Rio de Janeiro

The bus trip to Rio only took 6 hours. The bus was full thanks to the Easter Weekend coming and we either have to leave that day or only after the weekend.

Arrived at the bus station around 11pm and was able to book a room at Rio Backpackers (in Copacabana!) at one of the bus stops en route. The Lonely Planet guide to South America (henceforth will be known as "The Book") describes the Rio bus station a "in a seedy area" and really it was not kidding. We dropped any ideas of taking the bus to the hostel quickly and took a taxi instead.

Rio was lots of fun. The 1st two days was perfect weather and we spent day 1 on the beach enjoying the sun, warm water, and really skimpy bikini's that truly left little to the imaginations. The guys wore speedo's almost exclusively and really disturbed me. Justin got his day bag and casual shoes stolen by the beach and we were both badly sun burnt due to the lack of sunscreen.

The hostel was expensive considering the rooms were really small and no real facilities to speak of. But the residents were great and were completely over-ran with Swedish girls. :P In fact nine Swedes were with us and only one guy. But the most interesting people were probably the two crazy eccentric and highly energetic Finnish girls. Most people in the hostel seem to have been on the road for a while considering except for two or three others most of them have been on the road for more than three months. Dean (British working at the hostel as a bartender) has been in the continent for well over 18 months.

I phoned Rodrigo from the flight and he was nice enough to take Justin and me on a trip around the city in his new Volvo C30 (a big deal considering that there is a distinct lack of luxury cars in Brazil) and he strongly recommended a fruit juice/ice-cream made from "Acai" a native fruit exclusive to Brazil. He also showed us the night skyline of the "Favelas" (equivalent to the SA informal settlements) and told us that the flickering lights we see were signals to tell people where they could buy drugs from.

Overall I was really sad to leave Rio, the hostel had a great atmosphere and it felt like a non-stop party. But it was also probably the most expensive city to stay and after 5 nights it really was time to leave.