Rio de Janeiro

Well, our rtw has gotten off to a fantastic start!  We arrived in Rio late last night after a longish flight (11 hours) which we spent watching all the new releases (Bridesmades etc).

So the flight went quite quickly and we had a taxi waiting for us at the airport which was organised by the hostel. The windows of the taxi were all blacked out and the car was unmarked. It turns out that all cars in Rio have blacked out windows -for safety reasons. I was actually not as scared as I thought I would be, driving in through Rio at 10.30 pm in an unmarked taxi with blacked out windows.

We got to our hostel which is on this little gated off street with a load of other hostels and its in the part of the city that is meant to be a bit safer (Ipanema).

We got up early today because neither of us could sleep and wanted to explore the city. We had a nice big free breakfast off the hostel and then headed out for a walk around the city. We went to Ipanema beach and then around the big lake. Then we went to Christ the Redeemer! It was hot today in Rio so the sun was glaring behind the statue. We took a train up the hill which was cool - a samba band got on and played and there were some fantastic views from the top. 

After that, we took a bus back to the beach to watch the sunset (sun set is very early her - 5.30 pm!). Unfortunately, I have already lost my hat - which is annoying, because anyone who knows me will know how long it takes to find a hat that fits my head! Also, Jemma already has blisters off her tevas sandals so will have to bandage her feet up tomorrow or walk around in walking boots.

Overall, we are both very happy with the start to our trip - after quite a stressful lead up to the trip, its nice to finally be out here, living the backpacker lifestyle! :)


I have added more photos of our trip so far here: (mum, click the orange/ blue bit below)


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