So this has been a long time coming…..

With a small interruption to service of approximately 3 years, here is the final episode of the World Cup 2014 in Brazil Blog, apologies if you have been waiting....

We stayed in Manuas for a couple more days after the epic Amazon boat trip, relaxing and preparing for our journey back to our real lives in New Zealand. Being not inclined to return too quickly and wanting to extend our time away to the max, we had planned to fly most of the way back home, but shoot off and spend 10 days in the beautiful tropical paradise that is Rarotonga, in the Cook Islands. This would be our chance to completely de-stress and de-pressurise from the fast pace of Brazil & the World Cup, and be an easy re-entry to the Southern Hemisphere.

The time came to say goodbye to Yates and wish him all the best on his journey back to the USA. His friendship means the world to me, but I always feel that exposing him to me for 6 weeks of beer fuelled world cup mania, is about as much as anyone should have to put up with. This comes from knowing that I can be a bit of a dick on occasions, and I really appreciate that Yates goes to great lengths to overlook it when it occurs, and there is no one I would rather go to a world cup with, so a big CHEERS to Yates…!!

Fiona & I embarked on what would turn out to be a 46 hour journey from the steamy jungles of Brazil, via Sao Paulo, Santiago and Auckland, only to arrive in an unexpected blustery and cold tropical Rarotonga….! When the sun is shining, Rarotonga is the best place in the world… full stop. When it is overcast and drizzly, not so much…. Anyway, we had 12 days to relax into, with nothing on the agenda but to overcome our jet lag and the inevitable colds that we had acquired thanks to international airline travel.

Eventually the sun came out and cheered us up, and we spent a few days on the beach, messing around in the sea, and eating out and about around the island. We had a few day trips into town, ate fish & chips at the harbour, found a brewery tour, and even had time for a romantic meal at the Tamarind House, but as with most things in life, everything has to come to an end. We may have boarded our plane with heavy hearts, but they were only heavy due to all the great memories we had stuffed into them over the past 72 days.

So up next, World Cup 2018 in Russia….. Only 1382 to go…!!

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Manaus: Part Two – “Up the Amazon Without a Paddle........”

Even though we had requested our second Amazon day tour to take place on Thursday, we were only confirmed late on Wednesday night when we had a message on reception to be ready for a pick-up at 8:30am the following morning. As it turned out, Christina and her boss Pedro, who leads the boat trip, had very graciously shifted a few other bookings around to make room in their schedule to run a Thursday trip, knowing that could not make any other date. How many other tour companies would have done this for us, I’m not so sure, but we were very grateful that they did.

Thursday morning was clear and bright as we waited in the hotel reception and it wasn’t long before Christine arrived and introduced us to Pedro, and before we knew it we were in the car heading across town. We had another chap on our tour called Robert who was also staying at the same hotel as we were, so including the guides there was 6 of us. We arrived a boat yard up river from Manaus city centre in a more industrial part of town, where they stored boat on an elaborate racking system. 4 levels tall and we waited until Pedro’s speedboat was un-racked and put in the river. After a short safety discussion and the putting on of life vests, we were off down the Rio Negro, under the impressive bridge and heading towards where the city centre meets the Grand River.

Our tour started with a bit of history of Manaus and the Amazon River, and pointing out the historic buildings, including the opera house we had visited the other day. We pulled up close to the Municipal Market and viewed the flood level markings for the river, which showed that the river was currently in flood and at its 3^rd highest level of all time, the highest level being about a foot higher that the current level, having been as recent at 2012. We were seeing the river at near its peak for the season, and we would see many waterlogged places as we progressed through our tour during the day. It wasn’t long before we were hooning down the Rio Negro at a fair pace for about half an hour, bouncing off of the waves, before we reach the next point of interest. The Amazon River formally starts just downstream from Manaus, where the dark cold waters of the Rio Negro meet the warmer muddy flowing waters of the Rio Solimoes. This spot is called the “Meeting of the Waters” and is impressive as the two bodies of water do not mix immediately due to

the different temperature and density of each river, forming a distinct line in the water between the muddy and clear waters, which flow merrily alongside each other for 12km before they mix together. Pedro brought the boat to a halt at the confluence and Yates & Christine jumped into the river for a swim, while Fiona & I stayed in the boat to take some photos. It was here at the great meeting place of the rivers and the beginning on the Amazon River where I donated my sunglasses to the river Gods. I had hooked them on to the front of my life vest and forgotten about them when I lent down to touch the water, only to see them drop into the water and slip beneath the surface before I could grab them. They now lie at the bottom of the Amazon in 50 metres of water, a fitting resting place I feel....

