Well hellloooo!! First blog entry from across the seas! I´ll start from the beginning...

Arrived in Rio after a mammoth plane journey at about 8am local time on the 2nd June. Managed to figure out how to get a taxi (they spoke English thank the lord) and all bundled our stuff into that. The taxi driver was quite a sweet man, trying to point out all the Rio sights. He didnt speak English but Rob managed to pick up a few words he was saying. The taxi driver locked all our doors and windows when we got in which was a bit strange until we realised why!! The part of Rio he drove us through was full of ´favelas´or shanty towns and there was people walking along the motorway trying to sell sweets, sugar - food basically! The favelas were unreal. Its so sad to see the conditions these people have to live in. There was police driving around with their guns out their cars and Cheryl saw some man shaving from some sort of sewage river! Thankfully, you´ll be happy to hear we are staying in Copacabana which is the ´rich´area of Brazil. I have never seen such a contrast between rich and poor before. The hostel we are staying in is ok, pretty basic but its got everything we need. Although the guy in our room snores like a beast waking us up early every morning! The first day we got here we went for a walk around to try and find the local supermarket and we also went to see Copacabana beach which was beautiful. Then we did the pub quiz at our hostel. Yesterday we spent the day at the beach, all photos are uploaded on our facebooks. It was so awesome! Its so wierd looking around to see Sugar Loaf Mountain and Christ the Redeemer looking down on Rio. We then went to an all you can eat BBQ (which was a big hit - with Rob especially!) then off to bed. Still trying to adjust to the time difference and get over our long travelling a couple of days ago but hopefully we should start not being so tired in the next few days. Will update again soon with more of what we´ve been up to. Miss you all loads, Lots of love Becci xxxxxxx