Flew to Sao Paulo…long flight but it flew by, I had a sudden rush of excited as I got off the plane…I've waited so long to get to Brazil and I was finally here!! It was such an amazing feeling, then I had less than 24 hours of luxury ahead of me, mom treated me to the Mariot and it was amazing…I felt so out of place in my African clothes and scanky traveller vibe about me, had a caipirinha in the bar…it had to be done but other than that I spent all my time in my room….i had a screaming fit and had to jump on the bed a few times in my excitement…I was in a lux hotel with my own bathroom and it had a bath…it felt like id never been so happy and I had a TV so spent all night watching CNN trying to catch up on everything in the world id missed over the last 2 months. I got to the airport in the morning and checking in it reminded be of being in the 90s but a latinised version of it, everyone and I mean all the girls were in denim jeans and denim jackets…it was like those awful bewitched days of the 90s. And platform shoes were all the rage!! Gross although there were sooo many beautiful glamorous people about. The flight to Panama was great, we flew over the Amazon, the plains and the Andes, I got a window seat so I could see everything. Had to wait for what seemed a lifetime in Panama, was so jetlagged and tired, everything was so Americanised but no one speaks English but so far that's what I've seen a lot of in South America. I got picked up from the airport in Caracas ok by Suzy (the mum of the daughter mom met on a cruise last year) she and he husband Gustavo were so nice. Though it was terrifying as we were driving home we heard what sounded like a machine gun very close to us, Suzy started panicking and we had a duck for cover moment racing through the streets of Caracas at 2am…was like out of a movie! I realised I was in a very very nice part of Caracas, these people had money!! I went with the daughter Carolina to pick up her sister Valentina from here boyfriends, it was her birthday so it was a big celebration that day, I met the family, we had a big meal in a fancy Italian restaurant, had about 5 rum punches before 6pm. Everyone drinks soooo much here, they got through so many bottles of wine and people didn't even get drunk! Then I went to the mall with Suzy and the liquor store (oh how American…or the offy as Loz would say) to buy booze for the party! I then had a night of great fun with all of Carolina and valentines friends…everyone was soooo nice and friendly, everyone came up to me and kissed me and said hello well more of a "ey what's this English girl randomly doing here?" was great though, I had such a nice time. And again went through so many beers was unbelievable…though there in small bottle…Venezuelans are obsessed with cold beer so they make small bottles so it doesn't get the chance to get cold. Smart thinking I say. The next day I went to breakfast with one of the cousins called Gustavo, we went to a bakery somewhere and drove me around the city a little but, he's coming to margarita soon so were going to keep in touch. Then their chauffer (very swish) drove me to the airport and I got a flight to Margarita, it was beautiful although I had troubles with the language barrier, to get to my host family I ended up getting a taxi driver to call my host mom to get the directions of the house, I got there, her name was Grisciela, and she was lovely, my new home in wonderful, its so nice to be in a real home! My room is like a palace, its got air con, ensuit bathroom, double bed, electricity!! And a TV it's fantastic! I went to sleep pretty early, was so tried and realized I need a phrase book pronto! I met a guy Santiago who I had no idea who he was, Grisciela just dropped me at his house, he turned out to be another student so he walked me to school, he's 47 and thinks an 18 year old is still like a 10 year old, so he's made it his job to look after me and he's been showing me the ropes. On the first day I was all by myself so I got a good head start, my teacher's great she's a young girl called Christiana, who's lovely. There's only 5 other people in the school and I'm the youngest under 32!! Santiago lives closest to me so we spend a lot of time together and get a coffee in the morning, I don't even drink coffee but its so good here.. And the food is amazing. There's just so many things that are fantastic here. I'm 5 minutes away from 2 malls with huge supermarkets, and 20 mins from the most amazing mall I've ever been to, it has shops like sa senza, zara, burshka, cinebonn!! It was just amazing. I've also had all my clothes washed in a washing machine so there actually clean for the first time in months, it's wonderful!! I feel so happy to be back in the real world! I love Venezuela! I also found out that the school does 3 trips to the beach a week after class so went to the beach yesterday and today me and Santiago went to a sushi bar…best tempura I've ever had! And then went to the travel agents to book a trip on a catamaran to another island with the other students. The other guy in my class is 53 so im the youngest my a long way..it's alright…there all German but can speak English so there happy I'm here cas they can practice their English as well as there Spanish. I also went to another party at my house, was about 20 people there, apparently it was for the 5 year old son but was just a bunch of middle aged Venezuelans getting trollyed, there was salsa dancing and beer all round! Oh I love the party atmosphere so much! im also going to Hooters in the night with the guys, ohh its so weird how american everything is!! Well I'm having a fantastico time here, hope all is good in angleterra! Buonos noches xxxx