My first awakening in South America

So here begins my travel blog for the next 8 months. I'm still taking time to adjust to my surroundings and the idea that I'm not going to be home for ages and it all rests on me what I make of the time away.

The title's almost accurate, as I have no idea where the plane was when I woke up after 4 or 5 hours of fitful sleep. We dropped off lots of passengers at Sao Paulo, which was a frustrating wait when I was so close to arriving and starting the journey.

Slight shock on arriving in Rio, I thought most of the tourists would be americans, whereas they're almost all irish so far! But the first backpackers I met waiting for the bus outside the airport were from....... Gloucestershire! A mere stones through from home.

After freshening up at the hostel I went straight to Copacabana beach (only 2 blocks away) and soaked up the sun and the noise and a lot of salt water because the sea was very rough, huge waves breaking almost on the beach.

In the evening there was a bbq in the hostel and after that the plan was to go out, but after several warm up caipirinhas I couldn't stay awake.

So here I am, waiting until 2 when Evelise comes to pick me up and show me round Rio on another hot day.