I'll try and keep this short and sweet as the free internet promised by our new hostel turns out to be free use of the reception computer and people keep coming in and asking me questions in Portuguese. (The free breakfast was beautiful but we almost didn't get it as we ordered in the wrong restaurant this morning - almost as stupid as showering with a torch!!) Tonight is our last night in Rio as we are departing for Isle Grande tomorrow (an Island south of Rio with 17 famous beaches and beach front huts for next to nothing.)

We went to a hippie fair on Sunday and once the shopping barrier was crossed it has been a bit hard to stop. Today I bought a brazilian bikini on the beach - it barely covers my bum so probably won't come out until after the Inca Trail!

Yesterday we bravely walked the four blocks to out new cheaper hostel (it's not as pretty as the last place and we seem to be the only females but it will do for two nights). We then went on a fascinatingly scary tour of the largest favela (literal translation = slum for black people) in Latin America. People had been on one in our last hostel and recommended it. Ours however was less professional. The car ran out of oil just as we were approaching the top and we had to walk the rest of the way. We also only had one tour guide, who works at the hostel but used to live in the favela and so stopped to talk to all his friends on the way (bizarrely he also claims he is a Brazilain soap star but I'm not falling for that line!) Anyway they drive you up through the favela to the poorest houses and then guide you down through the streets to get an idea of the way they live. It was smelly, dirty, cramped and amazing. They have all their own shanty shops and churches. They collect rain water and steal electricity (they rig it from the city and then locals only have to buy a wire and hook it to the post) so life is cheaper. They are completely unregulated by the Brazilian government who are to scared to enter and have their own gangster goverment instead. We met a 15 year old gangster (they actually introduced him as a gangster!) and he flashed us the gun under his shirt. I had to ask Alex if it was real it seemed so wrong on him. They can earn ten times the wages offered elsewhwere as a gangster and their main duty is to shoot imposters from other favela's. I had loads of questions of how this came to be and was told there are no answers or none that I would be happy with.

Anyway I've gone on for far too long again. We are having drinks with the Ascot twins again tonight as we have lost all our friends from the last hostel.

I'm still trying to sort out these pics....