Yesterday, we had a fabulous day with Rafa and our friends from the ship? We first had a visit to the Stadium where they will hold the finals of the World soccer cup and the Olympics in 2016. then to our surprise Rafa took us for a tour of the Favelas. This is a common word for Rios slums where over a million people live. To clean up this area where the most violent drug traffickers and gangs ruled for years, even the police would not go there. What they have done to transform this area is to build a 5 and half km cable car with 6 stations linked to new schools, metro stations where the residents can travel for 1 Real (50 cents). This is working very well and the police are now getting the area under control. It was areal experience to see the cluttered houses built on top of one another. The screaming for the whole trip up and back by a certain passenger was hilarious. We then went to the Tijuca forest the third largest hand planted urban forest in the world, with over 9 million trees. Here we saw some more magnificent views over Rio. it must be the most picturesque place in the world wherever you go there are the most unbelievable views. Then onto Barra or the wetlands where we did a boat trip around 7 Islands and then pulled into a cafe for a late lunch. On the way back we drove by the beaches of Leblon and Ipanema where we stopped while our Scottish friend played out a bet by being dressed in " budgie smugglers" and drinking a glass of scotch. As we went back to the bus three policemen were so concerned for our safety among the thousands and thousands of beach goers that they gave us an escort. It was a fantastic day as you can see from the photos below. Pity I can't write what they are. I should say something about our tour guide Rafa he has been so good , so funny at times yet so knowledgable. He comes highly recommended for anyone coming to Rio.
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