Salvador

Hello from sunny Salvador. It´s a lovely place, full of gorgeous beaches with lovely sand and turquoise, wavey water. Shame I´m here to work, not just surf and sunbathe!

Jen and I had a fun couple of days in Rio. Saturday was lovely and warm and we spent time on the beach, jumping waves in the Atlantic and then wandered around drinking juices and looking at the shops. In the afternoon we decided to do something touristy so we went up Sugar Loaf mountain. The first bit was in the light and then it got dark so we saw the views in both the day and night. Rio is such a pretty city! We then went to meet our friend Marcia who we met in Puno. She´s so sweet and seemed really excited to see us! We met her Mum in their flat and then went out to a pizza restaurant. You paid a set price and they brought different types of pizza and soft drinks to the table. Then when we were totally full they brought out the chocolate and fruit pizzas. We then went back to the flat where they made us proper English tea and showed us their photos from when they were in England. It made me miss home!

The next two days were rainy and dull. It´s very hard to find things to do in Rio in the rain so we were quite lazy! We met some nice people though and did some shopping. On Saturday we went to another all you can eat place- I could get very fat in Brazil!

Yesterday Jen went home and I flew to Salvador. It was sad to say bye but I´m excited to be here. Oh and the taxi driver from the airport thought I was Brazilian which made me very happy!

Today is Independence day so I didn´t have to go to hospital. I´ve done pretty well out of Independence days in South America, though it is just one, not 3 days here! I went to the beach with some Australian girls in my room in the morning and then went into the centre and met up with a British couple I met in the Pantanal. It was nice to see familiar faces! We sat in a square and watched the world go by. There doesn´t seem to be too much going on for the holiday but there was lots of music everywhere and people dressed up. Up early tomorrow for my first day of school! I´m a little bit apprehensive...