didn’t want to stay in Copacabana because I can’t help thinking of Barry Manilow and that awful song every time I hear the word Copacabana! Santa Teresa is set on a hill overlooking the city, with cobbled streets, old colonial mansions and a old yellow bondinho (tram) which trundles through the cobbled streets. Thankfully it was all we were hoping for and the Trip Hostel where we’d booked into was an absolutely fabulous place. It was a new hostel set in a converted old colonial house and it was just fantastic. Fausto the owner was extremely helpful and a real character so it made for a more than enjoyable stay. After settling in we headed out for something to eat, we went to a lovely little café/bar and thankfully managed to order and get veggie food, so we washed it down with our first taste of Brasilian beer! Later on in the evening we sat on the patio and sampled our second Brasilian beer! We had a great evening sitting chatting with Fausto and other fellow travellers. We were invited out with

them to a samba club, but the hours of travelling were catching up with us and bearing in mind they only go out around midnight and return at dawn, we thought we’d give it a miss! At some point throughout the day/evening I had the pleasure of seeing my wonderful boys whup Barcelona in the Champions League which was very satisfying especially being in Brasil with Ronaldinho being a national hero!!!

We woke up the next morning only to find it pouring down with rain - hmmm serves us right for being so smug in New York about us leaving the rain behind! Due to the weather we couldn’t really do much and we were still fairly tired, especially after 4 hectic days of walking round New York. The only things we ventured out for was to go to the bank and the supermacardo. We spend most of the day chilling around the hostel and playing the odd game of pool. Unfortunately for me, the pool table was a semi