I am currently writing from a balcony in manaus in the state of Amazonia. It is hot humid and the Slight breeze of wind is saving my life right now. I have ample of mosquito bites that add to the bruises from the beach. I am so grateful for being here. 

A little like the girl from Ipanema, I felt lost. 9 hours on a coach, peak traffic in Rio and passing through the centre, I was tired exhausted and I just needed a bed to sleep in. As I passed through the city towards the lagoa, I had to look around. No option, it was spectacular. I was fortunate enough that my driver knew English and was giving me a little tour and information on Rio. Closer towards the beaches he stops off at this gate and says ‘casa6’. Like the typical gringo ( tourist) I grab my backpack, walk through the gate, look for house 6, pay my reais and enter my room. It is stuffy, It is hot, and it’s hard to even compute what to do. My hostel is empty, it’s quiet, loneliness creeps up on you and start to think in silence. Everything that didn’t bug you ends up doing exactly that. Silence gets the best of you. At this point I had to remember what I had read and reflect on what people had told me. Be present, don’t think about the past don’t think about the future, be present. This motivated me to get up and out of casa 6.

The lonely planet and I walked around rio exploring the beaches and the city. I think I accomplished quite a bit in terms of bearings and routes. That evening I sat outside the private street talking to a couple of girls when 2 Canadian guys rocked up. I convinced one to smell my shoe and he convinced me to join him on his adventure the next day. When you say done, it’s DONE.

An early start, we went to Barra and learnt a little but about the history of Rio, Then Into the Tijuca rainforest, back to Ipanema for lunch then to Crist the redeemer and by far this met my expectations. A clear day, beautifully done and you feel some sort of serenity when your up there. We got back down and went to the sugar loaf mountain. It’s around 4 pm and we decided to hike the first mountain and cable cart the till the top. Sugar loaf was amazing. The view of Rio was spectacular and I couldn’t have felt more present. That evening I sat outside casa 6 and had a beer with a Tunisian guy who worked at my hostel. I was telling him about my day adventure full of enthusiasm. He stopped me and said, this isn’t rio. What you see is only 15% of the real Rio. He brought out a map and described how the rest of it was favela and how people lived and how poor the city actually was. He also showed me where they are going to separate rio for the World Cup and the Olympics. I can’t say I wasn’t shocked but I was curious to see more. I asked him to take me to see some if it and He did. It was as he had described and again, I lost track of presence but my appreciation grew. The girl from Ipanema had to leave and move to Leblon.

Same thing, I felt lost and slightly confused. I’m not sure why. It’s possibly because I had done so much and it was alot to take in. I’m not sure but there was a shining light ahead. I met this girl who was on the bottom bunk diagonal to me. She had travelled alone and she was familiar with how I was feeling.

She completely cheered me up and from then I knew we were going to be good friends. The more we talked, the more we realised we had so much in common. Our mentality was similar and we shared same ideas on so many topics and I genuinely want the best for her.

I met awesome people at Leblon, different backgrounds different stories, different ages- we all did have one thing in common. We all love our beer. We all went out together and drank in the bars in Lapa, explored the city together and on reflection, they become my family.

 I had met soooo many people that I got on really well with, both locals and gringos. In a short amount of time, I created trust and bonds with these people. Everyone wants to get to know you, know your story and educate you about theirs. One day you could be rolling blindfolded on the beach of leblon for a couple of hours and the next your talking about the 85% of Rio which unfortunately is the harsh reality that people live below

the poverty ban. Overall 8 days was too short to explore this city but I know I will be back. I will learn Portuguese and I will grow – Done.

Ate mais. Xx