I met this guy in thebus on our way to Rio. It was really funny because his name was Nicolas (spelled the same way as me). He was 24, and was an avid soccer player. He was born in Canada, grew up in Miami and was now living in Buenos Aires for 5 years. He was going to Rio to meet his girlfriend (who was there for work) and then they were going to Columbia for a little vacation.

We were both really anxious to get to Rio de Janeiro, which semed like it took forever. Finally, at around 5pm, we arrived. The orignal plan was for me to call Daniela (one of Eric's friends that he put me in contact with) and she would come pick me up. However, because I arrived early, and I felt bad for her to come all the way to the bus terminal to pick me up and drive me to my hostel (I was also very smelly since I was not able to shower in 2 days), I decided to go directly to my hostel by bus.

I was told Rio de Janeiro was very dangerous so I really has to know where I was going. I asked a woman at an information center (she spoke English!), what would be the best route for me to take. I had to take two buses to get to Santa Teresa-Lapa, where my hostel was located.

I realized very fast the difficulties ingetting around a country with such a language barrier. No one spoke English, French or Spanish here! Good thing I was able to somewhat understand portuguese...

I got on the bus, which took me to a metro station, then I asked some people there what where the next bus stop was (the one I had to take). They told me that the bus did not come here, and I had to take another bus. It seemed like the lady at the bus terminal gave me the wrong information. I took the other bus, which led me to another bus. When I got on the third bus, I asked the bus driver if the bus took me ear my hostel. He said yes. After a while, he told me that this was my stop. When I got off, I was in front of a hotel, but it wasn't my hostel. I asked the people in the hotel (they spoke English, too!), and they told me that I was very far from my hostel. I had to take the bus back the other way. I was starting to get really frustrated at this point.

When the other bus finally came, there were these English speaking people that confirmed that I was on the right bus and pointed me to my stop where I got off. Four buses, 9 Reals and 2 hours later, I finally got to my hostel...

My hostel was a cute hostel owned and run my argentineans. However, what I did not know is that internet was not free, neither was making a local phone call (most of the other hostels I was at allowed me to do this). Internet in the hostel was 5 Reals per hour (2.5 USD) which was extremily overpriced. I was probably going to change hostels tomorrow.

I called Daniela right away (apparently she called the hostel twice because she was worried about me...she is sooo cute!). We agreed that she was going to meet me at my hostel and go out nearby. My hostel was in the middle of a district that was known for its bars and nightlife.

After taking a very refreshing shower, I met Daniela at 9pm. We went out to a bar where we had a bite to eat and a few drinks. Daniela is an extremely beautiful exotic girl that is a mix of everything you can think of (african, italian, protugese, spanish...). She is doing her PhD in marine biology where her laboratory is in a regional history museum. At around 12pm, I was getting really tired (since I was on a bus for 24 hours!), and she had to work the next day, so we decided to meet after supper tomorrow again. She gave me a list of hostels that were probably better and in a safer area of town.

Tomorrow I was going to find another hostel, and visit the town a bit...