So here we are.....it's Saturday 14th October....and we're off, Hannah, Pedro and I, to Rio by the Sea'o......first stop the antiques area around Rua Lavradio, for a spot of very nice but fairly pricey mid century modern....some repro and some original.....very friendly and free triple strength coffee....oh and luxurious toilets according to Hannah.....I'm sort of half on crutches so I don't get to go to toilets.....

.....then onward to Copacabana beach, down Avenida Rainha Elizabeth where Rich Cooper and I borrowed an apartment in '87, with a view towards Copa beach one way and Ipanema beach the other.....how's that for a location!!! ....oh sorry, and then along Ipanema beach, then Leblon and past the mouth of the favela at Vidigal, which Rich and I were shown round in '87 and where about half of " City of God " was shot.....if you haven't seen the follow up TV series "City of Men" check it out......puts most TV worldwide to shame. Good old On the Video Front has it in Bath. (Hello Phil!!!). (....and Tone obviously.) So above is Hannah at a beach bar at Barra de Tijuca which is further out again.....now all high rises but 20 years ago barely anything higher than the odd 3 storey condo, one of which Rich and I stayed in back then.

Pedro dittoing. He drove for eleven hours solid this day and only broke down a couple of times. I hate to see a grown man cry. Hannah on the other hand quite likes it.
.....and some twat trying to get in on the act....there's always one, isn't there......all this one needs is a kiss-me-quick hat and a stick of rock and he'd be right at home in t'Blackpool.....oh and a left fibula that works.....
Hannah trying to hurl herself out of the car window at a Brasilian on a bike.....what on earth happens to women out here???

OK OK OK OK.....This is Pao de Acucar, the Sugarloaf with a cablecar en route in the distance.....don't forgot that by the magic of clicking you can make the photos bigger, or is it just it makes them come closer so they look bigger. I don't know. I don't.
.....see, same caption as the previous pic, but closer, or is it bigger? Or you can make it seem closer by making it bigger. Or the other way around. It's not the size that counts, but whether it's closer or not. Or bigger. Jenny Eclair said that all that stuff about size not mattering was crap....if all you can do is rub it around the edges, it's no earthly good to anyone. I'm not sure that we're not at cross purposes here. So I'll stop.
......this pic deserves blowing up.....that sounds weird I know....are we at cross purposes again I wonder. No, on reflection it's a photographic term meaning " to make bigger ", or an ordnance term meaning "to make very very small pieces of ". So, I don't know what any of this blogsite is about anymore. It's really become just holiday snaps of some twat and his lovely daughter ponceing about a third world country, with inane captions that don't make sense.
Sounds good to me. Let's get on......Pao de Acucar is in Urca, which is a very nice and safe area to live.....above is the view across the bay from Urca towards Botafogo and Flamengo.....nice marina too....but not quite so safe to live......
.....and talking of not quite so safe to live, here is Rocinha, Rio's biggest and dodgiest favela......I have to say that my visit to Vidigal in '87 was a very positive experience, but they do have their off days too! It's said that in the '90s the drug gangs just owned outlets in the favelas, but now they own the favelas themselves.....

......here a view of the ground level below the favela at Rocinha......
....and this is a pic I took as we ran away across the 12 mile long bridge across Guanabara bay to Niteroi and back to the Lagoons region and Saquarema where it's all safe and cuddly and snug....unless you go to the shops to buy a loaf of bread and it's been raining and you fall over even when you're being very very careful and very very observant and you've done walking about on your own before and everything and you fall over a completely flat pavement and break your fucking leg. This really can happen. Especially (apparently) when you get really pissed the night before on cans of Itaipava lager and you're judgement is impaired. (Apparently).
.......a difficult hair day in Guanabara Bay??? Hannah braves it with a smile....in fact she braves most things with a smile......
......but not the state of this Sharpei spotted in Saquarema on the scrounge....it's a 2 thousand pound dog in the UK but here is presumably thought to be worthless..... Hannah is aiming to kidnap it on her return here in a few weeks and probably kick the owners head in too.....Hurrah for Hannah!!