You sound like you could be an actress...

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Hello Everyone,

Well its been a very eventful first few days of my little South American adventure. The flight to Rio was hectic enough in itself. At one point I was sat waiting at Heathrow waiting for Amy and Rosie to arrive and was told that they wouldn't make the connection due to their flight being delayed. At that moment my heart sank. I mean I'm relying on Rosie for her language skills and Amy for her ability to restrain potential muggers to get me through the next few months! The thought of me alone in Rio did not make me happy at all....But alas, after some pretty special running through terminal 5 from the girls, and a delay with our flight, they made it.

In the queue for the plane we met our very first Brazilian man (thankfully he wasn't a sign of things to come). He was rather rotund and slightly pissed. He engaged us in conversation regarding our trip, and commented that I must be an actress as I announciate so well. I told him it's just because I was from the South and therefore sound a bit posh but I don't think he quite got it. Flight was uneventful (no turbulance thank god) and I got in some good movie viewing (Salt, Despicable Me, The Karate Kid!). When we arrived in Rio, there was further trauma as Rosie's bag got lost in the mix. However, we later found out it was still at Heathrow and at this very moment in time is on a flight to Rio and so should be with her shortly.

Our hostel is very nice, cosy and with a good atmosphere. The dog Charlie is a gem, and the staff very helpful. At least we know we've got some accommodation to look forward to over Christmas and New Year (where we will be joined by another 897 member - Laura!!).

The first couple of days in Rio have mainly consisted of getting very hot (its 30 degrees baby) and becoming acquainted with the local area. Saw my first glimpse of Christ Redeemer and felt a little bit moved (not in a gay way). Just had that overwhelming feeling of 'I can't believe i'm in bloody Rio.' We successfully had our first taste of local transport today - we decided to be adventurous and take the bus to find the bus station to book tickets for our journey to Salvador. What an experience. Bloody mental driving - I now know how Sandra Bullock felt in Speed when the bus wasn't allowed to go below 50mph! But we made it safely and gave ourselves a well deserved high five on arrival at our destination (to then find that we'd actually gone to the complete wrong bus station). Not the only stupid thing i've done since arriving but for those of you who know me well, i'm sure that won't surprise you!

In terms of people, Rio is quite possibly the most diverse place I've been too. Everyone is so different, a real bizarre mix of the body beautiful and just downright weird. My strangest sight so far (shared with Amy) was of an extremely tonk (that word is for you Owen) man with his top off pulling a bin covered in pictures of porn down the street. It seems in Rio anything goes. We've not done much in the way of sightseeing as we're saving that all for Laura's arrival. But so far, it's bloody amazing.

The next stage of the plan is to head on to Salvador and attempt to develop a tan and hopefully pick up some Portugese (Obrigado is starting to wear a bit thin now). So....tomorrow morning we're going to rock up at the bus station (the right one this time) and hop on a 24 hour bus! So....wish us luck!

Be in touch again soon,

Tasha xx

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