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Post Carnaval blues - not yet
So, otherthan a missed theatre expedition (due to falling asleep post carnaval) I´ve done everything & more I wanted to this weekend... I was stressed that this weekend would be a real downer after carnaval, but I was wrong....
Generally work is going well -= getting more involved with the team and starting to feel able to wander off and chat to patients on my own (& examine them) which is really liberating - Its a pain & you become a liability having to wait for the Drs all the time. And I continue to get amazing offers from Brasilians all the time ;) this time it was an offer to climb up to the top of sugar loaf!! 400m up - the cable car (the normal way of getting there) is the one from James Bond when he and Jaws fight. There´s many ways to get up there climbing - fortunately we choose the easiest of climbs (3/10 on the climbing scale apparently) - but seeing as I´ve not climbed before... So the night before I did something chilled and went for Sushi (the´s a big Japanese influence here) which was amazing -& so cheap (An - I am completely hooked)
THe day of the climb began at stupid o´clock as we (one of the Dutch guys came aswell) met our guide (one of the Docs - Raphael). After about 1/2 an hour of sedate walking we skipped over a barrier and started scrambling up a 60 degree rock face - I was surprised but undeterred until I turned the corner and the slope had increased to about 45 deg steepening to 30 at worst, errr??? But just kept doing it. My newly acquired fear of heights were chellenged as we got to about 250m up and I was precariouly poised on a ridiculously sloping bit - turned round and just saw the drop with nothing but rock below me - but I was failry chilled about it all. After 1/12 hrs we got to the climbing bit - cue speed learning of harnesses etc... The relieving thing was a party of 3 kids (8-12 yrs old) one with a broken arm was going up before us - and one had a broken arm!!!! Raphael went up with all the safety gear in about 5mins. So Vincent was next who after a couple of falls & retrys got up - this did nothing to calm me!!! But I shot up the first part of the climb & negotiated the 1st part of the tricky section - only to come unstuck (!) at the 2nd part, where there wasn´t an idea foot hold and you had to largely pull yourself up using your arms - anyone that has seen the size of my Buuuutocks would know I´d struggle, but after one failed attempt and a moment of intervention (from a guy that was on his decent having climbed 200m vertical on a cable!!!!) - where he said Yoda-esque "trust in your left foot, believe and you´ll do it!!!" So I did and I did. When I get my pics on you´ll see a hilarious after climb photo of me bathed in sweat looking like someone just slapped me with a big fish (I forgot to mention it was about 32 deg in heat now!!) So we got to the top & had the best drinks in the world - saw the great views & made our descent (much easier)
At night (as reward!) I went to one of the nicest restaurant/nightblubs in RIo & had the biggest plate of Sushi I could order (I was sooo full) then danced away (after a brief power nap!) Soi another good night.
Sunday came and after Chatting to me gran & Andy & Anita went to watch Flamengo (my team here) versus Vasco de Gama in the semi final of a cup game, at the Maracana!!!!!!!! The view there is awesome you´ve got the mountains in the distance with Christ the Redeemer staring down at you. Awesome ... It was so good - I think it was the best game I´ve ever been to- the game itselff wasn´t the best 1-1 after 90 mins & straight to pens - Flamengo won 3-1. But the athmosphere was mental, despite there only being about 40,000 there (capacity 100,000). Great that it was 2 Rio teams & they are the top 2 teams in Brazil... so amazing. If you´ve seen the bit where everyone was jumping up and down waving things and setting off flares - thats where I was!!! I have no idea what I was singing half the time (other than the rude one about Vasco´s mothers) but it was an amazing experience. There was no trouble and had a great time with some guys from Bolton & some Liverpool fans - also met someone from Leicester!!! I was predicatbly very drunk by the end but managed to get to the hospital safely!!
Monday was ward based (no hangover - they don´t exist here, but I didn´t sleep well) & then in the afternoon outpatients.... which is pretty much my timetable from now on... The heat & tiredness led to the briefest of sleeps (elie would be so proud!) Whoops! In the day I saw a lot more stuff like Leprosy & Karposi´s Sarcoma - aswell as the usual things (that I´ll probably never see in the UK)
Anyway late for work so have to go.
Bye all
T
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