Deus é brasileiro

I wish I could explain how absolutely relaxed and content I feel at this moment. It started the moment we walked into our hostel: people lazing on hammocks and colourful couches, reading, chatting, drinking caipirinhas and listening to music. There is no reception desk or anything quite that formal, just a desk tucked under the stairs where I am currently sitting. Our door sleeps 9 in bunks 3 stories high -- there are no check-ins or locked doors. In Bs As we kept to ourselves mostly... on the first day here we made instant friends with Chris, the tall Danish dude on exchange in Buenos Aires (finishing his masters in political science), Barbara (aka Barbie), just off an internship at the German embassy in Buenos Aires and of course Dany, who spent a week on bus to get here from Ecuador. They´re a good bunch, and because of Dany, we almost always speak Spanish which is nice. When you live so close to people it´s always a good thing to get along.

So, what have we been up do again...? There was the first afternoon on Copacabana, then all of yesterday at Posto 9 of Ipanema. The weather is in the high twenties, the water is ideal, the sands are crowded but fun. Just lying on the beach listening to the sing-song of the beach vendors is entertaining. They sell EVERYTHING on the beach (like the micros in Chile!), from pareos and earings to beer and shrimp kebabs. My favourite yesterday was a guy dressed in a dish-dash selling ¨salgados arabes do mustafá¨. Like I say, you can buy anything.

In the evening there was an argentine-style asado at the hostel (it´s owned by argentines) and then out to a crazy street party type thing in Lapa. We came home early, at 4 am. It´s worth getting up for breakfast at the hostel, which includes plenty of fresh fruit, cake and ham and cheese grilled sandwiches. This afternoon we headed to a market, spent some reais, and came home for a nap. As I write this I am digesting a delicious dinner made mostly by our Equatorian friend. We´re planning to head to a little outdoor bar for a drink in a minute, but it´s only 10 so the night is still very, very young :)

So I love the hostel, I love the beach, I love naps. Also, am obsessed with the juice stands on every corner of this busy city. Fruits I´ve never ever heard of, squeezed and blended into the most amazing cocktails . My current favourite is a deep purple smoothy made of açaí. I don´t even know what it looks like, but it´s deeeeelicious.

Tomorrow the plan is to hit up Ipanema with the rest of the Sunday crowd. Apparantly they close the main waterfront avenue to traffic -- there are that many people. Monday we might head up to the Cristo, eventually we´ll take the cable car up to the sugarloaf...and more beach. Brazil is significantly more expensive than Argentina, so we´re making the most of the free entertainment. And I am so shamefully white that I need all the sand and sun I can get.

Utter contentment...I could get used to this life :)