Well, we arrived in Brazil safely early this morning! It was really great to get off the boat and walk around. Me and a bunch of other people went to this marketplace and looked around. It was crazy fun. They have such beautiful stuff there, and it's the type of place where you can bargain, so I got some good deals on some souvenirs for a few people. I didn't really buy anything for me yet, but it was only the first day, and I figure I'm going to like 8 more countries, I really don't have to get everything here. So, as it turns out, Brazil is just as dangerous and crazy as people said. I will tell you a pretty scary story, but its second hand so I don't know how this all really went down... (so don't worry, I'm totally fine, I have not been robbed or hurt or anything) But there was this organized trip through Semester at Sea for a walking tour of Historic Salvador. It was cheap, and I thought it would be educational, but it was really boring. We didn't have to stay with the group, so me and some other people just kinda wandered off. (which is totally allowed, we let the leader know). We brought our digital cameras with us because it was a big tour and it is much safer to bring stuff like that out if you are with a large group. Anyways, when I got back to the ship for dinner, my roommate told me that three girls who wandered off from the walking tour got mugged! They got their money, cameras, everything stolen. And they were robbed at knife point. In the middle of the day! That really freaked me out because after a while, the group I wandered off with ended up being just me and two other girls. So that easily could have been us. I feel so lucky that I am ok. I feel horrible for those girls though. At least they didn't get hurt. Moving on to lighter news.... I am enjoying Brazil very much. After dinner today I pretty much just went back to my room and took a nice long nap and showered. It is freaking hot here. (Even though I walked around for hours today, I didn't get sunburned! Woo! I love SPF 30!) I'm pretty sure I sweated off like 8 pounds. Which is all good I guess, but it makes you feel so gross! I'm pretty sure I will be taking a record amount of showers in the days I am here because it is just so sticky out there! Tomorrow I am going with a group of girls to go to a church. Which will be SO nice, I feel like I haven't been to church in ever. Brazil is mostly Catholic, and of course there are many Catholic churches, but we are going to go to the Baptist church. I think it will be very interesting. Then me and a BIG group of people are gonna hit up an internet café and go to the market again. I am sure I will have more crazy stories for you for my time here in Brazil, I got some fun stuff planned. On Monday I am going to the Circus, and not the scary clown circus but like an acrobatic circus and with this trip they teach you stuff on the trapeze and other such fun things and you get to try it and take pictures. I am so excited. Maybe I can bust out some flips while I am there. And I am supposed to be going on a Semester at Sea trip to experience traditional Carnival tomorrow evening. That too will be with a large group, and I will not carry anything expensive with me, so don't worry. Speaking of Carnival, it is crazy here! There are all these guys dressed up and women and dancing and singing, and everybody is like drunk at 1 in the afternoon. And they warned us that people would be pretty hands-y and there is really no line for personal boundaries, and they are right. I didn't get like groped or anything, but people definitely are over touchy, I will tell you that. Ok, I have made this blog pretty long, and I am sure that I will write one every day while I am here, so I will explain the pics I posted and be on my way. The one of me and the two other girls (who live in the cabin next to mine on the ship) was just in the upper area of the city. It was really cool to just see everything and watch people. Then there is one of me with all this hemp jewelry which is pretty funny. This guy on the street (who spoke English, luckily) was selling this really cool jewelry and I wanted an anklet for myself. It was 4 Rials and I only had a 10, but he didn't have any change. So he was running around to all the other street vendor people trying to get change. I told him not to worry, but he was so intent on selling me this anklet. So he kept handing me his jewelry displays while he ran around to find change for me. He finally got some, and I'm glad it worked out because the anklet really is pretty. Then I just posted some pics of people I saw and a pic to have you see just how busy these streets are, and this was not even the beginning of the real festivities. Anyways, I think I have bored you enough with my first day in Brazil. There will be more to come.... Please remember to keep us all in your prayers, with Carnival going on it really is insane here, and not to be rude, but a lot of people on this trip don't think before they go out and do things. I really hope what happened today was the worst of it.