The [American] Girl [in] Ipanema

Well, I have been in Rio for two days, and I have already been to Ipanema twice. How's that for a start?

My voyage across the equator began with a short flight from Boston to Charlotte, NC, and then a 10 hour flight to Rio. Rio is only one time zone away from the East Coast, so it was somewhat strange for me to fly all night, and not get stuck with much jetlag. After a quick drive through Rio, I reached the house where I'll be staying for my 7-week stay. I'm in a dorm-style room with 4 other girls, all American except one Canadian. The other volunteers I've met are from Ireland, Germany, Norway, Denmark, and Puerto Rico. It's a nice group; most of the volunteers are slightly older than I am. The guesthouse is located in Santa Teresa, which is a hill near the center of the city best known for its trams, which woke me up a good number of times last night as they rattled by.

After a bit of unpacking, I went out with a few of the other girls from the house, and we took the metro to Ipanema. The beach was beautiful—the water is a beautiful shade of greenish-blue, and there is a great view of sugar loaf (the famous mountain) and some of the islands. At Ipanema we strolled along the beach and enjoyed some fruit smoothies; Rio is full of stands selling fruit juice, many times made out of tropical fruits I've hardly heard of.

That evening I collapsed into bed around 7:30, and, as I am known to do after long plane rides, slept 12 hours.

Today I went grocery shopping (eating yesterday was difficult, as I didn't have any food...), then had a brief meeting with the volunteer coordinator from my program, who will take the six new volunteers to our volunteer placements tomorrow. Next, we took a super long bus ride (albeit with nice views of the city) to Ipanema, where sat on the beach for a while. The beach seems to be perpetually crowded, and there are lots of soccer balls flying around. There are also stands every hundred yards or so selling drinks (picture a straw stuck into a coconut) and snacks; I ended up trying a sort of sweet cornmeal folded in a cornhusk.

Since then, we took a shorter bus back home, and now I'm hanging at the dining room table at the guesthouse. I'll probably cook a bit of the food I bought this morning and call it a night. It's already getting dark at 5:40 here, since of course on this side of the equator, it's wintertime! (Still beach weather in Rio, though).