Hello World!

Hello World! Have found a quiet time and a free computer in the hostel to give you a quick update on the trip so far... so here goes...

Arrived in Rio on Thursday night and got a taxi to our first hostel called ´Walk on the Beach.´ The 4 of us got to our room at about 10pm to find 2 moody girls being very unfriendly/half asleep and we began to wonder if our hostel choice may have been wrong. David decided that the 2 girls must have been Peruvian... and since then guessing nationalites of room-mates/people nearby has become a regular theme! We took a quick walk along the beach front, sampling the national drink - a ´caipirinah´- a cocktail made from  caschaca (a brazilian rum) muddle lime and a lot of sugar - before heading back to the hostel for a good nights sleep (or so we thought) for we were shattered!

On our first full day, Friday, the moody Peruvians decided to wake up at about 6am and make a lot of noise... ruining our prime sleep opportunity! Nonetheless, we had a great day... chilling on Copacobana beach - tanning, playing football, frisbee and enjoying the views! Bliss. That night we had many a Caipirinah at the hostel making a lot of new friends from all over the world... before heading to the Lapa street party (a party...on the street!) which was absolutely mobbed - thousands of people lining the streets with outside bars, clubs etc... was a messy night but very enjoyable! (unedited version of events available on request.) Anicdote of the night - fat, gay, sweaty, ponytailed drug dealer coming up to us and grabbing david and dans crotches repeatedly... nutter!

On saturday we watched the merseyside derby - much to david´s disapointment before headint to Tedjuka national park to climb a mountain where at the top amazing views of Rio were promised. The climb was supposed to last around 25 minutes but due to our lightening pace, we managed it in about 20 including stopping to take photographs and David Wearing flip flops! The views at the top were indeed incredible - the skies were blue and we had a 360 degree view of the city from pretty high up. We almost never made it home as there are no taxis at the bottom and most people normally get a taxi to wait for them when they get dropped off - but we thought we would save money and hope to find a taxi passing by... our hope payed off when we jubilantly flagged down a taxi after about 10 minutes of walking aimlessly on a foreign road... the driver proceeded to play Elton John and Stevie Wonder songs on the way back! That night - headed to a Favela Party - a clubnight in a Favela full of Topless brazilian men, women dancing like maniacs and the fear of being mugged or beaten up - was actually very sae but was definitely an experience!

Day 5 - Rain! + was a national holiday so everything was shut. Chilled at the hostel and did a sun dance in hope!

Day 6 - Tuesday - Went on a Favela Tour - a guy called Alberto who has lived in this Favela his whole life showed us around - starting with a motorbike trip from the bottom to the top - scary! Alberto told us all about the crime and corruption within the Favela but at the same time we were surprised by some of the normality - ie banks, proper shops and restaurants etc along the main roads. Conversely, some houses were tiny and has open sewage running underneath them. Alberto then invited us into his home because he needed a drink... before spending the next half an hour making michael a CD of american rock music (he had faster internet connection in the favela then we do at home!) and giving us advice on how to pick up girls including wearing deoderant and using listerine... nice guy though!! Eventful day continued as we went to see the Christ Redeemer (or Christy as we affectionately called him) which was good to see if a little boring!! Day turned to night and we headed to a club called Melt which was a funny night culminating in singing the taxi driver the happy birthday song which I´m sure he enjoyed!

After some time in Rio, we headed to Ihla Grande - a remote island a few hours from Rio - that we got to by coach and boat. Our hostel there was amazing with a balcony overlooking the sea and mountains and a better room than we had been used to staying in. Result! Spent a few days here enjoying the sun and beach - relaxing . Thats about what weve been up to so far that I can remember but a couple of other funny stories including going into a restaurant and Rhodes asking for a menu only for the old woman owener to think that ´menu´ meant ´toilet´ and pushing him into the tiny toilet at the back of the restaurant!

Met a lot of nice people and a lot of absolute nutters including the barman at our current hostel who we have nicnamed ´hitler´ and we all hate! Heading out of Rio on Monday after catching a local football derby and heading up through Brazil on our way to Bolivia and Peru  -  will update again when i can!

Love to all! Especially the legendship who I think about in every passing second.