Morning, pre-Carnival dog walks

My first morning sleeping at my CS friend F`s pad and I thought it was a well-deserved sleep-in. So I laid just a liiiiiiiiiiiittle while longer and then decided to get up and make something of this day. After a shower and a potter around the kitchen, I looked at my phone. 8:38am. DAMN YOU JETLAG!

So, thinking F was still asleep, I stole his dog and crept out to see the building excitement on the pre-Carnival streets of Rio. And this is what I saw...

On my right side, a man gutting fish. Possibly to prepare for hungry drunkards later tonight, possibly just for his 10 children. Who is to know. On the left, a couple of fuck-off tankers with PROTEGAR (bad Spanish tells me this means protect/prosecute) that I would rather NOT be in by the end of the night.

Further down the road, I get to the beach where black muscles ripple on the weights training set-up, curvacious older women flail about in tiny bikinis at a beach volleyball mini-tournament and people walk by with their little dogs. The sun peeks out from behind the clouds - ahh, such sweet relief! - and I thank the stars I finally remembered to put sunscreen on my albino face. Over in the distance, past the beach, the peak of Sugar Loaf mountain is encased in a foreboding white cloud... as if the gods are truly saying, "You really think you are good enuf to be up here??" to all the tourists trekking to the cable cars.

I get a couple of beeps - well, I think they were for me but the traffic can be a little crazy here - and I take my time crossing the roads not to increase my exposure to this appreciate audience (ha!) but to make sure this crazy dog at the end of my leash doesn`t get himself run over. Now that`s a way to sour a new CS friendship!

Speaking of... last night we went to a big CS party and - Rio being one of the most active CS communities - it was jam-packed with people from all around the world. I made some lovely new friends, including a BEAUTIFUL man from Argentina I just wish I could sink my teeth into (unfortunately I think he falls into the category of I WISH) and I got to practise my Spanish again. Oh, when he speaks it, the words drip like honey...

Annnnyway, F has today off work so that´s good. We can head to this Carnival party this afternoon but I am apparently not on the list, so we`ll have to be a little creative. I am looking forward to not hanging off F`s arm, because besides that being incredibly annoying, I need to make sure I don`t rely on him too much here. He has a habit of pushing the flirting jokes a little far and I feel I will explode if he continues to think it`s funny. But, at the moment, alles gut. Now where did I put that tutu???

Shit hitting fan & spraying everwhere time

Feel like shit today - but not because of last night's alcohol. Largely related, my pain is instead caused by stupid actions last night that caused someone else a great deal of pain. So, accordingly, anything shit that happens today is indeed worth dealing with.

What makes me upset today is the fact that I caused drama - as only I seem to do - and most probably ruined my new friend's relationship with her boyfriend. Not that it was the most healthy of relationships to begin with, given he was so easy to indulge, but still she was so very upset...

I've mentioned this guy before... he is probably the hottest Austrian guy I've met since being here, and of course he is my friend's boyfriend. I happened to tell him this last night, and of course the inevitable heavy flirting ensued. To the point that I ended up in a bathroom with him - memory gets fuzy at this point - although I'm pretty sure it was more innocent than I'd like to think. Definitely remember having a normal conversation with him... particularly cos my hosenträger (braces) were still intact when I walked out of there. To run smack bang into his gf waiting to accost me. Aye aye aye. And thy shitteth hath hitteth thy fan.

Seriously, why do I continue to do this damage to people?? Is it something inbuilt in me that just loves to see other people suffer? I just don't know. All I do know is that I need to grow up and start taking responsibility for my actions. Although with Rio Carnivale around the corner, that plan will probably be sidelined for the moment... Dammit.

Boredom = gypo flirting

I've started flirting with the gypo shepherd boy. OK, so I admit it. I'm bored of the lack of decent men around here. To look at, if nothing else. Luckily the 2 hottest gypos disrobed and jumped in the river when we were there (I would've looked a TREAT) but other than that, I've now had to resort to this. A gypo. Someone call the Hot Men patrol now please.

Worse still, this ridiculous state of affairs has been spurred by a dream or 2 (2, I know, crazy!) I had with said shepherd boy - galloping bareback together on horseback of course, he can ride circles around me without a saddle dammit - so when I wake I have to remind myself I'm not actually caught up in a tangled web of non-English speaking love with this boy. Urgh.

In another news, the cat is still alive so that's good. She can't use her back legs much but she's fighting back. Just started to eat a little bit now so at least she won't die of starvation. That would be a bit shit.

And after yesterday's hell, we've at least been working doing something I've enjoyed - moving some horses back to the herd and getting more, and barebacking it both ways (much more comfy than the cart!). You know you're in for a fun time when crazy shepherd boy is at the lead - of course it's more comfy for him to just bolt everywhere so he can procreate at a later date but because all this cart action has long since sterilized me, I didn't mind what pace we went. In the end, though, as we bolted through the village to the front door (always a good idea), I admit I was having fun.