Well it had to happen at some point. We fell off the blog wagon here in Brazil, partly by necessity and partly by choice. Josh got sick in the beach town of Paraty with a pretty ugly virus. I got to run around town speaking a mix of Spanglish and terrible Portugues looking for a doctor who spoke English or Spanish. The tourist office told me to go see Dr. Marcio, by the bus station. That's it. No address, no telephone number, just go behind the bus station and look for the doctor. And that pretty much typifies the kind of directions we've been getting here in Brazil - head this way, that way, you'll find it - very laid back and really not too concerned, about much of anything! We did find the doctor, who didn't actually speak English in the end but did give Josh a full physical and took blood to rule out dengue fever. We got some meds and after a couple days his fever finally broke, but the whole experience took a lot out of both of us.

One good thing was that it forced us to slow down and spend an entire week in the beach town of Paraty. By the end we were both hooked by the beautiful, peaceful beaches, the flavorful foods, and mostly by the people, who are so friendly (the thumbs up sign seems to be the unofficial national gesture - drivers give each other the thumbs up instead of honking, police wave you on with a thumbs up, and lately Josh and I have been pretty thumb happy ourselves).

It was hard to leave Paraty, but the 4 hour bus ride to Rio along the coast was beautiful. The cliffs are covered in lush forests that go right up to the ocean. We were getting tired of hostels and wanted to meet more locals to experience more of the "real" Rio so we put in some time at the Internet café in Paraty to arrange a homestay. And that's how we met Marcelus.

I don't know quite how to describe our experience with him. He's a 38 year old artist/social justice worker/favela guide who likes his beer and cachaca - the famous Brazilian alcohol made from sugarcane. He lives "here and there" and his place is not exactly set up for guests (he asked us to make a copy of the keys to the apartment), but we've definitely seen a different side of the city as a result. The night we arrived we followed Marcelus up and down the backstreets of Rio in the rain, running into his friends at one bar after another, stopping by local radio stations he helped start, meeting famous dancing homeless transvestites, and finally getting to the club for some live music and dancing. The music was amazing. 10 men and women drumming and singing not on stage but right on the dance floor so it felt like the music completely enveloped you. Welcome to Rio!