Day 1: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Despite taking Advil PM at the beginning of the flight, sleep was not in the cards for me. Every half hour or so, I would enviously glance over at Sleeping Beauty next to me, while I would continue to toss and turn. I probably slept a quarter of the flight at-most, so needless to say I was pretty groggy upon arrival.

Going through the airport in Rio was a swift process. We went through customs, got our bags, and found our ride in the span of thirty minutes. The administrator of our hostel was also our driver, and as soon as we were in his car, I was out cold. About an hour later, we arrived at our hostel and the administrator led us to our room.

The arrangement of our room is more like a mini apartment than traditional hostel quarters, with a kitchenette, tv, and bathroom all included. We were supposed to have internet as well, but for some reason our modem was broken. Dan and I attempted to get internet for a short period of time before we were lured into bed and slept the next few hours away.

Upon waking up, Dan and I decided to explore our surrounding area. Our continued sleepiness, and the chilly, overcast weather left us in a bit of a hazy state. Nevertheless, we took a nice stroll to the beach and then got some lunch, where I naturally mis-ordered and we ended up with enough chicken to last us for a couple of days. After that, we did a quick supermarket run and then retreated back to our room.

The flight really got the best of both of us, and we were content with lying in bed for the next few hours. Eventually I took a long-overdue shower to rouse me awake. Unfortunately, surprise!, the water was cold. As in, shave your legs in the sink and arch your back so only your hair makes contact with the water, cold. Needless to say, I was in and out as quickly as possible.

After a little more lounging around and chicken eating, Dan and I decided to venture out into the city. We had read and heard that a section of Rio called Lapa has great night life, so we hopped in a taxi and headed into the unknown.

Lapa is a bit like the Lower East Side on steroids. The streets are filled with young people and lined with both food and alcohol vendors. We initially walked around hesitantly with our mojito and caipirinha, until we noticed the number of individuals who also had a beverage in-hand. Long lines trickled out of various clubs, sidewalks were much more crowded than some bars, and dress was surprisingly casual (Dan and I blended right in). 

We were both surprised by how many locals there were in a seemingly touristy area. Everywhere we walked, we were met with Portuguese exchanges, which Dan described as sounding like Spanish with a Russian accent. It turns out that understanding Spanish does not help at all when trying to decipher Portuguese. Few people we have met speak English, so the language barrier has been a bit of a struggle so far. Nevertheless, we enjoyed our first night out.