the end of another day in paradise. it was just as hot today as yesterday. after a late start, i decided to go for a bit of an explore round town on the hunt for a brazilian sim card and ended up in the big shopping centre nearby. living so close to the beach is so helpful when you're trying not to get lost! the shopping centre is big and full of nice shops but browsing was all i felt i could do until i'm sure i can access money abroad!

so after a tasty lunch back at the flat, i hit the beach. cos it was so hot, i decided to rent an umbrella from one of the many stands ont he beach. the guy who gave me the umbrella was really chatty and we immediately became friends. his name was Fabio and as soon as he heard i was from london, he went round introducing me to everyone else from london on the beach! i chatted to a few of them including a guy called fred who had just spent 3 months in buenos aires which is what im planning to do so that was really useful and interesting. lots of people seemed to be on their gap years so we instantly had somethng to chat about.

Fabio himself lives in the favellas and is studying at university to become a lawyer and working in his spare to time to pay for it, either at the beach or as a driver. he spoke the best english out of anyone ive met out here and i spent most of the afternoon chatting with him and a couple called tara and matt who were on their gap years before going to sussex uni together. fabio taught me some slang from the favellas which makes me laugh as its about all i can say apart from "chip" which means "SIM card" after my expedition this morning! he says he doesnt want to live in rio his whole life because theres such a divide between rich and poor that is getting worse not better. he was very philisophical about life. he also asked me in all seriousness if i was married! i just laughed but he was truly shocked to learn that it was normal in england not to get married until your late twenties or thirties and sometimes older. he'd already been married and seperated from his wife of 6 years and he was only 25!

matt and tara also told me that they preferred ipanema beach to copacabana which about 20 mins walk along the beach front, round a mountain (!) so i thought i would try there tomorrow. apparently its a lot more crowded but its really sociable as long as you pick the right section. theres supposed to be a rich section, a backpacker section, a gay section and more so i assume im goign to know the one i want when i see it!

anyway love to you all and please comment with news from home. also for any of you who want to my brazilian number its +2180279660.

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