Next we went to a floating fish farm a few kilometres upstream in a small inlet to see meet of the rivers watery inhabitants. The farm consisted of a number of number of fish pens and buildings mounted on enormous logs which allowed them to float freely on the river, coping with the river regardless of it being in flood or not. Looking in the first pen we could see maybe 100 large fish, maybe a foot in length, swimming just below the surface. When Pedro started throwing in some food for them it was a veritable ‘feeding frenzy’, with the fish causing the water to boil as they seethed and writhed to snatch a tasty morsel. At the next pen we were given a very rudimentary fishing pole with a 4 foot length of thick string, to which was attached a large chunk of fish meat. The idea was to lower the bait in to the pen to tempt the fish inside to take a bite, and it wasn't long before a handful of very large fish were all making frenzied lunges for the dangling bait. These things were monsters, at least 5 foot long and as thick as a man’s thigh, and when they caught hold of the bait, it was all I could do to hold on to the rod in my hands. Blimey...! I'm even gladder I hadn't jumped in to the river for a swim

earlier with these things around.... Soon we were back under way along the fringes of the river with Christine & Pedro pointing out all sorts of wildlife and fauna of the area. With the river being so much in flood, there was very little land available for many of the local animals, who had retreated back into the forest or taken up residence high in the trees to wait it out. Even the giant water lilies struggled to keep above the surface with the additional volume of water, but we did manage to find some in a quiet clearing in the trees.  We stopped for lunch on a floating restaurant moored up to some trees a bit further down the river, which was literally miles from anywhere, but we had a fine buffet style lunch and could even by some beers. Yates availed himself of the native craft shop and brought possibly the moist menacing and evil looking knife I have ever seen, 8 inches long and complete with a Piranha jaw.

After lunch we travelled further up the river to the home of a local indian family that live on another of those floating shed arrangements, moored close to an inlet, that keep some indigenous animals as pets, including a couple of Sloths, a Boa Constrictor and a Cayman, a type of crocodile.  For ethical reasons Fiona & I were not keen to hold the animals, but Yates was game and the Sloths took a natural shine to him, clinging on to him like he was a tree. From there we went another cuple of km’s upstream where we turned off the main river to go deeper into the flooded forest, following a path which during the dry season is a hiking trail but was now covered in 9m of water, causing us to be literally in the tree canopy. It was an awesome experience to glide serenely through the trees, listening to the cries of the birds and looking out for spiders on the tree trunks. You could almost imagine yourself to be in a 1940’s Tarzan movie, except for the burble of the speedboat engine.

We then took a long and speedy ride up river, passing Manaus in the far distance on the other bank, and slipped under the southern end of the Rio Negro Bridge, travelling at speed for the best part of an hour. Again we moved away from the main body of the river through an inlet and a couple of other tributaries, before arriving at the site of the famous pink Amazon Dolphins, or Boto. Here we unloaded on to a platform where we could see the local ranger feeding the dolphins with fish, and Fiona & Yates changed into their swimwear to join him in the water, while I stayed up top with the camera. It was not long before the strange looking long-nosed pink dolphins were swimming around the group in the water waiting for some food from the ranger. Much fun was had by the swimmers as the dolphins swam up against and between them, much to Fiona’s alarm on occasion, as they jockeyed for position to get a free fishy morsel. They would occasionally make a lunge for a piece of fish and come right out of the water, exposing their unique pinkish-grey skin and show their bodies and fins that have been adapted for living in the river. It was a unique experience to be able to swim and be up close with these rare fresh water cousins of the dolphins we see in the ocean, something that could not be done anywhere else in the world. The rangers have a strict quota of fish that they are allowed to give the dolphins and once that ran out, the animals were less interested in swimming with humans.

