News from Brazil

Well, I'm here! After roughly 24 hours traveling (lay-overs, flights, blah, blah), I'm here in sunny Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. It's not very hot today (roughly 80 degrees F) but the humidity---my god. Killer. My hair has lots of extra volume (aka frizz), haha. Oh, and no air conditioning...anywhere... except the shopping malls. Oh well, I'll survive.

I've learned quickly that maintaining a blog with photos will be nearly impossible here. Internet is very hard to come by and rather expensive so, infrequent amounts of descriptive words will have to suffice.

Salvador is beautiful, I have to say. Flying in gave me a really great view of the ocean, the white-washed buildings and the snake-like little streets everywhere. The people here are very friendly though I stick out quite clearly as a foreigner. Here, I'm blond and blue-eyed--- rather unusual for these parts. Plus, my wardrobe is rather American--- too casual. Brazilians love to dress up when going anywhere, even the grocery store. The women wear intensely high sandals on pavements that look like someone took a jack-hammer to them. I don't know how they don't break their legs every day. I know I don't have the balance to do it, nor do I want to risk it to try.

My host family consists of Carla (40ish kindergarten teacher) and her daughter Larissa (21 year old law student). They both work and go to school so, it appears that I'll be on my own most of the time. A bit of a disappointment but, hey, that's life. They're both very nice and extremely welcoming. Their apartment is rather big and very airy--- though without air conditioning. It gets a bit steamy at night, especially when it rains which, apparently happens rather often in the winter (their seasons are the opposite of the U.S.).

Well, gotta run. My first Portuguese class is today. Then I have to attempt to find my way home....wish me luck!