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Sob! Our last blog. Ah yes the end is near, in fact truth be told the end is nigh because we are actually writing this from back in England. Hope you've enjoyed reading the blog as much as we've enjoyed writing it and I would urge you to keep reading to the end of this one because there is an exciting little twist to round things off.
So Rio, one of the activities that we were keen to do was a tour of the favelas (shanty towns). Again, a bit like the mines in Bolivia, it's one of those things that we don't feel entirely comfortable doing. Essentially it's treating an area of extreme poverty a bit like a zoo, and treating someone else's desperate life as an entertainment for our rather privileged one. But on the other hand the favelas make up a huge part of Rio so if we want to see and understand the city then shouldn't we go and witness it? Anyway the deciding factor was that we had both studied favelas years ago in geography class! And the tour we were on funds a school in one of the roughest parts of the city so we could use this to balance any awkward feelings we may have had.
So what was it like? Well we must admit that we were impressed, surprised and perhaps, in a twisted sense, a bit disappointed. The favelas were actually quite ... nice! All the buildings were brick or concrete, there is sanitation, electricity, shops, banks. Sure there are piles of rubbish dotted around but it seems organised and functioning. I have the bizarre feeling of being disappointed at the lack of poverty, followed by guilt for having this feeling! What supposedly marks the favelas out as different is the amount of organised crime and gangs, but this isn't something you can see. Our guide keeps pointing out the 'stark contrast between rich and poor' and yes, you can see very nice houses and hotels just next to the run down estates of the favelas. But coming from London this contrast really isn't anything new - rich and poor side by side its sounds just like the borough of Hammersmith and Chelsea. We're glad to have done the tour but I think we were supposed to come away shocked, horrified and spurred into action when really we walked away saying 'well that's not too bad'.
After that assault on the conscience it was time to get back to something more touristy. So we visited the statue of Christ the Redeemer (it's a bit like the Angel of the North but sunnier) and took in a football match. The football was a must do for Pete. To go to Brazil and not see a game would be ... well just wrong. Like going to Italy and not eating pasta, or France and shutting your eyes as you went past the Eiffel tower. Flamengo vs. Atletico Paranaese was a beauty. Local hero Adriano was back from Italy for his first game and when he scored the second of the 2-1 victory the already crazy crowd went mental. I'm trying hard not to slip into football clichés but I can't resist saying 'the crowd was like a twelfth man' and 'it was like a sea of red and black' (Flamengo's colours). The number of flags was phenomenal, although I'm not quite sure of the relevance of Popeye and Bob Marley flags but there you go.
So what else did we do in Rio? Well we had a great night out with some people in our hostel, which involved dancing in a shell garage forecourt with a few hundred other people and finding ourselves in a very gay club failing to Samba. But you can ask us all about this when we get back.
So here comes the twist that I mentioned a couple of paragraphs ago. On our last day in Rio, and of our whole trip, we set out to get the cable car up Sugar Loaf Mountain. This is the big outcrop of rock that sticks out into the sea giving you views over the whole of Rio and beyond. This view was recently voted one of the seven modern wonders of the world (wooooooo) and we were able to watch the sun set over the city, beaches in the foreground, the statue of Christ in the background it really was very impressive. And it was here on our last day that Pete got down on one knee and asked Polly to marry him !!! And the crazy girl only went and said ....yes! wooooooohoooooooo
We hug kiss, and buy some celebratory Caprinihas from the snack bar and take lots of photos where we look very happy. Did Polly know it was coming? Well yes, although she does admit that in every beautiful and amazing place we've been in the last 9 months she has been hoping that it might be the place! So even though we are heading home we are very happy, Polly's dimples are out in full force and we just want to get home and tell family and friends.
One adventure over, on to the next
Lots of love
Pete and Polly
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