The final stop off of the day was at a tribal village of some Amazonian Indians that had moved downstream from close to the Bolivian boarder to be able to make use of Manaus’s healthcare and education facilities and for their young. They had been given a piece of land on the riverbank upstream from Manaus where they built their communal village and supplemented their income with doing short ceremonial dancing and selling crafts to the tourists. This might sound a bit contrived and just for show, but believe you me, these guys were living their real Amazonian existence and carrying on with their normal everyday lives of hunting and gathering, just doing it a thousand km’s further downstream from their native homelands. We were invited into their main communal hut where they performed short snippets from their traditional dance ceremonies of ‘Welcome’, which according to Christine would normal last for a week..! As is normal at these sorts of things, we all ended up being invited to dance with the tribe, and Fiona, Yates & I merrily joined in. Overall I thought it was a very interesting chance to meet a real Indian tribe and even just for a few

minutes, gain an understanding of what it must be like to live like them.  Yates added to his ever growing collection of native crafts by buying a blow-pipe and darts and a couple of native necklaces, and I reckon that the US customs don’t know what they have to look forward too. When it was time to leave, it felt sad to be leaving these people that had so little but seemed to be full of life and vitality. As the sun started to set over the Amazon, we sped back towards Manaus at top speed, swerving in an out of mangroves and tributaries it what seemed more like a scene from a James Bond Movie than a day out on the Amazon. Just as we arrived back at the boat yard where we had started the days journey some 10 hours previously, the sun was setting directly over the river in a ball of wild red fire. What a fitting end to an absolutely fantastic day.

We had been very lucky to have Pedro and Christina of Amazon Eco Adventures rearrange their schedule to fit us in to their one day tour Amazon River tour. Not only are they excellent hosts and very knowledgeable guides, but they live and breathe the sort of philosophy that you would expect from a tour operator dedicated to the protection and promotion of ecologically sustainable tourism. Everything about the day, from the hotel pick-up to the evening drop-off was professional, and more importantly, fun and informative. Using a comfortable & modern speedboat means that you can fit in a lot in a 10 hour day, and we experienced several different sights and encounters during our day, all of which took us out of normal everyday existence and put us fully into the world of the Amazon and its people. For me the Dolphin swimming was the most amazing of all the things we did on the day, and I didn't even get in the water. I know it seems unlikely, but if you find yourself in Manaus with some time on your hands, and want to get a flavour of what it feels like to be living in or around the great Amazon river, I could recommend this tour highly enough. These guys truly put the "Amazing" in the Amazon..............

After being dropped at our hotel, and freshening up a little, we were too tired

to go to far and ended up in a Pizza joint in the next-door mall, where I ate far too much Pizza than was good for me. After that, I was only good for one thing and that was bed. The next day was our last full day in Manaus as we would be flying out in the early morning to start the long trip back home. We spent it mainly just relaxing by the pool, packing up our bags for one last time, and tooling round the shopping centre doing a little shopping before we left.  Later that evening we went out for a last meal in Brazil, and more importantly, a last Caiprahinia, before we left this beautiful, varied and spectacular country. I think each of us in our own way, had fallen in love with Brazil and would happily say that it had surprised and impressed us, so much so that coming back would not be out of the question. From the very start of the planning for this trip, nearly every piece of advice I read and researched had warned me against the dangers of street crime and poverty in Brazil, and in some small way that tainted how I imagined and planned the trip. We were now sitting in a small restaurant in a city in the Amazon, having travelled the length and breadth of this vast land, partied in bars from Sao Paulo to Fortaleza, been carried along in crowds as part of the world greatest football competition, met some fantastic people along the way, all without even one second of worry or concern over our safety or feeling in any danger whatsoever. Those that continue to propagate fear and worry to those travelling to and around Brazil are doing that country a massive disservice.

This is where we would part company with Yates as we need to take an earlier flight back to Sao Paulo to make our connecting flight to Chile, and he made his way back to the USA. This marks the end of the 6^th World Cup Tournament that we have attended together, and there was much talk of Russia and beyond in those last few days, and I am looking forward to our next adventure. Yates and I are no longer the young men we were when we started this epic tradition with almost 25 years having past since we met, and yet even though our lives take different paths and we have different values, dreams and ambitions, we still share a passion for experiencing the World Cup together. We spend six weeks in each other’s company every four years and going to the games and having a drink or two is still as much fun as it has ever been and I already can’t wait for the next time we catch up.... Thanks Yates.... It would not be the same with you....!

Manaus: Part One - "Welcome to the Jungle..........."

