Rio
Hello there,
Last time we updated our blog was in Paraguay. The following day which was Wednesday, we spent the whole morning reading in the hotel patio, trying to take a pic of the picaflor again and again with no success. Then we went to the airport and flew to Rio after a quick stop in Sao Paulo. We had booked a hostel on the internet in Buenos Aires and had organised an airport pick-up which was a free service offered by the hostel. It was relieving to have somebody waiting for us when reaching Rio at 10:00pm. A nice Cariocu (somebody who was born in Rio but whose parents weren´t. People whose parents were born in Rio are called Carioco) welcomed us and drove us to the Misti Hostel where a nice group of young people were playing the guitar. We had a good night sleep in a 9 bed dormitory and got up early.
19/10/06 This hostel is really good because they have some sense about how much young people can eat. Breakfast is incluve and it is an open buffet where you can eat huge quantities of croque monsieur, toasted bread with ham and cheese, homemade cakes, fruits, cereals, tea, coffee, chocolate, dulce de leche, etc etc...yesterday was cold, miserable, grey and raining. We decided to go for a walk, tried to make ourselves understood with the locals as none of us speaks Portuguese and they only speak Portuguese. Decided to head off to Santa Teresa which is described as a nice traditional place up on a hill but it was so miserable outside that we didn´t see a thing. Had some food in the city centre and then wandered a bit through the streets until we were so soaked that we had no choice but to get back to the hostel. That was our first day in Rio. No sea, no beach, no sun and so bored and cold.
20/10/06 I was awoken at night by the rain leaking through the tiles of our room and somebody had placed buckets under the big holes.... hum promising day again.... Had our breakfast and noticed the sun which was gently trying to break through the clouds. Yes, it was clearing up a bit. We went outside the hostel and.... just in front of us, we could see the Sugar Loaf and behind us the Christ. Because the 
weather was improving a bit, we decided to go to the Sugar Loaf. 
After taking two cable cars, here we were right on top of the loaf with an overwhelming view of Rio de Janeiro with its lush peaks, sandy beaches and skyscrapers. We rested a bit, spotted two monkeys (real monkeys) and headed for the Bottanic Garden. By the way, just when we entered one of the greenhouses, we saw a picaflor and this time I could take a pic.
Now it is 6:30pm and the weather is as bad as yesterday... hopefully it is going to clear up and improve very fast so that we can go to the beach and send you some pics of the gorgeous cariocas ;)