Rio De Janerio (1 - 16th May) (26 May +) The most beautiful city in the world. Boasting beautiful landscapes, beaches, people and an enegergetic nightlife. We lived it up to the max, met loads of great people, Brazilian and Western and had crazy moments all over the place. So much has happened here its hard to recall it all, i think the photos speak a thousand words though! We have checked the sights, embraced the people, its nightlife and lived up the beaches. Drinks and food The favourite Brazilian drink 'Caipirinha' has been drunk in abundance. The drink is made from the local produced alcohol 'Cachaca' along with lime and a heap load of sugar. Tastes good and gets you crazy drunk. Açaí is another Brazelien drink that is beautiful and what the guys drank most days, its non alcohol made from the fruit of Açaí, Guaraná and banana, Guaraná itself is another popular drink, its fizzy and gives you a lot of energy. Its just as popular as Coke in this country. With regards to food Bobs (Brazielen McDonalds) was popular amongst the group along with Golden Cafés all you can eat pizza. At breakfast time we were always served with the same array of foods, watermelon, cheese and ham! Throughout the city there loads of food counters serving loads of pastry goods. The favourite being small pastry balls stuffed with chicken (frango). Mellow Yellow For the majority of our stay in Rio we have stayed at Mellow Yellow which has turned out to be our favourite hostel of our entire trip. The place itself is awesome, offering tv and chill out rooms, free pool and internet, sauna, bar. The best bit about it though were the staff and the fellow travellers we met. The staff made sure we enjoyed the city, giving us all the advice we need to check out the sights along with taking us for nights out. Nights out! So many, this city loves to party! and when there is so many beautiful people kicking around it is easy to see why. Eventful nights out all over the place, from wilding out at the famous Lapa street party to throwing ourselves around within the Brazilian slums at the Favela Funk party to simply chilling at clubs in Copacabana and Ipanema. Lapa kicks off every friday night when loads of locals pack the streets to party. There are clubs to go in and out of when u feel the need or you can simply stand in the streets, drinking Tequila or Caipirinha from stalls or from guys who walk around selling it from a tray. Favela funk is a massive club bang in the middle of the favelas where a scene from the movie 'city of god'was shot. As tourists we get to stand in the VIP area overlooking the main dancefloor. There were fireworks going off and dance-offs on stage. The sights Favela Trip The city has a great diversity in social class, the Favelas, which are slums sit within the city. From a distance you can see loads of shacks all crammed together within the hills. We took a trip to the worlds largets and most developed with over 127,000 inhabitants. Within this particular Favela although there are deprived people living there, some inhabitants are described as evangelists clad in suits as they have respected jobs within the city. We took a three hour tour with others from our hostel. To be begin with we had to hop onto moterbickes to get to the top of the Corcovado to see stunning views of the favela and the city. We were then escorted down small pathways leading through the heart of the favelas. The guide told us all about the strong influence drugs has on the slums and how armed drug runners ran things, they pointed out certain spots called firework stations that they use to set off fireworks when police are around looking for drug runners. We visited a local artist and a day care centre full of lively little kids. Santa Teresa An area of the city with a colonial architectural vibe. We went to visit for the day, pretty cool, we rode the famous Bonde (tram) which was an experience, we had to hang off the sides because it was full. Cristo Rendentor The world famous statue, at 38m high it sits on top of the Corcavado looming over the whole of the city. It is even visible at night. Awesome. Maracana football stadium The famous football stadium, with a capacity of 100,000, its built for atmosphere. The fans go wild, throughout the game they never sat still, singing and dancing from start to finish! waving shirts over their head, waving flags, it was crazy. We caught the Flumenense V Vasco De Gama with the game finishing 1-1. The teams werent a great standard, we were told there is a load of corruption in Brazilien football and often transfer funds from european teams is not re-invested into new players. Premiership teams would have played them off the park. The seemed to want to always walk it in the back of the net, there wasn't much crossing or long range passes. Beaches For the majority of our stay we chilled at Copacabana beach, with skyscrapers in the background and mountainous landscape either side its pretty for sure. The waves were massive and such good fun and there are loads of beautiful people working up and down the beach. Perfect. There are people walking around constantly trying to sell us drinks, wristbands or glasses. Which at times was a bit annoying but great when u did need a drink and didn't have to get up. Some days we would even use the work out area with all the speedo clad locals and at night i have been know to go for a run along the beach. With light up skyline to my left and crashing waves to my right it was inspiring! Me and Bill (an Auzzie dude) ran for about 3-4 nights before we give up due to nights out and lack of motivation. Apparently Copacabana had a mix social class strutting their stuff on the beach while Impanema beach was for the rich, not sure if that was true, but Impanema was pretty awesome too, we spent less time there as Copacanabana was closer but Posta 9 (Impanema) on the weekend was simply beautiful. All in all both beaches are special, loads of sexy ladies and and people playing volleyball, football and sunbathing. There was plenty of speedos strutting their stuff also. So many great memories from our time in RIO, cant possibly write about them all! Last night i went up the Sugar Loaf mountain that boasts the best views of Rio. It was a great way to reflect on what went down in over the last month, sitting back and looking over the city with Cristo in the distance and the city lights sparkling within the mountainous landscape . This week I'm leaving it all behind though, i head off to America while Brides will stay in Rio to watch the world cup satying in an apartment he is sharing with Jimmy and Trev, two guys we met at Mellow Yellow. The world cup is nearly upon us! The streets of Brazil are lined with flags, gearing up to party in the street. Its going to be crazy here.