Oi Rio!

Well, it was an arduous trip. There are so many ways to get comfy in a standard class aeroplane seat...oh no, actually there aren't. Only Ibby managed any real sleep (being five years old she could virtually make her chair into a bed). Gareth, Erin and I simply suffered for the duration of the twelve hour flight whilst rotund Brazilians snored the night away beside us.
In spite of this, we managed to arrive at our destination to our rather plush apartment in Ipanema to be greeted by the manager, possibly the most unfriendly woman in all of Rio (at least I hope so). We left to check out the local area with her words of how easy it is to offend Brazilians ringing in our ears.

However we have enjoyed our day of scouting out Ipenema - buying dubious food items from the supermarket (Gareth's favourite hobby), trooping mile after mile of beachfront whilst watching tanned, lithe Brazilians run past us in the 30 degree heat and being rewarded with agua de coco (a coconut with a straw sticking out to consume the water inside) at a beachside cafe.
Right now I can barely keep my eyes open so I apologise for my incoherence but hopefully I will make more sense in the morning. Do they have mosquitos by the sea? I'm itchy...