Rio de Janeiro!!! (Alice)

Hello all,

Well I finally made it to Rio de Janeiro, and had a reasonable journey up from Sao Paolo. Travelled with a lovely English guy called Paul, and we ended up staying in the same hostel which was cool. The bus journey was absolutely fine, and I knew from the moment we got on the bus to the hostel that I was going to love this place.

Rio is absolutely MENTAL. It is sooooooooo colourful, crazy, full of drum beats and salsa music, plus many other types of music I have no idea about! It is my favourite city in South America, and the people here are so friendly. We went to the Ipanema beach (next to Copacabana beach) yesterday - myself, Paul, the Norwegian girl Ana who I´d met in Sao Paolo - she followed us up - and a kind Columbian guy who looked after us all, called Sergio. The beach was so crowded, like nothing I´ve ever seen. We walked along and tried to get in the water ASAP - it´s 38 degrees, humid and very very very hot! Spent a few hours melting into a puddle on the beach (even with the umbrella, it was unbearable out of the water for too long).

We ended up drinking caipirinhas in the hostel last night, and then headed out to a street party at about midnight. We went to the area called Lapa, which has a 3 century old aquaduct. Underneath the arches there were many many musicians playing live music, with the random older guy hitting a flattened beer can with a stick. Little kids were hanging around selling us stuff, and we met the cutest girl ever. She loved hitting the boys and they loved teaching her new tricks. She gave me one of her bracelets, - she was so dark and had the most beautiful smile. Such happiness and contentedness. Really strange seeing black people here again, not seen many since central America.

But the music played on and on, and everyone was dancing in the streets. Outdoor food vendors were cooking food and the resulting smoke from the fires just added to the atmosphere. Little stalls sold caipirinha cocktails, and everyone concentrated on having a good time. I had the fright of my life when someone grabbed me by the arms - only to find out that it was Cath who I´d worked with in La Paz. Lovely to see her again, such a surprise! We´re going to meet her for a cocktail at some point.

We got home relatively early at 5am, and have just spent the day chilling out. It is very difficult to sleep here in the heat, and I have sought refuge today in an air conditioned internet cafe. Slept during the day (when the hostel is quieter), and today we plan on going to the football stadium here - can´t remember the name - which is the biggest in the world, (210,000 people), to watch a football match. Should be an experience! Not sure what we plan on doing tomorrow, but I´m sure I´ll love whatever it is!

Anyway, hope that everyone´s ok and not suffering too much with the snow. Will write again soon!

Lots of love,
Alice xxx