Rio de Janeiro was where I rounded up my seven month trip, and perhaps that is why I still have a sense of having unfinished business with the place: I didn’t feel like it was really time to leave. Or, maybe it was one of these reasons: 1- When booking our ticket we thought Great! August! Summer!, forgetting that Rio is in the Southern Hemisphere. Yes, we didn’t really think about that whole tricky hemisphere thing. I mean, you’d just assume Brazil would be warm, wouldn’t you? Well, it’s not. We had two days of sun during which we sat on the beach sipping coconuts and praying we’d get tans (we didn’t) so that we wouldn’t have the embarrassment of returning home after our epic journey with the same pasty skin we left with (we did). Also most of the major sights in Rio i.e. going up Sugarloaf Mountain, seeing Christ the Redeemer, paragliding onto Copacabana Beach... require sunlight and clear skies to do them justice. So we didn’t do them. Hence, we slipped into living a life of luxury... 2- I didn’t get a full Brazilian Wax.So, instead of being cultural, we thought “When in Brazil...” and went to a nearby salon. ...

"Are you sure this is Rio?" No sign of Christ the Redeemer atop Corcovado, Sugarloaf Mountain nowhere to be seen, a definite lack of spectacular vistas. This was Rodoviaria Novo Rio, the main bus terminal, and our guide book's description had summed it up perfectly. Seedy. This was one of Rio's faces not displayed in the glossy magazines. Our faces, on the other hand, must have shown disappointment; tired and confused after our long, cramped bus journey.We'd arrived at the start of Rio's 13th annual Gay Pride Parade. Not intentionally, but this was how it had worked out. As our taxi slowly made its way through the crowded streets of Copacabana we stared, speechless, at the throngs descending onto the beach along promenades awash with colour. Funk Carioca (dance music originating in Rio), techno, house, electro and pop music boomed from gigantic speakers loaded onto 'trios electricos'. Feeling rather conservatively dressed we joined the million or so people, the flamboyant paraders who'd 'come out' for this mammoth event. It was a case of 'anything goes' - the sculpted, tanned bodies of Rio's beautiful people scantily clad in resplendent costumes. Costumes which screamed 'Gay and Proud' for the world to see. ...