Ipanema to Leblon this evening.

Back at the beach.

Return to Ipanema.

OK, I've tried to put up with the all-night street noise, the scratchy nylon sheets and the constant slight fear of being a crime statistic (the recent armed raid on a hostel that made the news - in which residents were intimidated with grenades, tied-up and had their belongs stolen - happened around the corner); but waking-up to a cockroach the size of a rodent waving at me from the bedside cabinet was the last straw.

I've got out of the Copacabana apartment - at least for the few days of Carnival - and am now renting a great little place one block back from the beach in Ipanema. It's perfect. It came my way through someone I met here, and I plan to rent it again in the future. 

What was I saying about meeting great people here?

Ipanema, 7pm this evening.

Returned to a clearer, cooler and less humid Rio than we left behind last week. 

Perfect.

It's great to be back.