Kent has been busy helping in the apartment and all the things that have been sitting around waiting for repair have been brought out and he has been happily fixing them all. This is wonderful for us to be able to do this to partly repay the hospitality that has been so openly offered to us. We were to go to a talent show in the evening but about 7pm each night huge storms roll past and tonight there was a biggie and we ended up just staying in with the family.
Tuesday 29th the events for the day were a trip to Niteroi in the day and a welcome party in the evening. We met up with other couchsurfers at the ferry terminal and from there walked along the Niteroi seafront to a modern art museum. The building of the museum was amazing and reminiscent of the building we saw in Curitiba. It was another very hot day and the inside of the museum was nice and cool. We took a bus back into town to the fish market filling the bus to capacity, the market was interesting and had a restaurant area above where everyone had lunch. It was a bit too expensive for us but downstairs we found a great little bar with meals and had a yummy feed there.
In the evening we headed off to downtown Rio by bus. This was the first time we had had to get a bus directly into Lapa (the downtown area of Rio) we had been given directions and managed to find some bus drivers sitting at a cafe in what we thought was the right place. They took us and put us on a bus and we were told it was 6rs each for the journey, that seemed just too expensive for us so we were going to hop off but they said no and we just paid 5rs for the both of us and off we went. It was a flash bus and we were the only passengers! We chatted to Fransisco the driver all the way, he was a happy chap and kept warning us to be very careful in Lapa in the night. Everyone is constantly doing this and we do try to be careful and not attract the attentions of the wrong people. When we arrived in Lapa he stopped the bus by a guy on the street and asked him to show us where Avenida Mem de Sa, the street where the party is, was lol, thats the Brasilians for you so generous and friendly and helpful. So we found our way to the Teatro Odisseia and partied until 3am with 500 or more other couchsurfers and their hosts and friends.
Again we were lucky enough to get a ride back to Niteroi with a friend and from there we caught a bus to Alcantara and fell happily exhaustedly into bed.
