The girl from Ipanema goes walking...

Our first full day in Rio De Janeiro (translated to ´January River´), we caught the Metro to Ipanema to chill out on the beach and catch the big waves off the Atlantic. Unfortunately, we only packed Factor 15 so could only stay on the beach for a couple of hours, but it gave us an excuse to go and sample ice cream cocktails nearby. The boy won´t be having any cachaca - a Brazilian spirit - any time soon!

Next stop Copacabana to collect tickets for the all-night samba parade at Rio´s famous Sambodromo this Monday. We just need to sort some headgear and maraca´s now!

After a quick shower, we braved the 006 bus to Santa Teresa. A little hair raising when the locals piled in, the bus driver waved us to the back of the bus...I thought tourists weren´t allowed to sit at the front but turned out she was just letting us know our stop was next and it would take a while to fight our way through the masses to get off. Santa Teresa is a quaint little town atop of a hill with cobbled streets, crumbling buildings and cool graffiti, not too dissimilar to Rome, very different to the rest of Rio. We stumbled upon a restaurant ´Rustica´with a limited menu but, my god, it was good, the seafood starter especially.

After a mooch round snapping graffiti and many vintage VW´s, we jumped in a cab and headed back to Lapa. A surprisingly relaxed day which we didn´t expect or imagine possible in Rio.