Its now day 4 (I think) in Rio and it really has been quite some time since i've posted anything to the site. I had been waiting for a quiet, hangover-free day to sit down and do some writing. However, I now realise that this day will not come, so its time for another entry.

Rio!

It has certainly been a pretty tough few days seen through a haze of Caipirinha. Street Party follows Beach Party follows Drum Procession... and the loop goes on. The best party day so far for me was Saturday/Sunday. Started as a night street party in Lapa leaving there at around 6am heading a few blocks across town to find a Bloco Street Procession dancing through the narrowest of streets in clouds of confetti, everyone in the most bizzare costumes, to a main square where a number of Blocos where converging for another party which was just starting at 8am and so it goes on! Quite a surreal experience! By 11am I simply had to get give up and go to bed (at least for a couple of hours :-))

Spooky!

Tonight i'm heading to the BIG show piece of the Rio Carnaval - The Sambodromo. Tonights Parade has been sold out for some time but I managed to get a ticket from a tout for an inflated price. Still its another 'must' for being in Rio. I'll let you know how it all works out. Not sure if i'm going to take my camera or not.

Still a few tourist sites to fit in between the parties and quality hangover time. I have been to visit J.C up on the hill, but unfortunately he was having quite a cloudy day. Although I think the clouds did add a little to the experience as he mysteriously appeared 'floating' out of the clouds (revealing himself in mysterious ways!). Still on the cards is Sugarloaf Mountain and a football game at Maracana Stadium (I believe they have a game against Venezuela on Wednesday.) I have to admit to not being much of a football fan, but its supposed to be an 'electric' atmosphere at Maracana. Its has an all seated capacity of 95,000!

Moments of Clarity

I`m probably going to leave Rio on the 22nd February and I was originally going to head straight from Rio to Argentina, but I think a few days post-carnaval chill (read `recovery/Caipirinha Rehab`) somewhere could be a very good idea! The small town of Paraty comes highly recommended for such occasions. I am starting to get a little `beached out` so the inland route into Argentina via Iguacu Falls will be a welcome change of scene.