I am of the belief that travelling to Brazil and not going to see the Amazon, both the river and the forest, would be a crime, so I made sure to tack on an extra few days to fly to Manaus, the capital of the Amazonus region. We had an early start from Rio de Janeiro and a 4 hour flight to reach hot & humid Manaus, and we were standing in the lobby of our hotel before 11am, which was too early as our rooms would not be ready until 2pm. As it turned out, the rooms were ready early but we killed some time eating breakfast and hanging out at the pool. We had decided that the rest of the day would be turned over to rest and relaxation, to make up in some small way for the unreasonably early departure from Rio. As it was, Fiona and I laid around for a while before taking a walk to the nearby shopping centre to confirm what we had already thought, which was shopping centres are so generic these days, we could have been anywhere in the world...!! Don’t get me wrong, I was glad to have a bright, modern and generic ‘mall’ right on our doorstep, especially as it was air conditioned to about the same temperature as a fridge, and we even  spotted some sit-down restaurants off the food court that we used for a spot of dinner later in the day.

Our plan for our time in Manaus was to book up some tours, either a couple of single day tours or a multi-day jungle adventure tour, and I had done some serious research and found a couple of highly regarded tour operators, so next morning we went into town to check them out. We got a taxi to the famous Amazonian Theatre, a full sized Opera House built in 1896 by the rubber barons of the day, as part of their ambition to build a ‘Paris-in-the-Jungle’. The building is a very imposing one and must have been quite a sight back then when it was surrounded by jungle, but with the encroachment of modernity, it now sits in the middle of a bustling city of 2 million people. We sat in the cafe and had a little breakfast before going of a guided tour of this majestic old building, which is still used regularly, with its own film and theatre festival and a full opera season. It was as impressive from the inside as it was from the outside, and it was unfortunate that there was nothing scheduled to be performed there during the 5 days we had in Manaus, as it would have been great to attend something. I came away wondering how much it must have cost to cart all the Italian Marble, Venetian glass and gold plating, 1500kms up the Amazon river to build such an edifice, there must have been some serious money in rubber towards the end of the 19^th century.

The tour operators I wanted to check out were just down the road from the theatre, so we trooped down there in the 30 degree heat, to see what they could offer us, luckily they had air conditioning....! We chatted with a very nice guy about a handful of options, and instead of us making a decision there and then, we decided to go and have lunch to talk over the various possibilities. We found an awesome restaurant with seats outside, with a commanding view of the Amazonia Theatre, where I enjoyed a very delicious local ‘Tambqui’ fish dish, which as usual was probably big enough for all 3 of us. By the time we finished lunch and had made our minds up on what tours we wanted to do, it was really hot, and I mean hot, and we made our way back to the tour operator via any shop with air conditioning we could find. We had decided to do 2 single day tours, the first one the following day, Tuesday, was a jungle trek into the forest about

120kms north of Manaus to see some caves and waterfalls. The second tour we wanted was a full day on the Amazon River which included a whole variety of different experiences, which we wanted to do on the Thursday but we would have to wait to see if there was availability. This would give us a day off in between to chill out and lounge by the pool, and another relaxation day on Friday, before we left very early on Saturday morning to start the trip home. We went back to the hotel and met up on the roof just before sunset for our new tradition of watching the sun go down with a few bears in our hands. An Amazonian sunset did not disappoint.

Next morning we were up bright and early for our pick up at the hotel and our day of jungle hiking. We met Christine, the girl we had booked the tours with, who was leading the tour and proceed to head out to pick up another group, a very nice family from Sao Paulo. The 120km drive was quite long, and I was looking forward to stretching my legs when we got out of the bus, linked up with our local barefooted guide, Clemenza, and made ready to enter the forest in my hiking boots and long-sleeve t-shirt. We went through the usual instructions about the dangers of the forest, about brushing up against things, about biting insects and slippery paths, and made our way out of the direct sunlight into the seemingly cool shade of the forest. I soon realised that while it was significantly cooler under the

shade of the canopy, it was also a darn sight more humid in there to, and everything was dripping with water. We travelled in for about 20 minutes with the guides pointing out interesting flora and fauna before we came to the top of a slope, and were told to tread very carefully as it was very slippery. Within about 2 minutes of starting down the slope, I became the first casualty of the day as my boot slipped on some muddy leaves, and I fell and landed on a tree root using my arse as cushion.... Ouch..! I was not too worried about the fall, I was more worried about the legions of biting ants that were all over the place. Christina had taken great delight in telling us about an ant variety whose name translated into the ’24-hour ant’, because the bite was extremely painful and lasted for 24 hours. I sure as heck did not wasn’t a stream of them walking up the leg of my shorts on their way to my crutch as I sat on the path, so I was up and scrabbling down the slippery path before you could say ‘ants-in-your-pants’.  

