After almost 2 weeks in Rio, the time had come. No more patient waiting, hopeful glances at the sky, praying for the clouds to blow over. I was going to see Christ the Redeemer.

Every day I've been leaping out of bed, looking outside and hoping that today would be the day that we could get a clear view of the world's largest art-deco statue depicting Christ with his arms outstretched. I'd had enough - it was sunny, there were small fluffy clouds, I was sure that today would be the day I got my photo taken with Christ. The man himself had other ideas. As the bus climbed high up the hillsides of Rio, the clouds and mist descended. Stopping at the helipad for some photos, there was a worrying amount of white in the background of my pictures... and by the time I reached the summit, all I could see of Christ were his toes!

A patient crowd had gathered at the base of the statue, sat on the ground peering up, fingers crossed. Every time the cloud blew over, cheers and claps filled the air! I managed to get a few snaps, but sadly no good pic of me with my arms outstretched, with Christ above me. You'll just have to use your imaginations... and I'll have to learn how to use photoshop.

Yesterday evening was a much more successul mission though - the finalists of last weekend's contest at the Sambadromo were doing a sort of victory parade (i.e. a re-run) - it was carnival part 2! The very best of all the samba schools showed off their talents (in more ways than one) - most tourists go to the big event so this tends to be mostly locals, and what a party it turned out to be! I managed to get a ticket outside for the bargain price of about £7, nestled into my seat amongst the cariocas, and watched some of the most incredible performances shimmy and samba their way along the runway. I got to practice my Samba too - I want to be a carnival queen! I wasn't that close, so the photos are a bit blurred but you get the idea - I'll try to annotate them so they make more sense.

After hours of (attempted) Samba, Lynne and I made our way back to the hostel (via a favela, interesting) - and made new friends on the metro: carnival performers! Raphael was staying in the Copacabana Palace, lives in London but comes from Rio, and was dressed in spangly orange and pink. Naturally we got on like a house on fire... and he gave me his hat! It's amazing - huge, heavy, very sparkly and so so silly. Then, our next friend helped me become a Transformer! One of the floats from my favourite Samba school, Tijuca, was made up of Transformers - men who had costumes on which folded down to become shiny red cars. Yes, I had to do it - trying on a Transformers costume was one of the best moments of my whole time in Rio! I love Rio...

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