Niterói

Gotta say we were both really nervous going into Rio.

It's a theme in South America that everyone warns you about the next country, next town, saying that you'll get robbed, they'll steal your phone, etc, but with Rio, literally EVERYONE we met was warning us over and over again and we didn't know what to expect.

It took us a few days to feel more comfortable, and we did take extra precautions, especially with it being Carnaval, but we did not feel unsafe or threatened.

Quite the contrary, actually, Rio is a reeeeally cool town. The vibe is amazing. The people seemed very happy and fun-loving, and it is unbelievably gorgeous.

It's a unique geography, with the bay and the surrounding mountains, which are absolutely covered in dense, vibrant, deep green vegetation.

The views from Sugarloaf and Corcovado mountains are amazing, the christ the redeemer statue is on every tourists list (of course), and the carnaval was so much fun!

They completely shut down sections of the city, even some of the main avenues for the 'blocos' (huge, themed, block parties) - there are about 400 blocos during the week of carnaval.

We found some costumes to get in to the full swing of the party, and we had a blast!

And the sambadrome was absolutely amazing. All of the samba schools of Rio compete in a massive stadium, they dress up to absolute nines in the classic carnaval colours, feathers, glitter, and dance their way through this massive arena with huge, brightly-coloured, parade floats and the scale of it is hard to describe. It is absolutely amazing and one of our highlights here for sure.

All said and done, we kind of wish we had more time, just for the fact that we were a bit anxious coming here at first. But once we got used to the beautiful madness that is Rio de Janeiro, we loved every second of it and we can not wait to be back!Read more