Ariving in Brazil
My morning view!
Well I arrived here safe and sound, no major problems there. The Manchester Heathrow flight was delayed – suprise suprise, so I had to rush to get the Heathrow Sao Paulo flight, but made in with plenty of time to spare in the end. When I arrived in Sao Paulo I was pretty confused, getting my bags was fine but then trying to find where to check in for my domestic flight to Recife was pretty hard work 3 unnecessary queues later I found myself in the right place – another queue! It was so hot at Sao Paulo airport and I had my trainers and North Face jacket on – I looked like a right d*ck at 7am in the morning in temperatures on 30C!! Luckily I had brought my sandals and a t-shirt to change into so once I had checked in I found the first toilet and got changed and brushed my teeth. I had 3 hours before the flight was due to depart, which soon went with all the wandering round and confusion. Then my flight was delayed by another hour!!!
So sat at the gate and got talking to a guy from Madrid – he only spoke Spanish and Portuguese, so i’m sure you can imagine, there was lots of gestures and mis understandings, but basically he has a house in Belo Horizonte (central ish Brazil) and gave me the tel no for if I want to go there on my travels. Pretty nice guy really considering that one sentence took about an hour (slight exageration) for me to understand!! Eventually arrived at Recife, very hot sweaty and tired, not sure if I would be picked up or not because I was over an hour late. Thank god there were two girls waiting for me, one (Chris)who spoke good English and informed me she was to be my Portuguese teacher. About 30 -40 mins later we arrived at Olinda and my home for the next 6 weeks – Hotel Costeiro.
The girls checked my in and advised me Miriam (the project organiser) would come and meet me at 5pm and that I would have my first Portuguese lesson at 9am the next morning. I had a shower and slept for 2 hours and then feeling a bit refreshed met Miriam. She explained about the project and drove me around Olinda for an hour or so explaining where things were and showing me where other volunteers were staying. Like i’m gonna remember all that after i’ve been travelling for 24 hours and when youre abroad everywhere looks the same anyway!
Had dinner alone at the hotel when I got back, it was good (chicken, rice, potatoes and veggies) considering I had no idea what I was getting as no one speaks any English! Stayed up for a bit with beer (they have the really large bottles here and for just 2 reals {aprox 55p} bargain!) and then eventually had to crash out at 9pm. My first proper night sleep of my years travels!
Tags: Brazil, flights, Olinda, Travel
Aymi
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