We eventually arrived at a shallow river that ran at the bottom of the slope, which came out of an impressive cave in the side of a 50 foot escarpment. We soon had our shoes and socks off and we were wading into the cave that had been sculpted out of the sandstone over many thousands of years, on the slightly prickly gravel of the river bed. As we moved into the cave and light faded, Clemenza put on her touch and we progressed even further into the cave system, stopping only to point out the bat colonies that made the cave roof their home. Once we were deep enough inside the torch was turned off and it was of course absolutely pitch black, it was only then could you occasionally feel the bats flying around our heads, creepy..... We retraced our tracks back to the cave entrance and then proceeded to continue to wade along the river under the cliff face, over boulders and between trees, until we came to a spot where a waterfall pouring off the top of the cliff into a

series of small pools had created a natural amphitheatre. Spectacular....  At this point I pretty much soaked to the skin from sweat and the waterfall and was feeling pretty tired, so I was glad that we stayed at this spot for a while to enjoy the cool water and paddle about the pools. I should have realised then that in order to get back to the starting point of the hike would involve a long slow climb, but for some reason I just imagined we would climb up from the river and be back at the bus. Boy was I wrong.... It was a long slow slog uphill in blistering humidity, so much so I started sweating in places that I didn’t know I had places...!! I decided that if barefoot was good enough for the guide then it was good enough for me, and I proceeded up the track like ‘George-of-the-Jungle’. Look at me I thought, a scruffy headed boy from a

council estate in Kent, walking barefoot in the Amazon jungle, who would have guessed...? This did not last long as I soon discovered the joy of the biting ants, fortunately not the ’24-hour variety’, but painful none the less, and I soon stopped to put my boots on again. We walked for what seemed like hours, (probably not more than one), and I imagined that at the top of each rise the forest would open up and I would see the bus, but the forest seemed to go on forever. Eventually we did resurface on the road and I was glad to finally see the bus and it’s welcoming air conditioning, as I was very overheated and completely knackered. Funnily enough, neither Fiona nor Yates seemed as tired as I was, but this was all soon forgotten as we headed off for a late lunch and a fist full of beers.

The remainder of the afternoon was taken up visiting another much more ferocious set of waterfalls that must have tumbled about 100 feet down a series of ledges and troughs, before turning into a deep river in which people could swim if they were so inclined. I was far too tired to do any swimming but both Fiona & Yates took the opportunity to splash about in the cool and fast moving water, whilst I watched from the sensible comfort of a plastic garden chair.  It was about 5pm when we hit the road to get back to Manaus and I think everyone was satisfyingly fatigued with the days activities, which had been a lot of fun, if maybe a bit tiring for this old man.  We were back at the hotel around 7pm where we freshened up before planning to head out for some food. It was only then, when I came out of the shower, that Fiona spotted the enormous great bruise on my arse from my fall on the slippery path earlier in the day, I had not even felt it, which was quite amazing considering both the colour and size...! At this point my body waved a white flag and I surrendered to the comfort of room service and a warm bed to nurse my injuries and get some well earned rest.

Wednesday 23^rd July was scheduled to be a rest day for us all, but it was also Fiona’s Birthday, and therefore we had a birthday breakfast in the hotel before doing a little wandering and shopping in the local area. Yates had very kindly brought a small cake and some candles, and between us we lured Fiona on to the roof on the pretence of watching the sunset, and surprised her with a rousing chorus of ‘Happy Birthday’, cake and beer. What else could a girl want...? We also then proceeded to go out for a slap up meal at a fancy

fish restaurant nearby, where we enjoyed cocktails, some fine food, a bottle of Argentinian Chardonnay, and rounded off nicely with some port and more cake back in the hotel.  Happy Birthday darling...............

In part 2, our day trip up the River Amazon .....

Some more photo's from Rio..... Bumper edition

Here are some additional photo's of us from Rio de Janerio..... Enjoy...!

