You're standing in an urban metropolis, look left, oh, it's a mountain. Look right, a lovely beach. Turn round it's a jungle! This Landscape is confusing...You must be in Rio De Janeiro.

So we arrived in Rio. Tired and dazed from our long flight via Portugal. We were greeted by the humidity and the heat as we left the airport. Being English, we quickly became red and sweaty. We then paid over the odds for a taxi (naturally) and proceeded to our Hostel that we booked well in advance before our trip. As our hostel was a 26 bed dorm, we decided we would book a private room in a more 'posher' place, so we could get some much needed sleep before the Carnivale festivities began. You can tell we are no longer 19! The problem was, our 26 bed hostel were expecting us to check in. We decided to drive to this hostel, tell them that we were staying with friends for three days, then we would check in after the three days ( still paying the full amount- of course!) Then get a taxi to Hostel Posh afterwards. I know this sounds like a ridiculous over elaborate plan to avoid the 26 bed dorm, but the thought of sharing a room at this point was more daunting than, well...anything. So we followed the plan and ended up in Hostel Posh with a glorious double bed and a private bathroom. This was much needed for us tired little beans. So the next three days followed the same pattern. Lazing around and sweating. We went for a walk around the neighbourhood and basked in the heat for a while, but other than that, we really didn't move much. Exciting stuff, I know. After the three days, we were rather excited to leave Hostel Posh as it was very anti social for a hostel. No body seemed to smile. It had a very drab atmosphere. Such a shame, as it was a lovely little place as well, very clean. It made me wonder, are the nicer hostels, generally the less social ones? I hoped not. I don't see why they should be mutually exclusive.

So we went to our new 26 bed hostel. The name of the Hostel was Piratas De Ipenema. Located next to the famous Ipenema beach, a beach which famously only beautiful people inhabited- daunting prospect for a young female. I could feel the insecurities rising as I am watching all beautiful chicas of Brazil flaunt next to my pale or I like to think 'English rose' skin. Anyways, I have digressed. I need to mention that shortly before arriving to Rio, Liam read reviews online regarding Piratas. He was not best pleased as they were terrible! One of the reviews, and perhaps my favourite, described the place as "a scene from Waterworld." As we entered, we were infact greeted with a scene from Waterworld. To say the place was disgusting is an understatement. It was a dive. There was water coming through the roof, mouldy walls and puddles everywhere. The stairs were tied together with string, the walls were covered in dirt, or other substances, who knows? I could feel myself slowly losing the will to live as we entered the room and were informed he had given our beds away, but we could just dive into the two spare beds across the room. I could feel the sense of dread rising in Liam as he knew he was going to have to deal with a classic Chloe tantrum. Naturally I didn't want to disappoint, so half an hour later I was shouting at Liam on Ipanema beach. Classy. After an hour or so I accepted defeat and sulked back to the Hostel. Liam decided he was going to the cinema to escape from my tantrum. I don't blame the poor lad. He's a trooper that one. So I went in and sat on the bed and wondered if this was a place worthy for prisoners? Maybe not! After a while I got chatting to some girls. A group of Irish/English/Scottish girls who, like me and Liam had just started their South American journey. They immediately put me at ease and we made a joke about the place and by the end were hysterically laughing at how bad it really was. I then got talking to three more lovely ladies who were coming to the end of their journey and they began filling me in with all the 'must sees' of South America. Liam then returned and after declaring it cost a 'f***ing fortune' to get to the cinema began quizzing the lovely ladies on South America. Liam loves nothing more than to ask questions. I stop listening after question 67.

