My general first impressions:
- People are extremely helpful and friendly but only a few speak English so learning Portuguese is on my priority list once I have managed to settle down
- The weather is actually much nicer than I expected. Of course it's winter but I thought that there would still be extremely high humidity but it's sunny every day and the 25°C I can easily cope with. It's of course still not what I would classify as "winter" but at least I have a few months to get used to the climate until it gets really hot.This has also an effect on the mosquitoes - until now I saw only one and I didn't get any bites yet. Nevertheless I am using insect repellent when I know I'll spend more time outside - you can never be too careful with Dengue fever around.
- Getting settled here is VERY complicated since you have to go to many different places to get what you want. Opening a bank account takes at least a week and I am privileged since I always have a translator with me who is also pushing things along since he knows how to handle the people and cut the waiting time somewhat. Without him I would be quite lost. Despite the complicated administration, the start here feels much easier than the one I had in Norway where nobody really cared if I got my things sorted out or not.
So here are a few impressions of the hotel:
