STILL SINGING IN THE RAIN! I GO TO RIO...

Day 280

Rio de Janeiro, Brasil (Brazil to us), South America

It~s so hot here! 34C but HIGH humidity! It~s hot, yet it~s raining!!!!

We wanna go to the beach......

On the way here from the airport, that was one of the fist things we saw! A sign saying COCOCABANA! Imagine....right there, Cococabana....THE famous beach!

It still surprises me that here we are..in Rio. In South America.

In fact, it still surprises me that we~re still travelling around the world..nine months later...it~s just the greatest thing, to be able to do this!

We didn~t go to the beach today tho...

We spent today catching up on the last week of long flights and lost sleep!

At breakfast this morning we met a few of the others who are here in the hostel...all friendly, we~re the mama and papa here but that~s ok...it~s like being in a family! And it really is..we have to wait for the other~s to finish their showers...as it~s a shared shower.

There are five showers and about 25 of us staying at the hostel! Weird too, ALL toilet paper has to go into the bin..NONE to go in the toilet. It~s been like this in most of the places in South America..which says something about their plumbing system doesn~t it....

And then after breakfast..we slept and read all day!!! Under the fan in our room..which is an essential (air con would be nice..but you pay a lot for that in Rio!). The heat is knocking us out! Even hotter than in the galapagos...which was more of a dry heat. Here it~s a humid and sticky heat! And we~re on malaria tabs..so we can~t be in the sun too much, apparently! (I beg to differ, but Greg insists - no sun!!!)

I finished one of the books i found in the hostel library called, My Antonia by Willa Carter which is a story about a pioneering woman of the Midwest America. Was good to escape in the story!

That~s one thing about hostels...there are usually heaps of books to read! I also found Under the Tuscan Sun which I~m reading now...we saw the movie in Perth last year. Make me want to spend a year in away! haha Just kidding..but maybe next time, we acutally will have the year away in the one spot rather than all over the place like we are now!

Can~t believe we~re thinking like that and we~re not even home after this year yet! We also want to come back to South America..there is no way we can see what we want to see on this leg of our trip...and there is SO much to see here. As you can tell, we~ve been meserised by this country..it~s so beautiful. So colourful. So friendly. SO FANTASTIC!!!!!

We also found a book in the library..all about Brasil..so we~ve been devouring that as well...

The name, Rio de Janeiro is Portuguese for "River of January"!

The naming of Rio dates back to the 1st January 1502 when Portuguese ships sailed past Sugar Loaf mountain into Guanabara Bay and they saw the fast current coming out of the bay was actually a river mouth....and that~s what they entered into their ship~s log books...^The River of January^....Rio de Janeiro in Portuguese.

Tonight we went to a different restaurant..Last night dinner..which was black beans as a first course, chicken, rice (aroz) and fritas (fries) and a beer each (local one called Brahms) cost us 22 Reais..

And tonight..it cost us double but we were in a more classier restaurant...it was indoors!!!! We ordered FRANGO because we knew frango in Portuguese was chicken....and this time it came with a sauce! (the sauce was a surprise) We really just get a portuguese phrase book! We HAVE to have something other than chicken sometime!!!!

We also found a supermarket in the same street...so we~re home and hosed. We have a supermarket and a self catering hostel, so...can cook if we want to, but the food is so cheap we~re not sure that we want to! We~re getting spoilt..no cooking....geepers!

Tomorrow..we do start exploring more..and will also look for a laundry!

Still singing...

When my baby
When my baby smiles at me
I go to Rio
De Janeiro