The days that followed, the run up to Carnivale. We got to know the ladies more, Natalie, Charlotte and Sasha. The Irish ladies, Ellie and Jules, the mancurian Steph and Scottish Ilona, who doesn't like telling people her name. Well, I think it's a bloody lovely name. Poor Liam was massively out numbered by the overly feminine hostel and severely lacked some testosterone. I don't think he minded too much though. Anyways, we all wanted to do some sight seeing as fellow tourists do, and paid 60 Reis (about £20) each to do a 'city' day-trip. The trip started at the famous Christ the Redeemer statue. Wow...what can I say about that? It was amazing. Not only was the statue itself spectacular to look at, the view of the city surrounding it, was unbelievable. Mountains, jungles, beaches and not to mention the vast city. It was a beautiful sight. I think I like the statue because of how much of a powerful symbol it is in Rio. As Rio is a very religious city, I can only imagine how important the statue is to the people that live there. I also like the fact it looks over the entire city. Makes it all the more breathtaking. I am not a particularly religious person myself, but I can appreciate how much this statue means to the people of Rio. I'm thrilled I had a chance to see it. We then went to see a Cathedral, which looked more like a power plant. Hmmm. Bit of an anti climax after Christ the Redeemer I must say. Finally we went to the famous Lapa Steps. What an amazing surprise! The steps were beautiful. Very Mediterranean, bursting with colour! I challenge anyone to walk past these stairs getting on with their business, and not stop to admire them. A little fact, I found out that the music video 'Beautiful' by Snoop Dogg and Pharrell Williams, was filmed on Lapa stairs. Well I don't blame them. If they asked my opinion- which they should. I would say good choice. So we walked to the top of the stairs, took the obligatory 245 photos and sat on the stairs (of course) and chatted. I think the Lapa steps were my favourite part of the day. Both Liam and I loved the stairs and said how it gives the street bags of character, which is something that Rio certainly does not lack. As I am writing this, I can feel myself swooning over Rio.

We ended the day by a few us climbing up part of Sugar Loaf mountain for a picnic. The climb really took it out of me. I remember thinking "How on earth am I going to manage a Machu Picchu trek? I will need an inhaler!" As if my inhaler is going to magically make me fit enough for a trek! Well once I could finally catch my breath I could take in the view. The view was incredible. Me Liam, Rochelle, Natalie and Sasha had our little ham sandwiches and finished our picnic with a view before returning to the dreaded hostel.

The Carnivale

So I go onto main reason why we were here. Carnivale! Why else would we be putting up with the bed bugs chomping away at us. Waking up each morning to look down and see more and more people sleeping on the hostel floor. The room was getting more cramped. Who knew you could fit so many people in an already 25 bed dorm room. I remember waking up one morning to the sight of a rather large man scratching his balls. Lovely. I do feel that I should say, that I actually grew to love the hostel. We met some great people and constantly laughed at the living conditions we were faced with. It is place that I will always remember. Thats enough sentiment for now. Anyways, the first day of Carnivale had arrived and everyone was excited. Ellie kindly painted all of the girl's faces. Various glittery swirls and flowers were a must have for Carnivale attire. The group of us, including newcomers Jayne and Liam all started off at a lovely little per kilo restaurant for some food. The meat was sublime. Brazilians love their meat! We then headed to the first bloco of the Carnivale. What was interesting about this bloco was that it was held outside of a convent, or the parade started outside of the convent. Because of this many people were wearing nun headdresses, including men. It was an interesting sight. The bloco was incredible. There must of been thousands gathered, everyone was dancing to the samba music, drinking and generally enjoying themselves. The sun was blazing down and as our group was walking through the parade (along with thousands of others) everyone started shouting "AGUA AGUA AGUA!" I looked up and some people in the house next to the parade pulled a giant hose out the window and started spraying the crowd. Me, Charlotte and Liam got soaked. Out fancy makeup started running down our faces. We looked a sight! At the time, I remember being thrilled that I had been soaked, as walking through a crowd of at least a 1000 in the Brazilian heat was starting to take its toll. Having a red face did not complement the pretty pink flower face paint. So me and Liam had a few beers an tried a hand at samba dancing. We looked more like large sticks wobbling. Us British lot certainly do lack rhythm. We then headed back after a few hours in preparation for the evening's festivities. The night followed, we all decided we would have a picnic on Ipenema beach and have a few beers. The beach was packed. It really was littered with people who clearly had the same idea as us. So we sat, drank beers, played drinking games, (I was absolutely rubbish, whilst Liam was annoyingly good) and chatted. Also, we spent the majority of the night fending off persistent Brazilian men who are somewhat pushy when it comes to trying to lure the females. They clearly did not notice the lone male present within our group when they would come over and go "heeeey ladies! Where you from?" Poor Liam. We then decided to call it a night, we had to be up to for 7AM bloco the next day.

