Sugar loaf mountain

Awoke to a beautiful day. Feeling tired after yesterdays walking but Julio said was the perfect day to do sugar loaf.
Walked to Urca (25 mins) and got tickets (R62), went up first cable car and the views were stunning! Without doubt the most beautiful city I've ever visited... the combination of beaches and mountains is breathtaking.
Suddenly we were surrounded by tons of little monkeys who were quite happy to pose for photos...think Anna wants a new pet.
Took the second cable car to the top and wandered around the paths through the trees. Had a pay by weight fruit salad which was lush to revive us in the heat.
Contrary to many guidebooks, we both rated sugar loaf as far better than Christ Redeemer - helped by the sunshine no doubt but also there is more space to wander so it doesn't feel so touristy and just another place to tick off the list.
Took a bus to Centro as Julio was doing a Capoeira performance. Took a while but eventually found them under a pretty archway doing their thing. Didn't see Juilio though.
Took metro (4R) back and wandered to start of Ipanema beach (4km) and back.
Chose a place to eat on the beach near the end of Copacabana but they didn't have the first two things we tried to order. So walked to next one about 100 yards away which was across the invisible border to Leme and prices were a third cheaper for exactly the same food! Crazy. Poty Leme soon became our fave place to eat. Rice, beans, farofa (toasted flour mix) and tomato & onion vinaigrette cost R16 and was enough to share (the waiter actually told us to share whereas the previous place laughed at us for wanting to share food). About £3! Plus a further £1 each for the obligatory coconut :) And Brazil is supposed to be the most expensive county on our list...bodes well.Read more