Goodbye Salvador, Hello Rio de Janeiro

We chilled out for a couple of days before we left Salvador, generally lying around the apartment and nipping out for a bite to eat. On our last night in town we were invited out by our friend ’Pedro’, who took us to a local club to watch a sort of Salvador ‘super-group’, made up of musicians and singers from a number of other groups from the area. I still don’t remember their name, but it was their opportunity to get together and play some songs that they enjoyed outside their normal genre, and they were really good, tight & talented. It was one of those nights that only the locals knew about and I swear that every person in the place sang along to every song, and even though we didn’t know the words to most of the songs, we still had a blast. The band played half their set and then invited a few other musicians up on stage to join in, and proceeded to belt another few well-known Brazilian songs and crowd favourites. When the original band kicked off the second half of the set, they dedicated a song to us and thanked us for coming to Brazil, which was pretty cool. At the end of the night we were invited in to the VIP area and introduced to the band members and had a good chat with one of the singers that had spent some time in the USA. It was a very memorable night out and we were very grateful to Pedro for inviting us.

The downside of our night out was that we didn’t get to bed until after 3am, and we had to be up and out of the apartment at 10am for out flight to Rio de Janeiro, but we managed it somehow. We had a bleary eyed but uneventful flight, followed by a straightforward taxi trip to our hotel in Arpoador, neatly positioned between Ipanema & Copacabana beaches. We took some time for a short afternoon nap and agreed to meet at the rooftop swimming pool at around 5pm to watch the sun go down over the impressive Rio skyline. The colour of the sky as it set over Ipanema’s mountain backdrop was stunning and it was hard to drag ourselves away even once the sun had fully set, but we wanted to go and walk along the world-famous Copacabana

beach before it got totally dark. We walked along the promenade for quite some while, watching the street hawkers and beach goers, and enjoying the marginally cooler temperatures. After a while we were getting a bit peckish so we turned-around and headed back towards our hotel as we had see a cool place to eat, called TT Burgers. We were not disappointed, the burger was one of the best I have had in a while, all washed down with a nice crafty pilsner... yay...!!

As we only had 3 days in Rio we wanted to make the most of our time, so we made plans to spend the next day on a bus tour of the highlights of the city. The weather forecast was for a warm cloudless day and it was shaping up nicely when the tour bus picked us up early and did the usual round up of other passengers, before heading off towards our first stop on the tour, Christ the Redeemer. We were soon on the scenic railway heading up the Corcovado, then onto the lift and then the escalators to the feet of the iconic statue. The awesome experience of seeing both the Christ the Redeemer statue and the stunning views over the rest of the city was sort of balanced out by the virtual rugby scrum of people all trying to do the same thing. At first I was disappointed that we only had 35 minutes at the top, but to be honest that was as much of the seething mass of humanity that I could take, we admired the impressive views and took our photo and then retreated back to the train. The train ride itself was half the fun of visiting the place and we made sure to grab some good seats for the trip back down.

From there we took a trip past the Maracana football stadium, the site of the World Cup final only 4 days previous, and we got to stroll around outside and take some photo’s. After that we saw the Sambadrome, where the annual Rio carnival takes place, and then the obligatory stop at a gift shop to buy souvenirs. By this time it was lunchtime and we went to a Churascaria, (Brazilian BBQ) just off of Copacabana, where we had a great meal and a chance for some more Caiprahinia’s.

Yates & I decided that it was time to test out our theory about Cachaça, the distilled spirit made from sugarcane juice, which is the main alcoholic ingredient in our Caiprahinia’s. We thought that the brain-damaging shots we had had at the ‘Rabbit Hole’ bar in Sao Paulo were Cachaça, and trying them out again was going to be the only way to put this question to bed. So we ordered up a couple of Cachaça shots from the most enormous bottle I have ever seen, and guess what....? Yes, they were the same thing we had tried all that time ago, and so we took photos of each other shooting the stuff with hilarious results.

