Rio // 7th Jan 2005

Howdy Y'all

Still here in Rio, having a ball. I managed to brave the city bus system and made it independantly to Sugar loaf mountain on my first day, which was fantastique. The city is really beautiful, and seen from a height at night with a cool breeze was just the remedy for the weariness I had after the long flight. The local transport is really good and cheap, the locals are mostly beautiful and the weather is getting better (was overcast, now is roastingly clear). Have checked out Copacabana beach but it was too cold to swim. Bought a coconut and chilled instead. Hopefully Ipanera will be nicer today - it's the one they use in most of the 'come to Brazil' promo stuff.

Also went with my new friend Norman to the Christ the Redeemer statue. Christ, it's massive. Really really good though; you can see the entire city from a narrow 710m-high mountain. Rio is a strange city as in the it's built around a bunch of mountains - it's not uncommon for the end of the road to be a big rocky cliff or forest - and there's a 32 square km national park in the middle. The city itself stretches to the horizon in nearly all directions. Massive. You get this rickety old electric train up the side of a steep hill and then walk up some steps at the top, to be met by an awe-inspiring statue. If you're lucky, you can chat up a local Brazillian tour operator on the way up. Abi, I got a few photos of the statue for you. I'd attach some to this email if I could get the bloody digital camera to connect.

I've suffered my first loss of the trip - those lovely sunglasses which looked so shiny, new and cool - are now sitting somewhere around seat 48J on a British Airways plane. These things happen (but why not to something less expensive, like a bottle of shampoo?).

Anyways, must go as the city beckons me on to the Lonely Planet's walking tour. That book has been a godsend.

Ollie