Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Marvellous coincidences

It was wonderful to find out that my lovely friend Hannah would be in Rio for one night at the same time as us, before flying north to the Amazon for a few weeks with her job at CAFOD. Unbelievably, as Rio is such a big place, it turned out that she was staying in the hotel opposite Mariana’s apartment.

We went to meet Hannah, her colleague Paul and a Brazilian consultant working with them, at a nearby bar on a Friday night. When we arrived they were sat at an outdoor table in a packed restaurant engrossed in conversation and Hannah enjoying a large caipirinha. We stood in Hannah’s eye line for a few minutes waiting for her to spot us. She eventually did see us and with a characteristic shriek, which halted everyone in the restaurant mid-chew/swallow who turned around to see what was happening, came bounding over to hug us.

We spent that evening and all of the next day with Han and Paul. It was so lovely to see her again, and made me realise how much I’m looking forward to seeing everyone when we get back. It felt surprisingly normal, wandering along the beach with Han as though we were in Brockwell Park.With Han and her colleague Paul drinking fresh coconut water on Ipanema beach.

No comments: