By now you’ll be pleased to know that this is coming to an end. Wednesday was our last day in Rio and South America before heading back to the States. 🇺🇸

So we made the most of it.

I started the day by having a swim in the very warm waters ( 25degrees) water of Copacabana beach. A dip in the Atlantic.

I then went off on a Favela tour. This was a chance to see the notorious favélas of Rio. David had been a few years ago so had recommended it. For the most part after having been through Peru and Bolivia it was really no different to many other places we had been to. People getting in with their lives as best they can with what they had. Granted there were some differences, the open “drug sales” heavily armed drug dealers very openly selling a LOT of drugs. With a corrupt Police force around the corner was new. For these parts we were not able to take photos. People very friendly and I couldn’t help think that the new and now very busy tourism trade in the favelas is all part of the web of legitimising the rampant corruption?

I then had to race back to the hotel on the back of a motorcycle to have a quick shower, check out and get onto our next tour. A day trip seeing some of the other highlights of Rio.

We started at the “carnivale experience”. Yes it was touristy but my goodness it was interesting given the whole spectacle of Carnivale that kicks off in a couple of weeks. Put it this way, the production is a little more than a few hay bales on the back of a ute. This is a professional operation on a super grand scale. There is a league and the 12 top Samba groups compete each year and each performance takes a year to produce and is judged on very strict criteria. I think I’ve found my new favourite sport and going back to Rio for Carnivale is now on my bucket list.

It’s all very hush , hush and top secret while we saw some of the floats in this years parade we could not take photos. They are huge. I’m talking some of them being 3-4 stories high. Costumes that must weigh 20-30 kg. A fun experience and even an initially sceptical husband got into the swing of things. This is like a professional sports league. The 12 top teams get access to these huge warehouses and resources , but if you fall out of the top 12 you loose your warehouse. This is the type of sport I could get behind and I definitely want to see a Carnivale.

From there we started to see some of the other highlights of Rio.

The Salaron steps in Rio. Apparently the third biggest tootsie attraction after sugarloaf and Christ the Redeemer. Salaron was an artist who started to put tiles on steps. Thousands of tiles and from all over the world. Found quite a few from Aotearoa.

We also checked out some of the other spots. The monastery church was very ornate and first established in the 1500’s. And also the cathedral a very modern, sad almost industrial building.

Also visited a great neighbourhood , St Thérèse really funky and bohemian. A place I’d love to stay but apparently can be dangerous to access at night

So that brings South America to an end and now we are off to the USA. A few days in Houston before we head to Nebraska… we start heading home in a week. Exciting.