Before we took a mammoth bus journey to Rio, we went from Foz do Iguazu to Cataras, which is the Iguazu falls on the Brazilian side. We originally planned to do both sides of the falls, but after speaking with other people who'd done both and said they were pretty similar, we decided against the Brazilan side. We still had to get from the Argentina side to the Brazilian side as there were no buses running directly to Rio from the Argentina side. As we're short on time, we had to do it. We tried to catch the last bus for the night from Argentina, but just saw it driving away and it wouldn't stop. So we had to take a taxi, who stopped at immigration for us on both the Argentina and Brazilian side. The taxi dropped us to a hostel in the Iguazu Brazil side. We stayed there for a night so we could book our bus ticket to Rio for the next evening.

The longest bus journey ever ...

The next day, we walked to the bus terminal and booked a ticket to Rio, via São Paolo, the biggest city in Brazil. I couldn't believe how expensive the bus tickets were, it cost about £80 each to get there, and it was to be our longest bus journey to date (nearly 30 hours). We set out on the bus at around 6pm, and the next evening after 9pm, we arrived into a rainy Rio bus terminal. We tried to book a taxi to take us to our hostel, which was a joke, as we had to queue for an hour to get one. To top it off, the hostel doesn't allow late night arrivals, so let's hope they make an exception. When the taxi picked us up, he was rude and not very friendly. We got dropped off at the hostel in the pouring rain, which luckily we were able to check in late, for an admin charge.

We only stayed at that hostel for one night, and on the recommendation of someone else, we booked to stay the rest of our time in El Misti House. We've had to book a dorm here, as private rooms are just too expensive . When we checked in to the dorm, we were greeted by 3 levels of bunk beds, and I got assigned a top bunk unfortunately. It must have been about 12 feet off the ground, so I hope I don't fall out! We don't enjoy staying in dorms, as we can't just go to the room to relax, but we've no other option at the moment. The hostel feels a little crowded for the number of guests staying here, but we're right near Copacabana beach, so it's really convenient. It's raining again, which is annoying as Rio doesn't quite feel the same with this kind of weather.

After it stopped raining, we had a walk round the town and went to the famous Copacabana beach. It was pretty much deserted due to it being a crap day. It's not the image of Rio I had pictured, more like bikini clad women in thongs, tanning themselves on a beautiful beach, and men playing volleyball. We had a walk along the beach for a bit then decided to turn back. As we're really penny pinching now, we found a supermarket to buy food to cook for dinner tonight . When we tried to get in the kitchen, it was a nightmare trying to cook, as the kitchen staff were also trying to prepare pizzas too. It was a tiny kitchen, so not a good place to be cooking for ourselves. Eating dinner was even worse as they wanted our table to serve their pizzas on. The chef/ host wasn't very friendly either so I am not too impressed with this hostel to say the least.

Free walking tour

The next morning, we decided to do the free walking tour as we've not actually done one on the whole trip yet. We walked to the meeting point and there was a girl holding up the card saying free walking tour. Before we stated, she introduced herself and said she works on a tips only basis. Not so free then! We still took part anyway as we might learn a little about Brazil. We walked around the centre, and our guide showed us a lot of the public buildings, style of architecture and explained a little about the history behind them . We also visited a bakery fit for the queen, literally it was the poshest one i've been to. The queen did actually visit it a few years ago too. We also saw properties where some Brazilian stars used to live, although I hadn't heard of them. I learned why they speak Portuguese here in Brazil. I should have realised that they were colonised by the Portuguese settlers.

Steps in Lapa

Towards the end of the walking tour, we visited the famous steps in the bohemian district of Lapa, which were hand decorated by the late Jorge Selaron. The 215 steps are tiled with ceramics, plus there are tiles from all around the world which have been given to him as presents. These are displayed as a collection of mosaics running up around the steps. There's even a tile of Princess Diana. One tile sent here, is one of the most expensive in the world. We stayed looking around at the tiles while our guide carried on talking and showing us things. The steps were pretty cool and are a good place to visit while in Rio. It's unfortunate, but Jorge Selaron was found dead on his own steps earlier this year. It is unconfirmed whether he was murdered, or if he took his own life.

