Oi From Rio . . .

Oi everyone! I´m in Rio! Isn´t that kind of crazy. I still can´t believe that I`m actually here. We pulled into Salvador on Tuesday. I haven`t seen much of Salvador yet, but it looked really cool. Exactly what you would expect from a Latin American city if you imagined one - colorful buildings, clothing, and people among a buzz of activity. Anyways, I had made loose plans to join my friends A.J. and Chad (from Texas) in Rio on Sunday. When I was planning this trip, I never intended to go to Rio in Brazil. I had even made plans to go to Lencois (a national park) before the voyage even started. But, after spending time in the jungle in Venezuela, heading to a city sounded more appealing than going back out into the wilderness. I still haven´t recovered from the Venezuelan mosquitos. Anyways, the boys had a hotel room booked but no plane tickets. So, we headed to the airport and booked a flight for around five that evening. It took a little time to set up, but it all worked out well and we were in Rio by around 7 p.m. Our hotel is a charming old European boutique hotel right on the main drag on Cococabana Beach. Our room has three beds, so that worked out perfectly since the boys were pretty convincingly threatening that I was going to have to sleep on the floor. Anyways, we have had a great time hanging around, checking things out, going to the beach and doing lots of eating, drinking, and partying. I personally am having a little shopping problem. They have such great stores here. We went to a big jewelry manufacturer and took a tour yesterday. I like to buy jewelry on vacation, so I splurged and bought myself a $380 necklace (it was my birthday present to myself-which is on the 17th), followed by a $80 pair of gold sandal wedges, two rings, four pairs of earings, some clothes, and so on and so on . . . And, I will be buying alot more before I leave. It`s kind of a little scary, but I deserve to treat myself. Besides, I`m going to get a kick out of telling people that I picked up my shoes in Rio. Anyways, I have so many stories to tell . . . Rio is just amazing and crazy things happen here. I promise a nice long entry after I get back on the ship. We leave Rio around midnight tomorrow and will be in Salvador around 2 a.m. That next day is my birthday and my only day in Salvador, so I plan to do some exploring and partying. Anyways, I promise a nice long entry with all the details in a couple of days. Just know I`m happy and safe until then. Best wishes to everyone.

P.S. Thank you so much to everyone for your e-mails. I had no idea how important they were to me, but when I got here and read through them just now, they really made me happy. Please keep writing and forgive me for not writing back right away and being short when I do. On the ship the internet is slow and expensive. In port, I am too busy experiencing life and the keyboards are screwy.

P.S.S. I`m also having a great time trying to pick up Portugese. It´s a beautiful language. I think that I`m getting better and retaining words in other languages. One of the things that I am doing when I get home is studying a language. It`s seriously a burning desire that I now have. I think that I`ll take some courses and use that to build up the extra credit hours that I`ll need to sit for the CPA exam.


Recent Philosophies-Deep Thoughts
Everying in Latin America is better with a drink.
Life should have background music.
I thought that I would be really safe traveling with two guys from Texas, honestly, now that I know what I know, I think I`d be safer alone. (Now dad that`s just a joke. I am perfectly safe. But, you all get the point. If you remember from my Venezuela entry, A.J. is the Texan who punched me accidently while trying to dance.)