Day 1

    We arrived in Rio Tuesday around noon, and were picked up at the airport by Jim´s friend Bernardo. A fellow musician and percussionist. His step father Felle met us at baggage claim and waited with us until Bernardo arrived. We smoked cigarettes that we had longed for after 24 hours of traveling. I slept on the flight from DC to Rio, Rob was not so fortunate. Quickly my plans to work on the plane evaporated. I joked with a new friend before leaving that when you depart on a long plane trip you get ready with days worth of reading and work, thinking time will stand still once the plane takes off. However, most passengers land without even turning a page.
     As I sat outside the airport taking in the new air touching my skin, Rob talked to Felle in Portuguese about our project, soccer, and Rio News. I just soaked in the air, people, and taxis. In one way it felt totally new and foreign, in another it just felt like smoking outside any airport in the states. Bernardo arrived in a small white hatchback, fitting Jim´s description of Harry Potter to a T. The sights and sounds of familiarity sitting outside the airport were quickly whisked away as we jumped on the highway heading into Rio and Copacabana.