Waking up early today I resume somewhat of more structured approach to touristing - first a favela tour from Marcelo Armstrong, then a cooking class in the afternoon just down 2 blocks from where we are staying.
The favela tour was well worth it. Going with the Marcelo Armstong umbrella, the tour guide gave a very good history of the favela and also saw quite a bit of the areas that I wouldn't have gone on my own. We ended up going to two favelas, Raciona (which was the biggest one in Rio, and this other smaller one). I have to say the Raciona one seemed pretty sketch, but being with a tour guide and minding our own business, it ended up alot safer than them horror stories. The other one we actually walked inside the favela. This one was alot safer relatively, and also had alot of improvements being made to it. Among them was the sewage system and street names. It was a pretty interesting that street names wasn't everywhere and it took effort to get it established. I could go on and on, but the 2 hours were definitely very well spent. Oh, also tried the acui? (some black goo thing) that turned out to be some meal replacement type thing that was really really filling (though refreshing).
After the tour, having some time to kill, took a shower (since it'd be a whole day since I will see it again), had a couple beers by the beach, then headed off to the cooking class. For once the sky cleared up and blue skies were seen - too bad it was the last day :(.
Cooking in Rio. Simone is pretty awesome. Very good experience, felt like just friends chilling and drinking and eating. The food was pretty delicious as well. Heard some funny stories, tried a bunch of different drinks and food, and the other 4 people in the group was British (aka I was listening to British accented english non stop :)) ... needless to say, life was sweet!
Really enjoyed this last day - not too rushed, pretty relaxing and frequent of boozing, my kind of trip :).
Now at airport, got here pretty smoothly, but because I am here too early and no WiFi, I can't checkin so I am stuck outside. Supposedly have to wait till 10pm-ish for COPA to open up... tsk tsk tsk, then begin my elapsed time of 22 hours (various time zone gains/adjustments included) of airport/flights. Hopefully no hyperactive kids or crying babies around (that and I can get on the flight lol)
Anyhow, on the very last leg of the trip, only uncertainty are the 2 flights before I get back into LAX, then back to familiar lands once again and also back to reality.
Next major trip I will probably look at those help build houses or teach for a week or two trips. Seeing sights is nice, but I think it would be that much more rewarding if I made a slight difference while I am there, and traveled at the same time.
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