Brazilian National Dish- Feijoada 

After the tour, our guide invited us to come to a restaurant to try the Brazilian national dish; Feijoada stew . It's a stew consisting of beans, pork rice, and would have been eaten by slaves years ago. I didn't try the dish, just some of John's. He enjoyed it, but it wasn't really to my liking as it contains cuts of feet, ears and nose of pork. They served us a free sour cocktail, a bit like a pisco sour, which was lovely. Later in the evening, we had been planning a night out in the Lapa region, as it's famous for a parade and lots of bars and nightlife. However, the weather was raining, so we couldn't be bothered to go.

Christ the Redeemer (Cristo Redendor)

The next morning, which was our last full day, we had been hoping that the dull weather would clear so we could visit the Christ the Redeemer statue. But no, luck wasn't on our side, and it was really overcast again. It wasn't raining, so we thought that the sky would clear later on in the afternoon. We are leaving tomorrow, so didn't want to risk it then, so decided to go today anyway . We took a local bus from downtown Rio towards Corcovado mountain, where the statue is situated in Tijuca Forest National Park.

When we were close to the area, we didn't know where to get off, so we just followed all the other tourists on the bus. It was still overcast, but no rain, so we decided to go for it. When you get to the queues normally, they would tail back for miles. Luckily for us today, there was no queue, which I now know was not a good thing! We went to pay to get in, and there was a woman standing there telling us that the visibility at the top was non existent and we wouldn't even see the statue. Gutted was not the word. They said perhaps come back in a few hours to see if anything has changed.

So we decided to take a walk around and stop for lunch, and hoped that the weather would clear. We got a subway and walked around some shops, although there wasn't much around that area. After lunch, there was a break in the clouds. I though the sun might actually come out, so we took a chance and went back to Cristo Redentor. This time, still not much of a queue and we could go in. It's really expensive to go up, and especially on a day like today, but it's our last chance. It cost 50 Reals so we hope to at least see the statue and some views of Rio.

The entrance fees did include the train ticket fare up and down, as it's suppose to be dangerous to walk up there . I guess on a bright, sunny day, you'd probably have to queue for ages to go on the train, whereas, we just walked right on in. It took around 15 minutes to get there. Once we were at the top, we did get to see Christ the Redeemer. The statue looked around the same size as the one at Cochabamba to me, although I know this one is smaller at 98 feet tall, whereas, the Cochabamba one is 132 feet tall. I guess as they're so far off the ground, they both look huge! When I saw this one in Rio, I was much more impressed by this statue, it's more solidly built and the architectural design looks impressive.

As the weather wasn't so good, there weren't too many crowds of people, which was a bonus. I can imagine the walkway gets pretty crowded on a hot day and you'd never even be able to walk around it without bumping into people. There were people doing the classic picture poses, arms wide open, like the statue. I took some pictures of the Christ, but it didn't look good as it's just set on a white background sky. Sometimes mist would cover it completely so you wouldn't even see it, which is a shame.

The same goes for the views over Rio, or should I say non-existent views! You could see those iconic landmarks, like Sugar Loaf (Pao de Azucar) and the beaches; Copacabana and Impanena, but it just wasn't the same looking at them without a bit of sunshine. We've come on a long journey out of our way to see Rio de Janeiro in the rain... I was a bit disappointed but still, you gotta make the most out of a bad situation. So we just took in all our surroundings and it was still great looking out over the city. Later on in the afternoon, more people started turning up despite the poor weather conditions, so we got in there at the right time, as then you could hardly move around anywhere. Surprisingly, you can't walk up inside the statue, like the one in Bolivia. I think the holes inside the Cochabamba one ruins the aesthetic effect of the statue anyhow.

The next morning, as we were leaving, the sun made an appearance, what a surprise! We were considering walking to the Sugar Loaf mountain, but we were running out of time so couldn't get to do it. We walked there and it's even more expensive than Christ the Redeemer entrance fees, so as we didn't have much time, we decided to skip that. We have a flight to catch this afternoon, so we took the bus back and then caught another one to the airport. It may not have been how I pictured my time visiting Rio, but despite the rain, i've still thoroughly enjoyed my time here.