When my baby smiles at me I go to Rio!

Couldn´t help the title - can´t help singing it as well!!

We were wise this time and got a flight instead of hauling ourselves through another 24 hour bus ride. Our butts just couldn´t take it!

Us at Maracana stadium

As we were a week ahead of schedule we decided to head a little further north for a few days to a place called Buzios. The plan was to spend some time chilling out and swimming. The chilling out happened as the water was freezing. You would need a 5mm wetsuit to get in that water! We found out that at this time of the year a cold current comes through from Argentina consequently making the water a balmy 15 degrees. Brrrr! It was rather frustrating as the water was beautiful and clear and the air temperature was around 30. Chris was brave and jumped in but when I saw how fast he got out there was no way I was getting in.

Us with the big fella

The coastline is stunning with gorgeous protected coves, white sand and torquise water. Even though it was beautiful, we only spent 2 days here and instead decided to head back to Rio with the plan of finding warm water.

We originally planned to Stay in Ipanema, however, as we were a week early and it was a long weekend in Brazil, our hotel couldn´t put us up. We quickly looked up our trusty hostel booking site and found the only double room available in Copacabana and took it!!

Ipanema beach

Copacabana is justifiably the most famous city beach in the world. It really is stunning with 4.5km´s of fluffy white sand, bluffs at each end and beautiful people everywhere in tiny swimsuits. What scenery. The only thing detracting from the beauty of the beach is the concrete jungle behind it. It´s a bit of a dive and unsafe at night. During the day though it was totally fine.

Ipanema beach sunset

Ipanema from above

After a few nights we were able to get into our original hotel in Ipanema, so we changed camps. What a difference this made to our experience. Ipanema is a lot nicer with cafes, bars and live music. The beach is better too, with cleaner water and less dodgy people. Amazing what only a couple of hundred meters makes!! Copa and Ipanema are separated by a rocky point.

We spent a day on each beach sunning ourselves, however, the water was still freezing!! So swimming was pretty much out of the question, sunbathing and getting sunburnt was not!!! (After living in England for so long I think our skin has forgotten what sun is!)

We spent a day going up to Corcovado with Christ the Redeemer looking over with his arms stretched out over the city. From here we could appreciate why Rio is considered one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Surrounded by lush green mountains, perfect white sand and islands off the shoreline. Truly amazing.

We were also able to catch a local football match between two Rio teams, Vasco and Botafogo, at Maracana stadium. The stadium is impressive. Holding 100,000 people at capacity; it would be a fantastic venue to watch a packed out event.

Vasco supporters

The game we were at had 23,000 people, however it sounded like over 60,000!! The fans certainly are passionate. Each teams supporters end had drums, flags and occasionally let off flares in their teams colours. It was a spectacle that´s for sure and one we won´t forget for a while. We were almost tempted to stay in Rio for a few more days to come back to Maracana, where Brazil were going to play Uruguay in a friendly match. Instead, we watched it on the telly in a bar in Salvador. It looked like it would have been amazing to be there!!

The happy couple

Our efforts to find warmer water culminated in being told about the state of Bahia, the capital being Salvador which is in the North East. We have decided to go there and then find a tropical island to rest our weary travellers feet.

When my baby smiles at me I go to Rio!

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil