Rio de Janeiro

Mick Høy. My friend, my fellow African survivor, my brother. Thick as thieves, last year we somehow made it through and down the west coast of Africa with him aboard his totally inappropriate bike and dodgy music and my constant questioning of where and when we'll be able to eat some steaks and drink strawberry milkshakes? At the time no question it was tough but even we realised that it was probably the adventure of a lifetime. Much more so than my RTW09 and probably even this year’s effort. It’s only when reading my old blog entries or speaking with friends and family about some of the scrapes that we got ourselves in and out of that it becomes apparent. Avoiding arrest in Togo, illegally entering and subsequently trying to get out of Senegal, nearly seriously crippling ourselves on a volcano in Cameroon, damaging and repairing a bruised Tenere after losing out to a cow in Burkina Faso, being questioned and accused of being spies/terrorists in Nigeria by ‘officials,’ bribery, illness, robbery, virtual kidnap and alcohol poisoning in Johannesburg by some far right Afrikaans the list goes on and on... So then my biggest disappointment at not being able to share beers and stories with a now seemingly settled Mick in Santiago was gone as a holiday with his new girlfriend Lillian to Rio de Janeio gave us the chance of just that. He knew that I was coming of course but his face when he spotted me staring at him in the hostel reception was priceless. Much hugging and smiles later the five of us headed out to a local bar for beers and some. R$445 (£170) was the bill after a mammoth session that left me shattered for the next day’s tourist activities. Only a night and breakfast was spent with Mick and Lillian as they headed off to Isla Grande to recover. Mick I’ll be seeing you again my friend...somewhere.
The second day’s tourist activities allowed me to up my photo count which has been falling recently and consisted of a recommended old rickety tram ride up through the hills which was fun and of course a visit to see the big JC statue overlooking the city. Er, not quite overlooking the city on this day though as like my first visit to Table Mountain me and the main attraction were buried within the clouds. Oh well, I guess complaining about it would just be similar to spending the night with Kelly Brook only for her to leave her top on. You know what it looks like but it would be nice to see for yourself...