Best start ever!

---

So finally we're here! And what a start we've had...

After waiting for hours and only slept as hort while at Arlanda we were excited to check in. Well there, they tell us our flight to Rio from Parisis cancelled! Great start fro sureand after dealing with Air France we found out another flight will depart 01.50am the following day instead of our 10.15am...(due to the pilot strike in France - those French people!) Hmm, what shall we do 14 h at Charles de Gaulle? - Head into town of coure!

Lahib's (my travelling friend for you who doesn't know) uncle lives there so we contacted him and spen ta brilliant day there. Hussein and his wife were wonderful and so nice. We had a traditional French meal (croissants, pain du chocolats etc) and hit the town with him as our peronal guide. We walked for hours and saw everything you should see in Paris. Unexpected, but really lovely first stop on our trip!
After having had a great dinner (everything soo French - I love it!) it was time to hit the airport again. Hussein offered us a ride and that was when the adventure started...To give you a brief summary here:

The motorway was closed so after driving around for an hour we had to tae the train out anyway so we returned to a metrostation downtown (I started to get a little worried when Hussein started swearing in French...) and ran to a train, but didn't make it (luckily we resalised after because it was the wrong one!). Using all of our old school-french we managed to get on the right one, it didn't go all the way out though because now the strike had hit the localtraffic (after mid night...), after running around like crazy on the platform we found out that a bus will take us out there. Waiting for ages for it to leave and omg, how long it took to finally reach the airport. To let you know, by this stage i waqs hsaking with fear of missing the flight (we ere already checked in, but had to be at the gate for boarding which started 00.55), time said 01.25 when we FINALLY arrived there. We ran like never before to another train to take us to th eright terminal (everyone we met on our way just shook their heads and felt sorry for us, but we were determined to make it!). Ran through the security control, and arrived at the gate which had closed. The plane was still there though and efter many minutes o nervous waiting they finaly let us on! Our adrenaline levels were still so high though so we started running to the entrance of the plane until the staff tld us sternly to calm down, we will get on in time...

So we arrived in Rio de Janeiro on Tue morning after a great flight (my sfear of flying has disappeared strangely enough, but after THAT intro, how could you possibly be scared of turbulence?). Thanks to CouchSurfing we've had an outstanding time in Rio! We stayed at a guy called Daneil's place. He had left the key with the doorman so made ourselver at home before we even met himm (felt a littl estrange). He lived very central in te flamengo area. During our lunh that day in a self service restaurant we bumbed into a Brazilian guy hwo we soon became friends with. Begue showed us around the local area, tool us to a famous stairs (with the very special creater of this master piece), we took th etram ang hanged out from it crossing a (high) bridge (very dangerous actually, but plenty of fun!) and showed us the centre. Brilliant first impression. Then we met Daniel, with whom we soon created a great connection. Had a lovely dinner but headed for bed soon after (the trip was quite exhaistng with the 12 h flight...).

Wed was supposed to contain a tour around Rio, but because of misscommunication with our contact person and the rain not much of it happened. We had to see Copacabana of coure despite th erain and i took a picture of Lahib thre that will go to history! I will never doubt my camera-skills again!:-)
In the eve we cooked for Daniel and his mum who was on visit from their hometown Natal (north). Had a brilliant time and i loved his mum, so interesting woman, well educated and funny! Went out dancing forro (brazilian dance) in a place in Lapa (great area for nightlife!) which was so much fun! Because i know a little salsa before i picked it up quite fast and was sweating on the dancefloor with so many people. Love the music!

On Thur we headed out to Petropolis (a nearby city, or village for the brasilians...) with a group of CSers. We met a great girl from Aus, Olivia, who we had loads of fun with, great energy! All the CSers were so nice there and the whole day was brilliant. Went to a museum, church, restaurant (where we had traditional meat and ate for hours! Yes, I know, my past diet won't be possible to have here because of all the meat avalable all the time, the only option in many places...), a cafe etc. Daniel's mum was wth us too and we had a great chat about movies and books (she id a great fan of a really famous Swedish director). Went to a hiphop concert in the eve with greats rythms. We really shook some ass!;-)

Fri (our last day) was meant to be an intense day visiting all the highlights of Rio and we did a very good job. The Christ statue was impressive and what a great view we had from there! Saw the bohemian area Santa Teresa from that very same old tram (great ride!) as the first day. Met up with Vinicius, another CSer we met in Petropolis, who showed us around with his car. We had a blast with him! So funny and genuinely nice guy! We went to Niteroi (nabour city of Rio across the bay) and saw and old fort there (fascinating history), had an acai (yummy juice!), went to another peak fr a brilliant view, tried exotic fruits and so much more! Later in the eve we headed back to Ipanema to have a beer (Devassa mulata, great brazilian type!) and chill out. Daniel joined us and we had a great eve the four of us! Sad to have to tae the last pics with them...:-( I went out with the guys (Lahib was too tired by this stage) t a Zuki-prty on Copacabana (too hard for me to dance that though...), great atmosphere!

Left early on Sat and saida very sad good bye to Daneil, who we both have grown fond of now. Took the bus down to Ubatuba, a city on the coast between Rio and Sao Paolo. It is a totally different experience, now we are in the 'real' Brazil, meeting the locals. I like the city and the beach we are living on (sharing a big house) is wonderful! Takes an hour by bus from Ubatuba so more locals than tourists there (which i am soo happy for!). Annika is our contact here (the mum of one of Laib's friends) and she has organised so many things for us. Brilliant woman and i´m sure we´ll have a greta tme here. Use the time to finally relax and experiencing some high class nature (the beaches and jungle all around are unreal!). Had a swim in the sea this morning and saw the sun almost for the fist time (to put it like this: i am still as white as when we arrived six days ago! So imagine how desperate i am now to get some colour!).

So that is the first pdate for you guys, hope you enjoyed it! (have a hard time writing a blog both in Swedish and English!)

Take care all of you and a BIG kiss from a (much) warmer climate!

A gringo

Ps. Sorry for all the spelling mistakes, I won´t bother correcting them...:-)

---