Rio !!!

Below is an older entry that I wrote while in Rio last week. I was well warned to leave it until this week to blog again as some of the guys travelling with us were surprising their families and arriving home early! Anyway here is goes...

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We are in Rio the last few days and it has been fantastic. The weather is very warm but it did rain one day last weekend.

So far we have done a tour of the Favela which one of the slums here in Rio. It was a real eye opener to see how they are run with no police. To get there we took a high speed motorbike taxi up through the slums, and did the tour walking down through it. There is no police and the only law is the drug dealers and their security team. In the slum we were in there is a population of 390,000 packed into a few square km. The tour was unreal, some buzz on the back of the motorbike with no helmet, going against traffic and dodging trucks by inches! The slums are amazing too, you pass the last police checkpoint getting in and its crazy how they control things with no official law! I guess they let the Gringos like us in as we pay our way and some money is contributed to local day care centres and the like. In most of the areas they wont let anyone take photos, in case you get someone carrying a gun or something, of which there was a few guys walking around. Today I brought a DVD of a police raid on the slum we were in and the gun fight that took place. Only two weeks ago there was a big raid on the same slum and 60 gang members took over a hotel and took 600 people hostage. The 60 took uniforms of staff and most walked out with only 8 being caught.

The following night we went to an all night street party down at Lapa. Its crazy but not far off Galway during race week. There was loads of stands to buy drink and food with thousands of people partying on the streets.

On Sunday it was a great day and we watched the Down and Cork in the All Ireland Final in an Irish pub down town Rio. There was about 12 of us (guys that were travelling on our tour) that went out for Robs birthday and most hadnt seen a GAA match before. It was a cracker of an All Ireland final and they guys loved every minute of it as it was very exciting. Im delighted the Aussies, Scots and English thought the game was so good. Then later that night we went to see Flamengo vs Fluminense at the Engenhão será Stadium Rio - biggest rivalry and derby in Brazil. Savage game that ended 3 - 3. The Brazilians really know how to do it and create a great atmosphere with drums and chanting.

Yesterday we were sunning ourselves and I was watching the Homeless World Cup down at the copacabana beach. I was talking to the Irish lads who seemed all from Dublin. Ye will be happy to hear that they won their first two games but lost against Mexico in their last... but I still think they go through. Its a bit of a crazy tournament but the sponsorship seems huge as all the teams were flown over and got free accommodation in hostels and stuff. The final is on Sunday but id be interested to see how Ireland do. I saw them play against Mexico and they were by far the most fiery and hard teams in it.

Today we took it easy and hit the beach again and did some shopping down town in markets. We also went to Christ The Redeemer statute towering over Rio which was fantastic. We got savage photos which ill put up soon.

On our second last day I had booked into one final excursion; hang-gliding in Rio over the city and Tijuca urban rain forest... Its was about a 10 minute flight as conditions were very calm but it was a brilliant experience. Gliding is the closest thing to what free flight must be like as I was able to stretch my arms out like a bird. The truth be told I was a little nervous as well as being excited but it was all well worth it.

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Im sitting at in my house now after returning home and going back to work this week. Its strange to think that I was in Rio last week doing all we did and to think that we have travelled across South America in the last couple of months. It seems like a world away at the minute but we have great memories and made fantastic friends. Im already looking forward to my next holiday, where ever it may be!