A few days have passed & we've made some progress. We've been onto letting sites & viewed some properties. There was one we particularly liked that had stunning views but we don't know whether the formalities are going to hold us up. Patrick is due to visit BG tomorrow so will try to find out what happens next.
We have also been trying to register with the police which took us on a wild goose chase ending up at the airport to be told that we needed to complete a form online. We headed back to the hotel on a (direct?) bus which took us to all sorts of parts of Rio such as the docks, the railway station & the bus station which we'd never have seen otherwise but which took hours. Like raincoats, busstops seem frequently to be an unknown concept to Cariocas which makes for interesting journeys.
Completing police forms online took up a frustrating morning with numerous internet problems and we eventually gave up and decided to walk round the lake (past Flamengo's football stadium) to the Botanical Gardens.
Mostly huge trees but also a wonderful orchid house & one for bromeliads. Humming birds made it all feel very exotic but the cafe & shop were staffed by the same splendid types you'd find in UK bot shops which was reassuring.
Steak & chips for Kate's birthday supper & skyping with the kids which was nice. January birthdays feel quite different in the southern hemisphere!
Real sunshine today which has been lovely and after two flat viewings (one ok but still prefer the first one we saw) we found a really good salad place for lunch and treated ourselves to a couple of hours on the beach (under an umbrella!) Patrick swam twice & I promise I'll give it a go tomorrow - the sea is surprisingly refreshing even though the sand is nearly too hot to walk on.
You see all of life on Ipanema beach! Not a one-piece in sight and lots of bronzen gorgeous young things in minimal swimwear. Not that we felt out of place or anything! There's a constant stream of people walking by selling anything & everything but they don't hassle you. One guy carried a huge parasol completely covered in bikinis.
Got some washing done and bumped into a Norwegian in a restaurant who had been one of Patrick's first REM students in 1995. Went to see his flat - v smart but out of our league. 3 lovely kids - took us back to having little ones in Indonesia.
Best things so far: freshly squeezed orangejuice so easily available; clean sheets & towels every day; no housework or cooking; Patrick not working for a few days; the lovely climate, hot but with a breeze and not humid; living (particularly eating) outside; clean beaches; friendly people.
Worst things: Brazilian bureaucracy; being so far away; lack of newspapers!0£