On Monday 21 March we took an extremely comfortable overnight bus from Salvador to Rio de Janeiro. We left at 3pm for the 28 hour journey.

I didn´t really sleep but everyone else did ! At least we were comfortable. Hot coffee & fresh water machines at the rear of the bus & frequent stops , air-conditioning , fully-reclining seats , blankets & pilows provided & it saves money on a hotel for the night !

On Wednesday we visited the 2 weell-known view-points of Rio de Janeiro. In the morning we went by cogwheel train to the top of Corcovado where the imposing statue of Cristo Redentor ( Christ the Redeemer ) gazes out over the city.From there were fabulous views of the city. In the afternoon we took the cable-car to Pao de Azucar , Sugar Loaf , for more picture-postcard panoramas of Rio. It really must be one of the world´s most spectacularly-situated cities set between the Atlantic & mountain peaks. All very touristy though. But you can´t have it all ways.

On Thursday afternoon it started to rain. It poured & didn´t stop for 48hours ! Disaster. That makes a total of 6 rainy days in 4 months.

It was a pity for Good Friday though because we had planned to go to an outdoor Passion Play in the evening. However the temperature was still in the 80´s despite the rain so we took the metro into the centre , bought an umbrella & went to visit the ultramodern cathedral. Built in the 1970´s it resembles Liverpool cathedral but is so much larger , diameter about 120m , with huge stained glass windows from floor to very-high ceiling.

We stayed for the 3pm service & then joined in the procession through the streets afterwards. It was interesting.

On Easter Sunday we visited the exotic botanical gardens, Brazil´s answer to Kew ! It is extensive & beautifully laid out with over 5000 varieties of plants , rubber trees , cacti , palms , bromeliads , tropical fruit trees , etc. And with wonderful butterfly & bird -life to match. Toucans , parakeets , humming-birds & many others we were not able to identify. The fruit falling from the trees was not gathered up but left in place to provide a full eco-system. We sat under a perilous apple-type tree where the fruits were falling at the rate of about 10 per minute , many knocked off by the parakeets in the top of the tree. There were tree-creeper birds on the mossy hanging fronds & dozens of humming-birds on the flowers on the lower branches . And of course huge, huge ants & other strange insects on the ground . The pungent cidery smell was intoxicating.

Our hotel is situated in Copacabana , 5 minutes from the beach , 4.5 km of it which in turn leads down to Ipanema beach ( the girl is now 59 years old ! ). Lovely , lively beaches where despite the temperatures many find the energy to play football & volleyball ! They call bikinis here fio dental (dental floss ) ! Ady hasn´t noticed yet ! The main road runs alogside the beaches & is just miles & miles of hotels , restaurants & bars.

We decided to escape to a get-away-from-it-all island , Ilha Grande , 150km west of Rio. We went for 3 days & stayed in a pousada right on the beach. We had the beach to ourselves most of the time. So hot that we both actually swam in the sea. Ady overdid it a bit & got quite burnt on the first day so he had to spend the rest of the time drinking beer in the shade !

We are having difficulty finding English books to read. At the beginning of our travels we found quite a few hostels where we were able to swap books. Those shops we have found have selling books have been very expensive. Yesterday we went into the centre of Rio & found a second-hand shop where we bought 4 books for 7 pounds . Should keep us occupied for a while.

Tonight we leave on another overnight bus to travel further south .