Another day at the beach

Well by some stroke of luck José, Teresa and I managed to find the last apartment left in Rio. It´s not great, but it´s only for two nights until the crowd leaves after the Stones concert. It´s small, but we haven´t seen any cockroaches yet, so nothing too much to complain about.

Last night we went to dance to more rumba music. I think I´m starting to get the hang of this stuff. You see it´s all in the hips. And forget what everyone keeps telling you about watching their feet...that´s like saying you can learn spanish by watching someone´s lips.

More people keep coming in and out of our vacation family. It´s kinda nice, new faces, new points of view to share, all in all quite exciting. There´s a strange ritual that everyone seems to go through when you first meet someone new in deciding on a common language. You stumble through a couple languages until you somehow mutually decide what the best language between the group is.

I spent 1/2 an hour talking to a guy from San Antonio in Spanish yesterday until I realized he was from the US and spoke fluent English. Who would have thought I´d get to practice my Spanish so much in Rio but almost everyone I´ve met speaks it fluently, and no one knows any damn Portuguese, well except of course all the Brazilians.

It´s also nice to just be able to meet people without having to worry about the obligation that your new friendship brings. Maybe our paths will cross again, maybe they won´t. But I like the fact that there´s no pretense about making promises to keep in touch and visit each other. Of course I do already have a place to stay next time in Cali or Santiago, and a free place to stay is a free place to stay!