The next day was our ferry and transfer to Rio. Rio was great fun and really lovely, as soon as we arrived several of us headed out on a favela tour. We got picked up and taken to the base of a favela before getting on 'taxi bikes' (motorbikes with a helmet that didnt do up and lunatic drivers), but we made it to the top where we had a walking tour back through the favela. This particular favela had only been pacified three weeks before and the drug barron was arrested so there was a lot of military presece around. It was really interesting to see inside and how people live, it was very smelly with rubbish and wires everywhere but you felt pretty safe as a group inside. That evening was the last night of the tour, most people stayed on in Rio a bit longer so I had one extra night in the hotel (in Copacabana) before moving to a hostel in a 10 bed dorm in Ipanema. Seeing as it was the 'last night' (of the tour) we went to Lapa street party which was pretty crazy! There were weird acts and dancing in the street and at around 1:30am we moved onto a club. Apart from Helen getting her necklace ripped off her neck it all seemed pretty safe and was quite a fun night, stumbling back to the hotel after sunrise yet again...The next morning Helen and I had to move rooms so we had to be up at 10 which meant very little sleep that night but we did then go on a city tour of Rio. The city tour started with visiting Christ the Redeemer which was really great and incredible views of Rio. We then went onto a cathedral and some steps that were decorated with lots of coloured ceramics. Then it was up to the top of sugarloaf but unfortunately for us the weather was not great and so it was pretty cloudy by the time we made it up in the two cable cars. I also managed to buy some Havianas at the top of sugar loaf, at a much cheaper price than at home (bought 4 pairs in Brazil in total...to replace a pair that broke on me!). The next day was my last full day in Rio before the horrendous 42 hours to Fiji. That morning I met Zoe and we checked into Che Lagarto Hostel in Ipanema, prior to that I had to sort out my blocked debit card!! Brazil is a nightmare to withdraw cash and so after too many attempts HSBC delightfully blocked my card...managed to get that all sorted and so we spent the morning shopping. That afternoon we had booked tickets to go to a football game - it was literally the craziest thing ever! It was the final game of the season and the crowd was absolutely crazy, there were huge flags that got passed over everyone, drumming, taunting, fireworks and bangers everywhere! The next day I walked from Ipanema to Copacabana along the beach before packing my backpack ready for my 2:30am flight out of Rio to Fiji. The first flight was 7hours from Rio to Panama where I had 3 hours to wander round and managed to buy a new watch to replace my broken 'waterproof' one. After that it was anothr 7 hours to LA where I had 8 and 1/2 hours before the 11 hour flight to Nadi in Fiji. LAX has to be one of the worst airports with absolutely nothing to do, so that was a very boring 8 and 1/2 hours!! The flight into Nadi was delayed by an hour and a half which meant I missed my boat which would get me to the island I wanted to go to at the top of the Yasawa Islands. Lucikly there was another boat that could get me to a different island, South Sea Island, one of the smallest and I had a great time there. I spent the afternoon on the beach sunbathing before one of the staff took me out on a catamaran and taught me how to sail - GREAT fun!!! The next day I made the 5 hour boat ride up to Coral View resort which was a bit more lively than South Sea and I met Hayley on the boat ride up and ended up travelling with her around the rest of the islands until she left 4 days ago. Coral View was a lot of fun, I went on an intro scuba dive (in the Blue Lagoon) and learnt how to ride a jet ski on a snorkelling safari. After two nights at Coral View, the next stop was Korovou Eco Resort, the resort there was pretty basic and we only had one night which was probably a good thing (the only thing 'eco' about it was the lack of power during the day). We did walk 10 mins to the other side of the island where we went snorkelling before moving onto Waya LaiLai Eco Resort. Waya LaiLai was a lot more fun, we had two nights there and th3e first night ended up being pretty messy, Hayley and I both had bottles of duty free spirits and both of those went that night...there was a 5am sunrise walk the following morning and we were still up from the previous night as the walk started. The next day, due to the lack of sleep the previous night, Hayley and I upgraded to a Bure (private room) and went to bed at 8:30pm. Refreshed and ready for the next island, Beachcomber. There were big expectations for Beachcomber becuase everyone raves about it, it was fun but given all the hype not quite what we had expected. It didnt really help that there were a group of Australian graduates taking up most of the island, but again it was another late night partying. Hayley left the next day and I decided to head to Mantaray resort to do my Open Water scuba diving course. Manatary is by far my favourite place yet....I really don't want to leave! For the first two nights I was with 4 girls that I had met on previous islands, the first night was fairly tame but the second it was Jane (one of the girls birthdays) so a fair bit of drinking took place. The following night I was on my own for the first time since I arrived at South Sea Island but I soon met a girl in the bunk opposite me and we headed up for dinner with a bottle of wine. The bottle of wine soon turned into 3, we were drinking with the owner of the resort, my dive instructor and a couple of other members of staff and their friends that were visiting. That night between a group of around 10 of us we got through $1600 (fijian dollars) worth of sambuca alongside lots of other drinks...The next day I had the final dive of my Open Water Course at 8:30am but diving was a brilliant hangover cure until I lost everyone under the water for about 5mins before one of the guys found me, we then got stuck in a really strong current and lost both dive masters so continued our dive, finally popping back up to the surface to see the other heading back in on the beach. The rest of the afternoon was spent nursing my hangover and sitting in the beach bar. Today in my last full day in Fiji and it has rained all day, luckily every other day has been BOILING hot so its not so bad but I really really do not want to leave yet! Tomorrow I have to get to the airport for 6am so I have booked my own room back on the main island which I am very much looking forward to! Unfortunately though, whilst we were on the ferry boat the other day it broke an engine (smoking us out for a while with a burning plastic smell. Not reassuring when the other 2 ferries are also broken due to constant patching up) so it means that it is really delayed and taking a long time to do the journey. The dive course here was so much fun, I managed to do 5 dives in total (3 individual and one 2-tank dive) and have seen loads of fish, about 6 white tip reef sharks and a turtle! I am now back on the mainland in Fiji and having a slight lull after leaving everyone and the Yasawa Islands behind to be off on my own again but have just met a girl who is on my flight tomorrow so things are looking up! It was also slightly weird after two weeks to see cars again and transfer by coach not boat...would much rather be back on Mantaray Island right now but I'm sure New Zealand will be great too!
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