Rio de Janiero

I don´t know where to start.

Rio is insane. Yesterday we started on Copacabana beach - everything you´ve seen, read, and heard is true. About 4 million people, about 60 degrees celsius, and massive waves breaking straight on the beach. An experience!

Then in the afternoon, we went to a football (Soccer match) at Maracana stadium. Unlike any AFL match I´ve ever been to - the atmosphere was incredible and there was plenty of Brasilian passion around. I can see how South American soccer matches end in riots - but it was rally safe and there was no alcohol! It was a crappy match, but all the same amazing to see it. We sat next to this nice Brasilian guy and his kids - who gave us the hot tip about where to go for Carnaval in the evening.

The hotel is full of Australians and Belinda and I have met some great people that we´ve been hanging out with (strapping lads - which is handy!). Didn´t come here to meet Australians, really, but it is such madness here that it´s great to have some great people to hang out with. We´ve gotten really lucky. We all headed out for dinner on Friday night and after a 36 hour trip Belinda was pretty jetlagged, so we called it early. Lucky - everyone who went out to the street party got mugged and pickpocketed!

After the soccer, there was a smallish bloco about three blocks from our hotel on Copacabana beach- where a local drumming group or music group play on the street and everyone dances - everyone. Pregnant women, grandmas, hookers, kids from the favelas, tourists, businesspeople - some in costumes - some not. It was a lot of fun - but we decided to head to something bigger so we took off to Lapa to a big bloco on the Samba strip.

The taxi ride was more thrilling than any extreme sport I´ve ever done. Luciano, the taxi driver, wound down all the windows, cranked the music (Samba, of course) and drove at 120km through the streets and tunnels of Rio for the 25 minute ride - it was an experience I will never forget. He was a lot of fun - a really nice guy - and and it was a lot better than I was expecting my first Rio taxi ride to be (thinking - am I being taken to the favelas? am I being taken to the favelas?).

Amazing once we got there too - there are all these old mansions in Lapa that have been converted to Samba clubs (Cariocas I think they´re called), and during Carnaval there are parties on the streets around. There were hundreds of thousands of people dancing in costumes in the street, and hundreds of thousands of kilograms of cocaine available. You´d buy a beer (3 for $3.50 Aussie), and get offered a whole lot more. I´ve seen a lot in my time, but nothing like that. Amsterdam to the power of about 500. I felt safe though - the absolute majority of the people there are genuinely there for the music and the dancing, and the other stuff is there if you want to find it. I´ve never been in such a crowd of people, or so hot!!! The night before the kids in the crowd worked through and mugged or cleaned up everyone in the street (I had my cash tucked safe between the girls in case) - but we had no trouble.

We ended up in the right place and the right time - there were some drummers we were dancing to in front of and they took off for their parade, so we led their way through the streets of Lapa. So Much Fun! It was just amazing - people leaning out their windows singing and dancing, and people coming out of restaurants to join in.... Unbelievable. We learnt the words eventually, and the dances, and God knows what we were singing, but there was lots of ¨Rio¨and ¨Brazil¨so I think it was fairly patriotic!!

Today is a cruisy day - we have tickets to the big Samba parade finals tonight at the Sambadrome, which goes tonight and tomorrow night, and you´ll probably see on TV around the world. It starts at 10pm and finishes at 7am, so there´ll some napping poolside on the roof of the hotel this afternoon. I´m really excited though - I´ve seen the locals sing, samba, drum and party, so I can only imagine how the professionals do it - what I saw in Montevideo was amazing, but the Brazilians do it 15 times bigger and better. Brazilians really do know how to have a good time.

So - Belinda and I are off to buy our costumes for tonight. I´ve seen some amazing ones - but I refuse to wear anything made of pipecleaners, or anything with angel wings. I think feather headdresses is the way to go.

I also need to dye my hair and urgently, so bye bye blonde, hello brunette! Being blonde and curly has attracted a lot of attention (Sarah please ask Mark what the best way to go is and email me ASAP so it doesn´t turn green or purple or something) In the meantime, my feather headdress will cover all sins. Doug last night convinced some guy that Belinda and I were both his girlfriends - the guy looked incredibly impressed before (thankfully!) disappearing (it was very funny, but maybe you had to be there). Again, not dangerous, but Latin American guys are incredibly persistent and therefore annoying. Lads - take note: it´s not going to happen.

One story that will alarm parents and grandparents but I have to tell - some guys by the pool went to buy some drugs this morning (I´m very desensitised to this behaviour now!) and came back a bit wobbly. The guy on the beach they asked said, ¨Yeah, no worries¨and led them up a laneway to the main guy. Who was sitting at a table with a big machine gun and some magazines - they couldn´t stop looking at it as they did the deal - and I don´t think they´ll ever be quite the same again. For two 18 year old lads from Brisbance, I don´t think the whole experience was as much fun as they thought it would be.......

Sorry - no pictures - for obvious reasons! The Sambadrome tonight is locked down and very secure, so I can take my (small!) camera there - so more later!

Kathryn x