Her name was Lola..she was a showgirl...

Ok, so I´m reading my ´journal´which I write in every night to remind me of what went down. However, due to my state of innebriation, it appears I am unable to read my own writing so I´m going to have to try and remember the night´s events (Sunday). We began at a pay-by-the-kilo restaurante, which was more hinder than help as we got a little too greedy and thought we could consume 750g worth of food...After about half a kilo we were strugging and so paid for more than we ate...damn! We then went home for a nap til about 9 (great thing about S.America - no one goes out until at least 11pm!), then headed into Lapa (the King´s Cross of Rio), where we hijacked a group of Swedes cos they looked like they spoke English and maybe knew where they were going...they did speak English, but didn´t so much know where they were going!! So we wandered the streets aimlessly drinking Skol (the resident Rio beer - bit cat-pee tasting but does the job!)

We agreed to meet up with the Swedes in July and left in search of food. After the best burger I´ve ever tasted, and a few chats and photos with the people who cooked them, we headed home just in time for breakfast it seems (that is, after a dance party for two in our hotel room!).

After sleeping until 3pm, we headed to Copacabana (yes, I had the song in my head the entire time!). Its a nice beach, but being Australian I think we´re a bit spoiled and it wasn´t quite as luxurious as we´d thought it would be. Some random guy comes up and asked Jem if she´d like some marajuana, to which she replies ´Very well thankyou!´and he walks off. Apparently we don´t even understand English over here!!!

There were random street parties everywhere and little kids dressed up as their favourite cartoon characters! We tried this pancake thingy called Tapioca (I´m sure everyone already knows what it is, but we had no idea!) and went home to have another nap before heading to the Sambadromo.

We didn´t need to buy tickets - there were people swarming all around the dome and we could sit on a bridge and watch the parade, plus mix with the locals which you couldn´t do inside. People who bought tickets to the grandstands (about US$40 upwards) said they got bored after a while cos they couldn´t walk around so we decided to mix with the plebs and watch the shiny people from the street. There were floats of penguins, books, feathers, glittery stuff, padding, so many shiny things you can´t even imagine!!! We also ate the most amazing hotdog - with peas and corn and mayo and sauce and salsa - the food here is so good!!!

The dancing paraders were using a combination of side step, bouncing and twirling, but they dance at any given opportunity! Everyone´s so happy and overtly sexual, there are lady boys everywhere and people dressed in nappies (?) don´t ask us...and so many high heels and shiny clothes!

Anyway, we must be off cos Jem´s being told off for banging her mouse cos it doesn´t work so until next time my fellow adventurers!