Half asleep at the airport the next morning, Peter ordered an orange juice and ended up with a ham and cheese sandwich, but customs was a breeze and we were quickly shoved in a ride to our hostel when we arrived in Rio De Janeiro. Lagoa Guest House was a teeny tiny little white house in the middle of the city, surrounded on all sides by huge apartment blocks that towered over the little building. First thing we did in Brazil was, of course, DRINK. We were here for carnival after all! Plus who can turn down an incredibly strong ‘welcome drink’ Caipirinha. Once we had settled in, our first stop was Copacabana Beach.
Our first few hours in Brazil and we are in a bus accident. Another bus driver drove into the back of our bus as soon aas we had stepped on! Not exactly a good omen but it was exciting at least…We were a little confused but everybody was friendly and helpful, gesturing for us to wait outside the bus until were were eventually on the road again. I think we first realised how craazy Brazil was when the other bus took off without a word to our driver about the accident, just carrying on with his day.
Copacabana Beach was mindblowing – people were absolutely everywhere. A large proportion of these people were huge women in teensy weensy little g-string bikinis and old men sitting in bars in their speedos. We picked up our tickets for carnival, took a look at the beautiful Copacabana Fort, got dressed up and headed to a Scala ball.
Peter was – his words – patted down by a big black man at the door, and then we were in. We had a great time. The ball looked like a high school prom, we met a great canadian couple living in Cuba and danced all night.
Until next time,
Erika xx
THE ONLY ERIKA IN THE VILLAGE 