cidade maravilhosa

Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro, BRASIL--"saúde!" says the cute brazilian shop clerk as i sneeze while walking past him. we´re in shopping tijuca, a mall near our host´s apartment. patricia, our couchsurfing host, says the expression means "bless you!" in portugues. so it´s not just a way to toast to good health, i´m finding out.

a few hours earlier i woke up with a jolt as the plane´s tires screeched on the pavement. i turned to jan and the first thing she said was "we´re here!" with a huge smile on her face. i was so out of it after an 18-hour flight. we were jetlagged coming from los angeles and we had a stopover in santiago, chile plus undisclosed stops at lima, peru and sao paolo, brazil. we only found out about the other stops when the pilot announced the whole route on the plane!

hasten was asking about first impressions when i texted her earlier today. we haven´t been around yet but i love how we´re in a city surrounded by mountains, a forest, and beaches.

also, the locals we´ve met thus far are just great. marcelo, the driver who picked us up at the airport, was also an excellent tour guide. he pointed out some landmarks like the maracana soccer stadium and told us not to worry about dengue fever as it hadn´t been raining for 18 days. quite a character, that guy. he´s not sure if he´s really brazilian as he dislikes soccer and the samba.

i´m writing this from marcos´ laptop. that´s marcos, patricia´s sister. not jan´s namorado ;)
it´s almost 2am and i have to sleep soon. we´re off to parque national da tijuca in the morning.
later!

* photo of cristo redentor taken from here. will post our own photos soon!