RIO BABY!!!!!!!!

Our last bus trip!!!

Thank GOD.

We left Paraty very early in the morning, and so arrived in Rio around 10.30am. So what better way to kick off our arrival than to get stuck straight in to a city tour?

We took in the beautiful tiled steps designed by a Chilean artist. His idea was to add tiles from all over the world to this paved stairway in the centre of town. When he amassed more tiles from different places, he replaced some of the old ones. Now, the stairway is an ever-changing piece of art, as when he receives a new tile (donated or encountered) he removes one and replaces it. It won´t be the same this time next year! (Sounds strange, but wait until you see the photos!)

We also went to the artists´quarter in Santa Teresa, and visited a modern cathedral, which looked more like a bunker, but had an interesting layout inside.

Naturally, we finished off by visiting Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf Mountain. We had some time to look around, but really it consisted of riding cable cars and taking in some stunning views of Rio.

Later on after dinner, we were wandering back to the hotel, looking to buy some bottles of water on the way. Seeing that the supermarket was closed, we opted to buy off of a street seller on the corner. Seeing that we were English (and Aussie! There was five of us) he invited us to sit with him and his friends as they played guitar, drunk beer and sang. He wanted us to sing English songs, so we obliged. My solo of 'wish you were here' accompanied by the guitar would have brought a tear to your eye.

Around 3.30am we figured we should probably head back for some sleep!