Rio was the final stop on what has been an amazing trip.
The flight there from Lima involved a minor detour to Santiago in Chile where we first started our trip and a quick stopover in Sao Paulo - three countries in one day!
Based on many recommendations we stayed in Ipanema which is definitely one of the nicest places one could ever want to go, and very wealthy compared to most of the other places we had visited in South America.
The plan was not to do much sightseeing and just get some time relaxing on the beach before we returned the reality of work (or more accurately job hunting).
We spent the first few days lying on the beach at Ipanema where we were treated to a display of every possible body shape in speedos and thongs or bikinis that looked like they had been shrunk in a drier! We saw several rich men accompanied by silicon ladies also - after all this is where all the posers in Rio hang out...
For those that have never been there the beach is covered in men selling food and drinks and stalls where you can hire chairs so it certainly is easy to stay all day eating, drinking, sightseeing and occasionally swimming to cool down...
The locals have some strange habits, including sitting as close to the water as possible facing back to the city (because the sun comes from that way), Men standing at the waters edge just staring out to sea (often moving their arms to prevent tan lines...), playing football and just generally acting like posers! Needless to say we were never pushed for entertainment.
While we were there we managed to head out to a nightclub in Lapa, although to be honest it was the wrong night of the week so ended up being a disappointment.
Next up we made a bit of a mistake in that I (Dave) was particularly keen to move to Copacabana to check out the famous beach and vibe so we changed hostels. Sadly, given it is just around the corner from Ipanema we would have been better to just walk here during the day as the hostel in Ipanema was the best we had been to in all of the trip (for those interested - The Mango Tree www.mangotreehostel.com) and the restaurants nearby were amazing.
Regardless we managed a couple of afternoons at the beach there and joined a day trip that took us to Pedra Bonita, Christ the Redeemer, Santa Teresa and Lapa. Unfortunately the day was a bit hazy so the views were not perfect but still extremely spectacular. Christ the Redeemer was truly spectacular, although we were disappointed to learn parts of it had been made in Italy.
Final stop was the secret Lapa steps where Snoop Dogg shot his famous video for Beautiful which has been created by a Chilean artist by the name of Selaron - undoubtedly of the most unique places you could visit and a very unique man. The mosaic stairwell that he started in 1990 is funded by selling paintings of pregnant women. Unbelievably the stairwell continues to change and includes tiles representing countries from all over the world - if you send him one he will even add it to the wall, take a picture and send it back to you!!!
So that's Rio really, hopefully somewhere we can return to in the near future!
Sadly that's it from South America - although I can report that we are in London and are progressing with the job hunt and managing to catch up with a few friends as well.
We will be keeping the blog going as we travel around Europe, so keep checking back every now and again and keep in contact via email. We appreciate all the the great comments people have made on the blog and thanks for taking the time to read and look at our pictures.
Take Care,
David & Kim
