Feb 2007

Well, last thing we entered in was that we were going to get an apartment just by Copacabana. That didn't happen in the end, the people who own the hostel didnt want us to leave because we were the life and soul of the party and would make it much more fun during carnival. So we accepted their kind discounted rate of the room and partied hard.
We've been to copious amounts of street parties, drunk copious amounts of street beer (still 1 real) and caipirinhas (which Alex is now a pro at making), and samba'd with feet of lightning. The street parties appear all over the city, Ipanema, Copacabana, Botafogo, Centro, Leblon, Lapa the list goes on! There aint no party like an S Club party!
We've captured some stills of what the hell went on in the mayhem that is known as 'Carnival in Rio de Janeiro'. 'Nuff said.

We went to the Sambadrome one night arranged by the hostel to witness the carnival parade (On the way to which Mark got pickpocketed by a street urchin so lost his ticket and money...tosser). Cant be bothered to explain the ins and outs of it, so read up or shut up.

Kieran wouldn't shut up about wanting to see monkeys, so we took him on a day trip to Sugarloaf.

There was no sign of monkeys on the first mountain, accept for the lesser spotted 'Shortius Breadius'. We identified this beast by its red hair and aggressive nature.

Upon reaching Sugarloaf, we were rewarded with amazing views and Kieran's first official monkey sighting.

After a tearful farewell from our amigos at Tupiniquim hostel, we left for a 3 hour bus ride to Buzios. We've been graced with beautiful beaches, Buzios babes, booze and burns of the sun variety. BOOYA!

Stay tuned for more pics kids
Da boyz
x

Well, we've been here for nearly 10 days now and we're starting to forget all the stuff we've been doing.
We've ticked a few of the boxes beach wise - Copacabana was the first one we sampled...we left the hostel bright eyed and bushy tailed feeling innocent - this was to change shortly after when we got to Copacabana tunnel and saw a bus being held up by a favela kid. Policia pulled up infront of the bus and the porker got out of his paddy wagon and shot the sucker down BLUCKA! Yessss, our first Rio shooting. It's just as everyone says here! The people infront of us started running down the tunnel, but we weren't phased, we held our ground and strolled on. On the way back we heard more gunfire at the same place but in the favelas above. Awesome. We need either rapid response Andrew or gypsey fighting bare knuckle boxing champion 'Big jaw breaking John' to protect us.
We still had fun at the beach though.

Loadsa garotas (girls in Portuguese) in thongs for us to perve over.

While we're on the subject of shootings in favelas, we attended 2 splendid favela funk parties. Quality music, 1 real a beer (25p), and loose moraled ladies. Both times someone has been successful, but the first time we we're targets of date rape. You boys would love it here, total role reversal...girls chase the guys and its a totally normal thing to get with more than 1 girl in a night!
One morning we actually got up before 11 oclock and went to a beautiful waterfall. Paul 'sick note' Sumner had to miss out on this because of a mentally swollen ankle after a mozzy bite. Nothing needs to be said about the scenery, check the photo.

Although it was no easy route to take up there, you have to climb roots and rocks through the jungle - very Indiana Jones.

After the successes that day, we were given the challenge of walking up to Christ the Redeemer. Challenge accepted! Nothing the Frensham/Farnham massive can't handle.
We got to the bottom of the hill and we were approached by loads of people doing tours up to the top, but we declined saying we can easily make it. All of them thought we were crazy saying it was too far, too steep and too dangerous (2 favelas on the way up). We informed them of our Cannons training then continued up the hill...5 minutes later, sweating buckets, we decided it was far too far, steep and dangerous. The incline on the treadmills at Cannons doesn't go anywhere near the angle we were walking up. With pie in our faces, we walked past all of the lads offering lifts on their motorbikes, taxis etc. We popped in a car and went up to the top by sunset and got some great shots.

We spent the day at the beach in Ipanema, then at 5 strolled up to join a carnival rehearsal in the streets. More beers for the boyz. Lapa in the evening, loads of partying, drinking, chasing girls etc

Leaving the hostel in 2 days and going to get an apartment off Copacabana for cheaper than the hostel were staying in. Will be good to have our own space for a bit for getting laid. hahaha (but seriously).
Keep comments coming, always good to hear from you lot in snowy England.
All our love
Da boyz

if you guys want to see some new pics check out my myspace account. its
www.myspace.com/kieranlusts. you know that. we are having an awesome time and will write a new blog tomorrow. and trust me it will be exciting. we have had a sex, drugs, shootings and rock and roll kinda day today. xxxxx

after a 14 hour flight, it was so nice to streatch our legs. we collected our bags and headed out of the airport.
straight away we were hassled by men tryin to get us into thier taxis, we declined and got onto a bus instead.
Heading towards our hostel it was a really sad and stiking experience. We drove through towns of houses made of mud, cardboard and anything they could find.
We arrived at the hostel after a short walk from the bus and were welcomed by a friendly guy called Greg. We got to our room and found we had a room with 2 double beds, awsome everyone thought we were bum boys already. He gave us a quick tour of the place and showed us all of the facilities...climbing wall, table tennis, computers, (ghetto) pool table (Brownjohn/Hayler are 1 up on the Sumner combo). Beers are cheap too, about 70p for a 1 and 1/2 pint bottle. They were suprised when we asked for 4 of these...they clearly dont know us well enough yet!
We decided to go straight out down to the beach, it was hot out, 34 degrees C (This trip had casualties, we all got burnt to a frazzle! - see pics)

It was awesome, white sand, hot sun and beautiful brazilian girls, what more could you ask for? Well how about the town your staying in being situated between two mountains, Sugarloaf and the mountain with Christ the Redeemer on (We can see this from our window).

Our first night out was a shambles, we tried lots of clubs and they were either empty, 100 reials entry, or you needed jeans on, not forgetting a gay club either. After cramming 5 of us in a taxi, we got out and a bunch of prostitutes were all over us, pulling their shorts down, showing their thongs etc...it was tough to stop Paul from going over and getting a piece of that sweet sweet candy...BAM. We ended up in a bar called Shanannigans, and yes it was an Irish bar. It was okay and we stayed there for a couple of drinks (Including a Caiprinha, the local brazilian drink...strong as a mother fucker). We were all knackered after the flight so headed back just before 3.
Bring on Sunday - possibly a funk party in the favelas!