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We finally made it to Brazil leaving the snow of England behind us for the hot humid 30 degree climate of Rio. It was an epic journey which saw us wait over 2 and a half hours to check in our bags even after checking in online. Getting more nervous as we stood in the never moving line as the time drew nearer to the scheduled departing time of our flight, which left us legging it to passport control only to find out our flight has been delayed, something they couldn´t tell us before security. Finally boarding 5 hrs late we thought our troubles were over until we landed in Rio at 3am to find that only one of our bags has made it to Rio with us. The reality dawned on us when they shouted in portuguese No more bags, which left us queuing for another hour to find out where Nic´s bag was, apparently it was last seen in Terminal 5. So we left for the hostel to be greeted at 4.30am by a non-english speaking security guard who had to find us a bed in the hostel somewhere. After treking up and down the 3 flights of stairs a few times we were both sent to the third bunk, three metres off the ground with nothing to stop us from falling if we accidently rolled over too far. After realising we weren´t going to get much sleep we decided to get up and spend the 35 quid that BA had given us to get Nic some clothes until we could get her bag back. Getting a bikini in Rio is quite difficult unless your into the thong look. As we trudged through the boutiques of Leblon we realised that we weren´t going to get much for our money, so we headed to the beach! After a frustrating call to BA and somehow managing to order some food by pointing at a menu, and using some sign language (we have to learn some portugese soon or we might starve) we finally headed to bed for some well needed rest.
After 10 hours sleep we didn´t feel so much like zombies and as BA had finally located Nic´s bag we decided to celebrate her birthday by going on a marathon bike ride along the whole of ipanema and copacabana beaches. We stopped on the way to admire the brazilian tans and take a few dips in the sea. After losing half our body water in sweat we thought we had better head back to rehydrate. We headed out to dinner were we ate in a cool little japanese restaurant just opposite the hostel. We ordered our food, still pointing at the menu and praying that we would get something edible, and luckily it turned out to be really nice, although steak in a japanese restaurant in brazil did feel a little odd. We enjoyed a couple of caipirinhas we headed to bed, praying that Nic´s bag would arrive in the night and at last it did, eventually some luck had come our way.
As we are now able to leave Rio we headed to the bus station to book our tickets to Brasilia. After managing to flag down the bus in the street, brazilians don´t seem to believe in bus stops, and having a few hiccups on the way, we made it to the bus station. After managing to master the portugese for ´do you speak english´we had the response no so we started our next trend of pointing to the phrase we want to say in our phrase book. Somehow that worked and we are booked on the bus tomorrow, however we aren´t quite sure why the more we look like a rabbit in headlights the more questions we get asked. Learning ´we dont understand´is next on the agenda. After getting the tickets we headed off to Centro, the hub of Rio and got started on some sight seeing, making use of the lonely planet´s walking tour. Once we had visited the most bizarre concrete cathedral with separate spire we headed to sugarloaf mountain to take in the views of the city. Although the very top was covered in clouds we got some good pictures a bit further down and watched the sun set over Rio.
Next stop Brasilia
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