mountains, with towering white buildings and pretty pavements full of mosaic white and black tiles. We definitely knew we were staying in a more glamorous area.

Typically, when we reached our hostel, our room wasn't ready yet, so we decided to hit the beach for a couple of hours while we waited. The famous, Copacabana beach was fascinating to see with all the beautiful people posing on the beach, women in the tiniest of bikinis and men in speedos! The waves looked so ferocious with the sea so blue, the sand so yellow against a backdrop of high, white 70s style skyscrapers all along the front. Sam thought it looked like a tropical Torquay!

When we returned to the hostel our room apparently still wasn't ready. An hour later we were still waiting so Sam finally reminded the guy at the desk who had totally forgotten and raced us up to our room. Our private suite consisted of bunk beds in a room the size of a shoe box, in between the bar and the TV room, though we were thankful to have our own private space.

We spent the rest of the day on the beach and just as we got back to the hostel it began to pour down with rain. We had a few drinks in the hostel bar, where we met a guy from Putney. We quickly realised his budget was a bit more flexible than ours when we arrived at the restaurant Marius, which was a seafood and meat restaurant that charged 38 pounds a head! Too late to turn back, we decided this would be a once in a lifetime indulgence! We should have really realised the expense, when we walked down a red carpet in order to enter the place and all the seafood was displayed in beautiful ice sculptures. Inside was also amazing, as it was covered in nautical antiques of all shapes and sizes hanging from the ceiling. Even the floors in the loos were covered in semi precious stones! It was quite an experience.

Sam's theory of trying everything twice soon back fired when he was full after the mountain of his first plate. The seafood was absolutely out of this world, though we found the meat a little too salty. By the end, we were all totally full, although Sam was possibly full with pain!

The next day we woke to pouring rain and with no chance of visiting the beach we decided to go to a bookstore in Ipanema. After realising that this was a waste of time, we proceeded to walk the main high street of Ipanema in the pouring rain in the hope of finding some Christmas presents. Soaked to the bone and miserable, we resorted to going to a shopping mall just outside Copacabana. This was also Sam's idea of hell, but at least we were inside and out of the rain.

Tired and moody, we headed back to the hostel for a few beers and then ended up going to a churrasco with some other people much more in our budget limitations.

The next day was still pretty unpleasant, so we did the usual uneventful tasks of organising buses and accommodation for our next visit. We then went to Leblon to find the street and house that E-J's mother had lived in forty years ago. Sadly it had become a derlict building with graffiti all over the walls, but the canal down the middle of the road still made it a reasonably attractive place.

When we got back to the hostel we unexpectively bumped into Liv and Ali, a couple we had orginally meet in the Galapagos. Excited to meet again, we caught up on each others news and we decided we would join them and their friends for a night out in Lapa.

That night was the hostels weekly BBQ and it was amazing. After taking full advantage of the BBQ and salad, a group of us headed to Lapa to see the famous street parties. There were lots of people in the streets with vendors selling beers and Caipirinhas at evey corner. We then headed into a club which had the amazing deal of entrance fee and then as many Caips as you like for free. By 2:30am, we were ready for bed with the knowledge we were going to have one hell of a hangover from the amount of pinga we had consumed!

The next day our heads were in agony, but the sun was shining, so we wanted to take full advantage of this and see some of the main sights. we therefore joined the hostel tour of Christ the Redeemer on the Corcovado Mountain. As we joined this last minute, we had to share a seat on the minibus and going around and around as we climbed up to the statue did not do our hangovers any good!

Before reaching Christ the Redeemer we got an amazing panoramic view of the city from a good vantage point below the statue. The structure of the city was amazing, surrounded by the sea, with various different bays and large mountains dotted around the place. Buildings growing from the valleys and huge skyscrapers everywhere. The Sugar loaf looked so impressive and it was the first time we were able to appreciate how and why Rio is so beautiful.

When we reached the Statue of Christ the Redeemer, sadly he was in cloud, but through the cloud we were able to make out this massive landmark and understand why it is one of the new great wonders of the world.

For a second or two the cloud would suddenly part and there would be an uproar of applause from the Japanese tourists. They also constantly posed in front of the statue in the same stance as Christ for a photo.

Behind and under the statue there was a little chapel which Sam was totally taken aback by. E-J was slightly concerned that Sam may have seen the light and decided to become a born again Christian!

On our way back we passed through the old town of Saint Theresa, appreciating the Bohemium architecture. We then walked down a staircase of coloured tiles, designed by an eccentric old, chap from Chile. He had a tile dedicated to every country along the wall. Sam had great enjoyment talking to him particularly when he started slamming some of his art work on the wall to show how strong they were.

When we finally returned, our hangovers were now at their beak, so we decided to spend the rest of the afternoon chilling on the beach. That night we went for a quiet meal together, before settling into the bar for a few drinks.

On the Sunday, a group of us decided to sunbathe on Ipanema beach. Sam started his morning by sitting in an English pub to watch the footy. E-J and another girl found the hippy market, which sold some amazing stuff and great gifts for Christmas.

By 6pm, we decided we would watch the sunrise from the Sugarloaf, so headed there only to find out it had just closed due to engineering faults. E-J, with a boiling trantum was just about to throw herself into a very angry mood, when Sam pulled her a side and reminded her we were in the presence of other people and we may be able to see it tomorrow.

That night we ate out with our friends from the hostel and then said our goodbyes, preparing ourselves for our early start the next morning.

The next day a prearranged taxi took us to the Sugar Loaf and by 7:45 we were outside the entrance to the cable cart waiting for it to open.

It was great to be one of the only people there and we were able to really appreciate the clear sights in the crispness of the early morning light with no crowds around, unlike many of the other main attractions. The only frustration was the limited time we had, but we made the most of it and took in the spectacular views. It was great to be able to see another panoramic of this magnificent city.

We then returned to the cab and made it to our bus completely exhausted, both already talking about when we could come back to this incredible city.

Sam's comments: Fantastic city, already want to come back, although my stomach suffered alot from the theory at Marios of try each thing twice!

E-J's comments: I loved Rio. It is a place that I would definitely like to revisit, though with more money so that I can indulge in the amazing luxuries the city has to offer. It is an incredible place, so full of diversity. You cannot believe that somewhere so beautiful as this can also be so dangerous.