A Tale of Two Blondes: Rio de Janerio: The end of an epic journey!

Finally we had timed our arrival correctly, as we arrived in Rio in time for the weekend and were even treated to a spot of good weather! Wanting to see what all the fuss was about, we made our way up to Christ the Redeemer. We chose possibly the busiest day in history and it took us a solid three hours to make our way up. However, from the top we were spoilt with incredible views over the city and had our chance to pose in front of the massive statue.

Hey Christ

Alright Rio

As it was a Friday, it was time for the Lapa Street party. We had chosen our hostel wisely and were literally around the corner from the action. Everyone had told us how great it was but it exceeded all expectations with samba music booming, people dancing everywhere and caipirinhas for a bargain price. Bumping into some old travel friends, we all made our way to a club (free for ladies...WIN), where we boogied the night away.

Street samba

Caipirinhas of death

Irish buds

Bottoms up

The next day was pretty fine weather again, so we went to Ipanema beach, after stopping off at the famous Lapa steps and the Lapa Arches. It seemed that the whole of Rio had the same idea but we managed to find a slot on the beach. Imy got herself some pretty avid admirers in the form of eight little boys, who wouldn't leave us alone and kept talking to us in Portuguese.

Lapa arches

Lapa steps

Imy and her mates

Kat and her mates

Two Blondes

On Sunday we hit up the hippy market in Ipanema but it transpired that we couldn't afford a sausage so we went to the beach again. We were having a lovely time, minding our own business, when suddenly everyone went running out of the sea, grabbing their stuff and up to the road. Without a clue as to what was going on, we quickly followed suit and saw three boys sat down on steps, surrounded by police. It turns out that one of the boys had pulled a gun on one of the other boys and a chase through Rio had ensued. There were crowds of people swarming the scene and cameras everywhere. We hastily retreated back to the hostel.

On another aimless wander, we explored a bit of Centro and ended up in a very strange pyramid-shaped cathedral. It wasn't much to look at but had some cool stained-glass windows. We also had another night out at a samba bar, which was amazing. The live band kept trying to help us get the rhythm but we fear we were a wasted cause. It didn't stop us giving it a good bash though.

Church windows

Imy was bed-ridden for most of the day, leaving Kat to venture out in search of football tickets. After a bit of a kafuffle, she finally returned three hours later, with tickets in hand. It was a derby between Botafogo and Flamengo, so promised to be an eventful match. The atmosphere was brilliant but the match was a bit naff. It didn't dampen the supporters' spirit though, as they all jumped in time to the beat of the drums for a solid 90 minutes. The final score was 1-1. It's just a shame there wasn't more goals and less rolling around on the floor!