26/01/2009 - 13.20

What an eventful day we had yesterday! We met up with Helen Thompson, who is living here with her boyfriend Fabio. We met Fabio and a friend of his called Eric too. They took us on a scary train ride which was honestly like a ride from Alton Towers! One cart, held 50 people but there were no seats left for us so we had to cling onto the side of the cart whilst standing on a very thin ledge as wide as our foot! It went over very high bridges and rattled along the cobbled streets to Santa Teresa, where lots of locals decided to jump on for a free ride when there was hardly room for us never mind them!! However, we got there safely and it was actually quite a fun ride (once we were off!).

In Santa Teresa we had a wander round the shops then had a few drinks in the sun (first day of beautiful blue skies and 30 degree heat). Caipirinhas were the main choice being a typical Brazillian drink made with cachaca, freshly squeezed lime juice and sugar. Very nice but rather strong. Around 7.30pm we started walking back when we happened across a small gathering where some musicians were playing and people were dancing. We went over to check it all out and a young girl started dancing with Fabio... must have been around 7 years old. We thought this was rather cute but could tell there was something not quite right with her - we believe she was Autistic. Anyway, she then took a shining to Helen and got her photo taken with her. She started pulling Helen away by the arm and just wouldn't let go.. Helen was talking to her in Portuguese and asked her to stay where the crowd was but she didn't listen and dragged her away (with Fabio quickly behind). After a few minutes we decided to go follow them as they didnt come back, although we could see where they were. when we got up to them this girl had both hands grasped onto Helen's hair and wouldn't let go!! The girl's mother and Fabio were trying to pull her hands away but she had such a strong grip and it was hurting Helen, so much so that she screamed in pain a couple of times. Eric stepped in and thankfully managed to prize the girls hands open but poor Helen was in tears. This girls was then lashing out at Fabio and her mother just couldn't control her. It gathered a little bit of a crowd so we got away as quickly as we could. It was a rather scary experience for everyone.

On the way back from Santa Teresa I (Rob) realised my phone wasn´t in my pocket any more so I must have left it on the table in the bar or maybe it was swiped from my pocket in the crowd. Either way, I dont have communication any more until I dont know when (with being away it'll be difficult to get a handset sent out so i´m not sure at this point what i´lll do).

We´ve managed to book into the El Misti hostel in Botafogo on Thursday and Friday night and we´re heading there today to see about getting ourselves onto a couple of excursions this week.

Thats it for now. We´ll put photos on here at some point when we can, although i've obviously lost some that i took on my phone :(

Rob & Ruth x