We are loving Rio and have thoroughly enjoyed our week here. There is so much to see and the athmosphere is great with all the preparations for the Carnaval. We went to the Sambadromo on Sunday night to view the first practice run of two famous Samba schools. There were 30,000 locals there watching with us. This is the only chance for many of them to see their Carnaval heroes life as this is a free show. The tickets for the real show are way beyond their means - sadly. A lot of the famous dancers come from the Favelas. It was brilliant and I could not see any other tourists around. Amazing talent and passion. How can they last for so long in their ridiculously high heels??? And the heat in these concrete arenas was unbelievable - I kept asking the drinks guys to pour water over my head. They all went totally bananas. I had more fun watching them than the action on the samba route. Fascinating. No pictures as it was not safe enough to take a camera but trust me, the girls were delicious. I had no idea how quickly a bum can wiggle! We watched 2 samba schools dance past, each of them must have over 2,000 dancers. It is an unforgettable experience. Samba!