The Girl from Ipanema

There couldn’t be a better place to spend our last few days than in Rio de Janeiro. We have both fallen in love with this place. The people are lovely, the beaches are beautiful, the landscape is tropical and considering it’s winter, the weather is pretty damn good too.

Number one on our list of things to do was to see the iconic Christ of Redeemer and what an incredible creation he is; he towers over the city like a guardian angel.

Rio has to be one of the most beautiful cities in world ❤️

It’s everybodies aim to get the perfect shot of the big C …

Some people take it more seriously than others.

This lady’s effort to get the perfect shot drew more crowds than Christ himself…

*Rewind two hours* I was at the dentist being injected with all kinds of drugs so by the time we arrived at Christ the Redeemer, I was pretty spaced out.

We wandered down to the Pier Mauaand waterfront to see the museum of tomorrow. It was designed by Spanish neofuturistic architect Santiago Calatrava. The main goal when designing this was sustainability, apparently it uses 40% less energy (9% of which is derived from the sun).

But we only saw it from the outside. To get in you have to buy your tickets beforehand online but nobody told us. Welcome to the future…

Number two on our list of things to do was to hike to the top of The Dois Irmãos, (Two Brothers Mountain). To begin the hike you need to pass through one of the cities Favelas. It’s pretty steep so we copped out and got a lift.

The reason why this hike is a must is because it offers a panoramic view of the city, in particular Ipanema beach. Unfortunately by the time we climbed to the top the mountain was almost completely covered in cloud.

I ended up humiliating myself when I began sliding down this slope screaming hysterically. A lovely Greek guy came to my rescue as I was gradually slipping to my death, taking Luke out like a bowling pin on my way.

We decided to have a spot of lunch in one of the Favela’s cafes on the way back down. It also gave me the opportunity to scrape the mud out of my hair and finger nails.

After an ever so slightly traumatising morning, we decided that we deserved an afternoon on Ipenema beach. I was in my element soaking up the sun while Luke napped. Suddenly the monster of all waves came up over the beach and covered both of us dragging our shoes and bags away with it.