Chapter I - Arrival

Jyväskylä - Helsinki - Amsterdam - Rio De Janeiro - Salvador

Unbelievable, we're actually here on the other side of the world! It's Wednesday evening and the year changed last night. We're laying on our luxurious bed in an apartment on the 16th floor of a marvellous building, enjoying the gentle breeze of warm night wind.

We arrived in Salvador on Sunday evening after 30 hours of travelling, with sweaty armpits and weary bodies. Anneli left her parents house on Saturday night around 10 and picked me up in Jyväskylä two hours later and so the trip towards Helsinki began. Luckily we didn't need to travel alone, but Aki, Joni and Johanna, three people very dear to us, took time to take us to the airport.

The flight to Amsterdam was a piece of cake, it was the twelve hour flight across the sea that was a surprise for us both - they had movies, music and language learning programmes, delicious food and eventually the flight didn't feel so long because the seats were comfortable and these travellers sleepy. Turbulence was disturbing, though. The first difficulties occurred in Brazil. First the federal police found it strange that they couldn't find my 6-year-old visa in my 2-year-old passport. Then we had to wait for our backpacks to get out of the plane, rush through the airport to another terminal and check them in again and try to pass the security control in time.  We made it quite in time and got to the plane to Salvador.

You'd think this was the end of the story, but I'll tell you something else: it wasn't. We didn't know the address of our host for the night and Salvador airport has no free WiFi. Anneli was able to get a free WiFi trial for 15 minutes (by selling her soul, as she claims), and after 14, 5 minutes of trying couchsurfing website started working and we found the address. Half an hour later we arrived in front of a hotel-like building.

We've spent the last few days getting accustomed to the heat, shopping for things we forgot and getting to know the city with help from our host, George. We spent the new year, reveillon, with him and his family. We followed the traditions, dressed in white as well as we could (I had a dress and Anneli was super white underneath her clothes), made wishes for the oncoming year and jumped seven waves. We were shocked by whacky brazilians around us on the beach who were shooting fireworks from their hands without any protection or anything! I'm just wondering how many eyes got lost that night.

The beginning of the trip has been somewhat difficult, especially for me. I've never been much of a homesickie, but this time the distance between me and Finland seems exceptionally long. The culture shock has been enormous, it seems that I need more peace and solitude in the darkness of winter and coming here right in the middle of winter is proving to be a tough task; brazilians especially here in the north are too loud and close for my liking at the moment. One (that meaning also us) must keep in mind that we've been here only for three days, though.

We decided ages ago that each blog entry would contain a like/dislike -section, where we'd write about each other with intention to remember to talk about our issues. I'm grateful beyond reason for Anneli's patience with me. I know I haven't been the best travelling buddy so far, but she has been understanding, given me space when I've needed it and talked with me when needed. Though the constant self-development and especially the need to develop others gets out of hand at times ;D Comment from Anneli: It's true that Sanni has been difficult. It's hard to see someone you love in a bad shape. It's also really hard to enjoy the trip when your travel companion really wants to be 9000km northeast from your dream. I have been mad about it. The good thing about Sanni is that I can tell her about my feelings and we can talk about it almost like adults (her listening quietly and me trying to change/improve her). Even better is that later she also tells me what she really thinks and not what I say she should. What I'm grateful for is that she can order food for me in her perfect Portuguese when I'm cranky.

Next time more sun, beach, fun and hopefully pictures too! Because a tablet and a camera aren't the best combination, we might not be able to provide you with as many pictures as we (and probably you too) would like to.

Happy New Year to all of our lovely friends and families ♥

Pictures: we on the plane, Anneli's thigh full of sun eczema (which can be seen all over her body and which appeared after only five minutes in the sun) and the view from our room in Salvador.