Our flight to Salvador was at 1:30 am! Gero had taken us to the airport quite early, so quietly waited for the flight time. It was our 3rd TAM flight, actually we did not have much expectations from TAM Air but it resulted to be an excellent airline. The flight left right on time for Salvador via Rio de Janeiro. We had purchased a Brazilian TAM Airpass which allowed us to fly 4 flights for only 560 USD, with all the taxes included! There are two hours difference between Sao Paulo and Manaus, so we changed our time, however very interestingly Salvador was 3 hours back of Manaus, even though it was on the more east then west!!! We arrived in Salvador and headed to our hotel, Ibis Rio Vermelho on a taxi cab. Our hotel was just on the beachfront, 
by Rio Vermelho district and it was on promotion. We loved our hotel, took some rest after the long flight, took our stuff to the laundry and walked around...We had 3 days in Salvador, so we took it easy. The next day, we bought a city bus tour to the historic center of Pelurinho, the areas of Barra, the lighthouse, Mercado Modelo, the elevator, Bomfim Church Area and the greater Salvador. It was very beautiful, especially the Afro-Brasilian people and the Mercado Area were just cheerful. 
The tour made a stop before the Bomfim church for the best ice cream in town, so after I fueled up with a great chocolate ice cream, I was able to catch the great sunset from the top of the elevator, overlooking the bay of Bahia. I had some trocitos to my hair, though it is quite short, she did quite a good job. I took a colectivo back home to the hotel. The city is full of young vibrant people, the bars and cafes are just full,
fresh tropical fruit juices are available everywhere, people are of a great mix, ladies have big butts but they don´t care about what they wear, everybody wear flip flops etc...They have a nice music culture too, due to the great blend of people...The next day,we just took it easy, had rest and went to the airport for our flight to Rio de Janeiro. Rio has a population of 11 million people, which 5 million of them live in the city center. Upon arrival to Rio de Janeiro, we took a city bus which took us to the city for only 6,5 Reais...(Real Auto Bus).The ride was quite comfy and it took about
1 hour! We had arrived there on a Saturday, so the beachfront was pretty busy. When we arrived in Rio, it took quite ugly, there were lots of meaningless brown buildings, a smell of sewage and signs of poverty everywhere until we reached the real ¨Centro¨ of the city. I realized that the streets were very nice and clean. The city is basically divided into two as centro and the beachfront but they are quite intertwined in the daily life.
The bus dropped us after Copacabana, at Ipanema, which is one of the most beautiful beaches of Rio. We looked for a hotel for some 15 minutes until we see the great hotel of Vermont in front of us! The hotel had cable TV and breakfast for like 65 USD per person...Brazil was the most expensive country during our tour so far, so for some splurge, we paid that much, though the hotel was very pleasantly located which was well worth the money we paid...First thing we did was to eat at the restaurant where the famous song ¨The girl from Ipanema¨ was composed. The food was very good but we could not get the honky ponky fiery sizzling meat like our Italian table neighbors! We took a walk and had our first day in Rio...
The next day, we thought spending the day on the beach would be a great idea, so we had some good breakfast and went to the beach Posto 9. We got some water, our beach towels, some 10 reais and headed to the beach, as we were continuously warned to be alarmed against the pickpocketers and local gangs. It was soo packed, we rented a parasol(umbrella) and left our tired bodies to the treatment of the sun! However, as the sun was very very generous to us and we were not very careful about the time of the day and sun lotion, we got burnt at the end of the day!!! We got so much burnt that we became all red and had hard time sleeping that 
night!!! If it´is Rio´s sun, beware!!!! We also went to the Sunday Hippi Market at Ipanema to see the artesanias, rhe handicrafts...We decided to buy a book for our Central America tour, so we took a local bus to the center. As Lonely Planet suggested, we found the bookshop and bought the book. Then we decided to go to Pao De Acucar (Sugar Loaf) Hill which was 395 mts. high from the city. We waited for bus number 107 on the wrong spot about 15 mins, then we walked to the right spot and went
to the cable car entrance. They charge 35 Reais for the ride to Pao de Acucar and you change the cable cars twice. It was full of American cruise ship passengers who were very excited about being there!!! The view from the top of the hill was spectacular and I understand why this place was that famous...After Pao de Acucar, we came down decided to have a visit to Santa Teresa, which is the artistic and bohemian part of the town. It was pretty colorful and lovely, so we walked down the Santa Teresa Hill. In the evening, we spent the night quietly...We spent the last day in Rio separately as I decided to climb onto the Christ Redentor, which was chosen as one of the new 7 wonders of the world. I took the bus to the Corcovado, and took the train
to the top of Corcorvado Hill, which has an elevation of 760 mts. I had a picture taken there and took some great pics from the top of the hill...On the way back, I took a local bus back home. We had a flight at 22:30 to Mexico City the very same night, so we spent a little time on the internet and took the Real Auto Bus to the airport for our American Airlines flight to Miami and changed over to Mexicana. However, AA got some delay and we missed our direct flight at 7:00, so they put us to the flight at 8:00 which was flying via Cancun!! It was nice to see Cancun´s airport before Mexico City...We arrived in Mexico City at 11:30, but at least safe and sound...
Brazil was the last country in our trip to South America. As of 13th of February, we were leaving the continent with all the good memories, hard journeys and the beauties in our pockets...I knew that I would always want to come back here, hoped to come back here with my whole heart...Next chapter: Giant metropolis of Mexico City, DF, mariachis, Corona, tequila, tacos, fajitas, quesadillas, frijoles...Oh, I got excited:))))
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