Travelling Fairy: Hola from Rio!

I am definitely loving the spontaneity of travel. While writing the last post we thought we would head to Ilha Grande the next day. Instead we ended up being invited to join in on a private (9 people) boat trip to the less visited places in the paraty waters - including the beautiful natural fiords - how could we refuse an offer like that? We didn´t end up going to Ilha Grande at all but stayed in Paraty for a few more days and then went straight to Rio so we could get to see the city before carnivale. We´re thinking we might head to Ilha Grande after carnivale for some beach time after all the hectic city partying. Although Brazil is veeeeery expensive so we´re also thinking that after carnivale we might have to hightail it out of here to somewhere we can afford!!

We´ve spent the last week partying it up in rio, getting to know the city more by night than by day. However we did make some time to go see the massive Christ statue up close and enjoy the best views of the city, and also made some time to lay on the beach in Ipanema (sooooo crowded!). We spent our first 2 nights in Lapa, the clubbing district in Rio. The first night we went to a samba club - which was fun but really highlights the fact we can't dance, but hilarity ensued when locals attempted to teach us. Friday is the big night in Lapa and the girls from our hostel insisted that we couldn´t miss it. Everyone goes there and drinks on the streets. It is soooo packed! Imagine squeezing as many drunk people as humanly possible into a square km and you will kinda get the idea. Lots of fun though!

We´ve been enjoying the block parties that have been happening all over Rio as a lead up to carnivale. We went to one in Lapa with some girls from our hostel which tuned out to be a pro-legalisation of marijuana rally....so random! haha.

We´ve been having some issues adjusting to Brazillian men and their way with women since we´ve gotten to Rio. Apparently over here no doesn´t mean no, it means try again in 5 minutes. Highly frustrating! And apparently its entirely normal for them to grab you while you walk through crowded party streets - in really wierd places too (stomach, arm fat etc...weird!). In saying that it only happens in certain places and the rest of the Brazilians we´ve met have been great. I found this article online (http://rioforpartiers.com/english/night/garotos.htm) and thought it sums things up pretty well, its all in jest but definitely has some truth in it. Please note that this is not talking about everyone and definitely doesn´t sum up how i feel about Brazilians.

I love that over here everyone is very into dressing up - especially for carnivale! BB and I have spent the last 2 days shopping in the markets to find/make costumes so we can get into the spirit of things too. Definitely getting very excited for canivale now!

Anyway this has taken me forever to write and i keep getting side tracked so i´m going to leave this very stilted blog here.
xxxxxx