6AM quickly came and up we were for bloco number two. This bloco was apparently the biggest bloco off them all. It did not disappoint. I later found out that there was 2 million people at this bloco parade. Quite amazing when you think about it. I was sporting my new pink wig in honour of the festivities! We had a little dance and pretended to sing along to the Brazilian songs. It was quite touching to see all the Brazilians sing along to all the songs, they knew all the words! I struggle to remember the name of our national anthem! Liam dressed up in his pink cowboy hat, Hawaiian grass skirt, and purple sparkly tie. He looked a treat! He also attracted a lot of attention. Some wanted, some not. Particularly when he was almost raped by some over eager Brazilian folk! I preferred the first bloco to the second. I think the second seemed more lively. It seemed more passionate. Maybe because it was smaller? Not sure. I know a few others agreed with me. After a couple of hours, we left the bloco and headed back in preparation for the Brazilian football match we were attending later that afternoon. The match came and we all were curious to see how Brazilian football differed to European. I say we, I mean Liam. The match was erm... Interesting. The Brazilians seemed to just fall over each other. It was very scrappy. Liam said they weren't anywhere near the high standard of english football. Of course he would say that. Anyways, by the end we all got into the spirit of it. I was cheering for Vasco, I think? It was fun. The teams drew 1-1. I'm pleased I went. Despite the fact we got over charged, Massively. We paid 60 Reis, (£20) per ticket including transportation. When we were given our ticket it said 6 Reis on the ticket, so about £2. Meant we paid 18 each to get to the stadium and back. It was about a 40 min drive each way, but still? In all, I would say don't do the trip! It's probably not worth it. Never-mind, we did have fun. So after our football day, we headed back. Liam and I went out for a nice meal, which included lots of meat. Shocking! We then had a few drinks. Nice chilled night in preparation for the Sambadrome the next day.

The Sambadrome!

Well the main event had finally arrived. We were all dressed up and ready to head to the Sambadrome! I decided to hang my pink wig up for the night and go with my normal hair. The prospect of dealing with Brazilian heat, along with thousands upon thousands of people cramped in an arena was too daunting for a wig covered head to deal with. We filled our empty water bottles with vodka and redbull and various other mixers to sneak into the arena- classy, I know! We were then told by the hostel owner that we would have them taken off us. Plan B was to drink them before we got there. Not much of a hard task, considering me and Liam are from Newcastle. Once we arrived at the Sambadrome we were all a little bit tipsy. After taking 567 photos, of various different 'I'm at Canivale' poses, we headed to our seats. Bloody hell, it was busy! Liam lost his tempter twice with two rude Brazilian men and we continued to push our way through the overcrowded, sweaty stands. Once we were placed in the stands without fear of death, we were able to actually start enjoying the show. Wow... It was incredible! I've never seen anything like it. The costumes were unbelievable, the dances, the lights, the music. All of it was amazing. I remember one of the floats had a massive swimming pool, and one of the dancers was doing flips into the air and diving into this pool, whilst the float was doing a lap of the arena. It really was how you would expect Carnivale to be. Feathers, glittery outfits and glamour. I have been to festivals and what not in the past, but I genuinely don't think I have ever seen anything as incredible as the Sambadrome. We danced the night away and after successfully managing to sneak our 'water' bottles in, continued to get drunk. What a night! Me and Liam returned around six AM, climbed the gate into the Hostel and slept for a few hours. We woke up, groggy mixed with hangover/sleepiness, and caught a bus to our next stop. Foz De Iguacu to see the famous Iguacu falls. I was sad to leave Rio. Never mind ey. I'm sure the rest of South America will distract me from my Rio loss.

Bye Bye Rio, you have been amazing!