Wherever you are…

„Housekeeping!”, nah, let’s keep it down, ahem, “Housekeeping…?”. Don’t forget to knock on the door least twice, you don’t want to see any guests stark naked. So: knock at least twice and barge in. Clean fast. Work hard. Scandinavian countries are famous for their high salaries. Very tempting for dreamers from Eastern Europe. How did I end up here? Ah yes, Brazil…

I opened the hostel door at Copacabana and she was there. Her Portuguese was poor, but she knew Spanish, so she got a reception job. My Portuguese was non-existent, but I got a job at the reception as well, and free caipirinhas. And so it started. We were backpackers in Rio de Janeiro checking guests in and out for 8 hours per day in exchange for a bed. Plus this caipirinhas. Mango juice and açai was our breakfast, Copacabana was our home. She had a big peacock tattoo and another one, much smaller on her foot: “Primeiro passo no mundo”. It was her first step to the world of South America, it was my first backpacking trip too: with money I earned working as a housemaid in the hotel in Denmark I had managed to scrape up enough to go to Brazil. Rio de Janeiro was truly marvellous, but we were hungry for more: “Come with me to Salvador”, she said one day. And so we went. It takes 36 hours by bus. After 36 hours we were in Salvador de Bahia, the place, where Michael Jackson came to drum with Olodum band and made them famous with one video clip, where capoeira is danced everywhere and acarajé is sold by fat Baianas. This is where blonde girl cannot pass unnoticed: “E aí gatinha, tem algum programa pra hoje a noite ?”, “Gostosa…”, “Bom dia, tudo bom?”. And stuffs like this.

Pelourinho was our new home. With three weeks (!) experience as receptionists gained in Rio de Janeiro we got hired at Nega Maluca hostel. No free caipirinhas this time, but only 5 hours of work per day. Cool beans. San Antonio, our neighbourhood was a mixture of old, decrepit houses and some pretty amazing cars standing in front of them. We used to like getting lost around, once we even made it to the beach, 7 kilometres on foot. Before coming back we had had a big plate of rice and beans, and several Schin beers. It was then when she said to me that she wanted to stay in South America.

Now, when I look at my Carlsberg beer, which I drink after work I wonder what she is doing. She’s probably somewhere in Ecuador or something. I’m cleaning in big, fancy hotel in Copenhagen again. To save some money again. To end up there again.