The rest of the tour was a visit to ’ Sugarloaf Mountain’, a very distinctive looking mountain overlooking the city and Guanabara Bay. To get to the summit involved one cable car trip to the top of Morro da Urca, taking us up to 220 meters high, and then second car ascends to Pão de Açúcar, (Sugarloaf Mountain), bringing us to the top at 396 meters. Once again, the 360 degree views over the whole of city were simply amazing, and it was easy to spot the landmarks we had seen earlier in the day and many more of the famous beaches around the city. It was a gloriously sunny afternoon and everywhere you looked there was something fascinating to see, and we even got to see some elusive monkeys...! You would think that having seen the city from one elevated vantage point, you would have seen it all, but no, this city

is astonishing, and I am certain that anyone that travels to Rio will know what I mean when I say it is easy to run out of superlatives for the beauty & splendour of this, the ‘Marvellous City’. We could not have asked for a better day or a better tour to see so much of the city, and we all enjoyed it immensely. After arriving back at our hotel we did a quick trip to buy some beers and once again headed up onto the roof for a couple of hours to watch the sun go down over Ipanema.  I’m not sure I have enjoyed a sundown as much as I did that day, with a stunning backdrop, a glowing sunset, some close friends and a bottle of a fine Belgian beer in my hand. Later we wandered along the Ipanema beach for a while before heading inland to find something to eat at an Italian Pizzaria, and after eating far too much it was back to the hotel for some well-earned sleep.

The following day we decided we would take it very easy, and therefore after breakfast we walked down to the Copacabana to chill-out for the day. After securing 3 chairs, an umbrella and a choice spot on the sand, I proceeded to have my first Caiprahinia of the day while Fiona & Yates went for a swim. We whiled the hours away with a combination of swimming, watching the beach-goers, tanning, fending off the hawkers, and ordering beach Caiprahinia’s & beer. By about 4pm I was quite drunk and a little bit sunburned, so we moved off the beach to one of the many beachside food kiosks and proceed to mow through some meaty snacks and a few more beers. We returned to the hotel for a short nap before our now traditional sunset beers next to the roof-top swimming pool, where I enjoyed another couple of Belgian beers and the sun slowly set over the mountains. Awesome day.

We awoke on our last day in Rio de Janeiro to unfamiliar low clouds and a slight drizzle, but that was not going to put us off our stride. After ploughing our way through the hotel buffet breakfast, we saddled up and took a walk to the very conveniently located Copacabana Fort, which was originally built by the Portuguese invaders in the 16^th Century as defence against the French, Dutch, British and occasional pirates. It was surprisingly fascinating and full of interesting little nooks & crannies

containing all sorts of exhibits, and perfect for a rainy morning. In the grounds of the fort was what I took to be the most popular Saturday morning restaurant/cafe in the area, popular with all the local good-looking and wealthy people, great views over the whole of the Copacabana beach with views to Sugarloaf, and a queue of at least 20 groups of people waiting to get in. Yates was adamant that he wanted to go for a swim at some point and the weather Gods must have been on his side and the slight drizzle dissipated and patches of blue sky started appearing. We first looked at swimming at Ipanema, but with the wind coming directly onshore, the waves were enormous and pounding. I think Yates gave it some

consideration but when we pointed out that no-one else on the beach was anywhere near the water, we changed our minds and headed back to the Copacabana. The waves on the ‘Copa’ looked very tame in comparison, and Yates duly rented his beach chair & umbrella and proceeded in to the ocean, while Fiona and I sat at the bar watching. Fiona finally decided to join Yates in the waves while continued to drink my beer, and they looked like they we having fun until a set of bigger waves set about them, and I watched as Yates disappeared into the base of a particularly big wave, as Fiona turned her back on it and tried to make her way out of water as quick as she could. They both got bowled over by the power of the waves, Fiona escaping with just a mouth full of seawater, while Yates got tumbled about a bit and got a nasty looking graze on his knees for his trouble. Ah, all the fun of the beach.....

Playtime was over at the beach so we went back to the hotel for a while, to rest up and to start packing for a very early flight to Manaus in the Amazon the next morning. In fact the flight was so early we were going to have to leave the hotel at 5am, so we decided to have an early dinner and get an early night. On the Thursday night, we had gone past a very high recommended restaurant in Ipanema called, ‘Zara’s Bistro Tropical’, but it was full at the time and we didn’t feel like waiting, so we thought we would give it another shot, albeit, at a much earlier time. We were in luck and got a table right away and started ordering our cocktails and looking through the menu. It was a great little place with a real bohemian feel about it, the service was great and the food was an eclectic French/Brazilian fusion, very rich and very delicious. We even had dessert....! By the end of it we finally managed to rack up a bill that was higher than the one we had on the very first night in Sao Paulo, and we paid up and proceeded to roll back to the hotel, stuffed, slightly drunk, but extremely happy.

Next stop: Manaus in the heart of the Amazon.....