Escapisms

Dear All,

Bloody hell what a journey! 22 hours of travelling all on my tod and I was very glad to see Chloe and Ed at the airport here. I managed to sleep a mere 10 mins on the plane, that’s 10 mins better than usual!

Hostel that we are staying in is much better than expected. Clean and safe, which is the main thing! It is in an area of Rio called Copacobana, which no doubt most of you have heard of! (Copacabana Praia (547-5422) Rua Tenente Marones de Gusmao 85) We headed down to the beach for a stroll yesterday in a bid to keep awake and it is amazing. 4.5km of white, almost litter free, sand. Can’t really complain. (It lies in front of one of the world’s most densely populated residential areas of the world) We are heading there this afternoon for a session and check out the local talent (well that is Ed and Chloe really, I will be concentrating on preventing myself from coming away looking like a lobster!) We, of course, are going to have to be ultra careful with our belongings so that they don’t get stolen. It is not as scarily dangerous as I thought it was going to be and I don’t feel too scared walking around but I am fed up of being eyed up by dirty old men the whole time! I am walking around without a bag, I feel safer like that and I have my money and passport stuffed under my arm, which I have to say, is not at all comfortable!

We have booked our tickets for our next port of call which is a town called Sao Paulo, which has a population of 20 million -! We are just breaking our journey there but we can’t yet buy tickets on, which is a pain.

For the middle of winter the weather is quite pleasant here at a mild 28°c! I can see why the translation of bikini is dental floss; I will not be following the fashion trend. Instead I think I will look like someone out of the 20’s with my cossie on!!!

Well I had better go. Loads of love to one and all

Em xxxx

MUMMY AND DADDY – CAN’T WORK THE DARNED PHONE CARD AT THE MOMENT, I DON’T FEEL THAT SAFE STANDING ON THE STREET CORNERS TRYING TO CALL. HOPE YOU GOT MY MESSAGE ON THE ANSWER MACHINE OK. I AM FINE THANK YOU FOR MY JELLY BEANS; THEY WERE A HELP ON THE PLANE AS THE FOOD WAS SICK MAKING! LUCKILY NO EFFORTS FOR IT TO SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY AGAIN! LOVE YOU MISS YOU