Got here at last!

Back to sticky keyboards and strange conguration - please ignore errors!

I got to Heathrow in time for an earlier flight to Madrid which, fortunately, I declined as it transpired my flight to Rio was three hours late and four hours in Madrid would have been the straw that broke the camel´s back.  When I finally got to Rio, further confusion over the time - Iberia had said 11, the airport said 10, the taxi driver said 11... so I adjusted my time to 11 and got up after not too much sleep and a noisy Rio night below.  It was this morning that I spotted the hotel clock, an hour earlier so I got even less sleep than I had thought.

If, Sunny. you are reading this I thought of you at my excellent breakfast - lots of water melon in huge chunks which was your favourite - I missed you then and later when I sat down to my favourite Brazilian tipple: a wonderful caipirinha (sim acucar).

This morning I climbed up toa colonial area of Rio called Santa Teresa - an old colonial area with beautiful houses haning to the side of the mountain.  I´m glad I´ve done so much hill walking on the jogger as I needed all that and more to get up there.  I want to go back, but next time on the tram which travels over an old aqueduct just down the road from the hotel.

The hotel is old but seems clean.  The staff are friendly and very helpful and breakfast good with lots of Brazilian coffee, fruit, and juices, breads, cheese and cake; I didn´t sample all but enough to get me through the day.

I went downtown on the bus which stops outside and, by chance, stumbled across an exhibition of Burle-Marx a Brazilian painter and landscape gardener who worked on thousands of projects around the world.  As I hope to get to see his house and gardens when I get back here in March it was a lucky discovery and there was so much to see I ussed the rest of my day.  So now the pressure is on for tomorrow and a short Tuesday.

I want to do the tram trip as mentioned and go to an art gallery in S Teresa, but also visit the Botanical gardens and get to the tourist office to try and get some rough plans for my return here in March.  On Tuesday I need to pack and move to the group hotel and I hope to be able to give you an update later  Well, my first day has passed better then yesterday when Iberia made me wonder what I was doing - sleep, food and Brazilians have done the trick!

Will upload photos later - here the sockets are very tiny so only allow out tiny amounts of electricity - mobile phone is only around for emergencies till I can charge it, and the camera batteries.