I've got some good news and I've got some bad news

Ok first the good news: We have an apartment in Buenos Aires! We found it online, which may sound a bit sketchy, but we searched a lot of websites and ours seems highly reputable. We didnt have to pay anything online so that was a major plus. The downside is that we have to have the months rent and deposit all in cash the day we meet the realtor at our apartment. It's a lot of cash. Anyway, the apartment looks totally sweet in the pictures and we're very excited about it. We have the apartment from April 1st to May 3rd. Why the 3rd you ask? Well, i most certainly will not be traveling the day of or the day after my birthday of course! So, we have a sweet couch with someones name all over it. Want to visit us? Come on down! For those of you that are bored and have a bit of time, here's the link to see the place: http://www.bytargentina.com/re/propview.php?view=1616&bookit=&dia_ing=&mes_ing=&ano_ing=&dia_sal=&mes_sal=&ano_sal=. We've only heard positive things about Buenos Aires so we're very excited to get there. I picture it to be Barcelona-esque, or at least European with super cheap food, tango shows, etc.

So the bad news: Bretts memory card is messed up. When he tried to play back some pics, there was a black screen that said, Memory card Error. No images. So disappointing! We had a decent amount of pictures on there and the best ones were of this past weekend. We went to a beach town called Porto de Galinhas and i snorkeled for the first time! This guy takes you out on his jangada, which is basically a very small makeshift sailboat, during low-tide to some reefs where you can snorkel with some cute fish. At first, i was kindve hyperventilating because i couldnt reach the bottem, i had never snorkeled before, and my snorkel had a leak in it. So every now and then i'd breath too deeply, swallow water, and have to frantically doggy paddle while i cleared my snorkel. We moved on to another area where we walked over the reef a little to a natural pool where i could reach the bottom. I also switched snorkels with brett, whose snorkel didnt leak at all. It was so much better. The water was really clear and there were a lot of fish...not much of a variety but a definitely good place for a beginner. There was one cool fish and i dont remember the name but i do know that it was Dory from finding nemo. Our guide was super nice and took tons of pictures of us while we did all this. So anyway, we had tons of pictures of all that and now theyre all gone. We're going to have to buy a new memory card and thats going to cost us a bundle. Anything related to technology/electronics here is very expensive. For instance, we decided to look at portable cd players in case the one we brought crapped out on us and the cheapest ones were over $100 (on a side note, i saw a pair of Asics running shoes for $400 and they werent that great looking). Total bummer city.

Remember how i mentioned that my ATM card was copied so i had to cancel it? Well, I had my mom send me my new one and it finally came. I guess 2-3 day US time means over a week Brasil time. Actually im surprised it got here so quickly since it was over Carnaval when she mailed it. No one works during Carnaval so im guessing neither did the post office. Im just relieved it arrived. When i was studying in spain, i signed up for an ATM card too late so my mom had to send it to me. She sent it through DHL so we figured that was pretty reliable. Well weeks went by and i never got the card. It eventually ended up going back to my house in the states with stamps all over the envelope. It had gone all the way down to mexico and back. Stupid DHL. So since we have the card, we'll be leaving Recife very soon. We'll probably take an over night bus to Salvador tomorrow or Thursday.

Oh, and Alex, brett bought some white havaianas. He wants to be just like you.