Welcome to Rio De Janeiro!

Wow! So the trip has finally begun, and is off to a roaring start... The trans-Atlantic flight was absolutely no problems, with the exception of Iberia's dismissive service and attempts to ignore us into a state of dehydration... Overall, not enough to really complain about, I mean really: the Spanish have never been known for great customer service anyway, so we should have know what we were getting into. Arriving in Rio was a breeze: straight to the hotel, which has proved to be lovely: the Martinique Copacabana, located just 1/2 a block from the beach, and thanks to the nice guy at check-in, we have an ocean view... It's been raining constantly up until today, and finally a bit of sunshine... but the rain hasn't stopped us from exploring quite a bit, in between 12 hour naps and loads of long involved conversations over dinner... Yesterday, we took the last remaining tram in the city to the district of Santa Tereza, a run down colonial relic from another time: felt like what I imagine Havana to be like, complete with crumbling pastel coloured mansions and overgrown tropical gardens... we stopped and had a drink in the most beautiful antique bar that has been in operation for 200 years... Today, with the clear skies and sunshine, we spent the day on Copacabana beach, and then off to the top of Sugarloaf mountain (Pao de Acuzar) for fantastic views of the city and lots of fresh air... I am struggling with the pollution from the traffic at street level and have had a bit of a sore throat due to the extreme exhaust fumes... The city itself seems to have undergone a bit of a transformation since the last time I was here: visibly cleaned up and a distinct police presence on the streets... I feel much safer walking around Rio now on my second visit, and I'm not sure how much of this is due to my travel "experience" and how much is due to a real effort to make the city safer for tourists... The Cariocas (citizens of Rio) are some of the friendliest people either of us have ever encountered during our world travels: constantly smiling, friendly, easy going, and fun... they seem to love their city and enjoy meeting people from other places... We are both admiring the open, gracious and relaxed attitude of the Brazilians.... and the food has been absolutely amazing so far: we are really enjoying the exotic fruit, delicious cakes, fantastic fresh juices (today I had a huge glass of fresh cherry juice), and the famous Brazilian barbeque... we've really taken to Lopé's lunch counter, a flash back from the '50's that serves huge plates of Brazilian comfort food for about 3-4 quid... Tomorrow we leave for the southern coastal town of Paraty (pronounced Para-chi) for a break from the madness of the city... more from there! xxx Jason