Safe and Sound and Hot in Rio

Viva summertime! It is hot here.

We landed safe and sound at 8:15 this morning (5:15 am Atlanta time). As the airplane descended the first thing that struck us was how beautiful and green the mountains are. Then as we got closer we noticed the thick green layer of smog hovering over the city. Nasty! The setting is very beatiful though....gorgeous beaches and terrain.

After a long line at immigration we got our bags and were quickly accosted by all of the guys trying to make money off the foreigners. The pasty blonde and redhead don't exactly blend in here.

We managed to get out of the airport alive and found a nice English speaking bus driver who helped us find the right bus. We ended up missing our stop (no signs, no announcements) and had to take a cab from Copacabana to our hostel. Still, we ended up spending about 1/4 the cost that a taxi from the airport would have been. So we're very proud of ourselves and now we have enough money to gorge ourselves at a churrascaria tonight :-)

Our hostel is very basic. But at least it's clean and so far the people at the front desk have been friendly and helpul. The bathroom is dormoritory style...this is an adjustment. We took a long nap after we arrived, showered and then headed out for some sight-seeing (and some emailing).

More to come later....just wanted to let everyone know we had arrived safely.

--Jen & Matt