Rio is everything they say it is! It's dirty, it's crowded, but it's beautiful, and full of excitement. The only thing we missed was the sunshine!
We were woken at 6am by the ship reversing its motors as it berthed. There was the centre of Rio, right in front of us, and, shining whitely in the only shaft of sunshine we saw all day, above all was the Christ the Redeemer statue, accented by swirling clouds.
We went on a tour which took us to the harbour below the Sugarloaf Mountain, to Ipanema and to Copacabana, to the wonderful modern conical cathedral, and, because our guide was an architectural nut, past dozens of wonderful buildings. It's a week to Carnaval, but we went to the Sandromo to watch the set-up ... we saw SO much.
When everyone else went back to the ship, we got in a cab for a crazy ride through the slum areas to Botafogo, looking for somewhere to replace John's sandals - he's worn out one pair already!! We spent a couple of hours in a mall, feeling proud as we navigated our way with limited Portugese, then, good Brazilian sandals in hand, we caught a local bus - about $2 Australian for a 10km ride.
This was the best day we've had in Brazil - despite the rain, Rio is everything they say ... we recommend it!
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Hi Sally & John,
This list is part of my 'lost' post last week. I'm posting it to give you an idea of the areas affected. There have been another 11 confirmed yesterday - I haven't heard where from.
POLICE can now confirm that 189 people have perished in the bushfires across Victoria. They have confirmed deaths in the following areas:
Flowerdale 7
Heathcote Junction 1
Humevale 5
Kinglake 33
Kinglake West 7
Mittons Bridge 1
Reedy Creek 1
St Andrews 20
Steels Creek 7
Strathewen 40
Strath Creek 1
Toolangi 2
Upper Plenty 1
Whittlesea 2
Total number of deaths in the area - 128
Callignee 4
Churchill 2
Koornalla 4
Total number of deaths in the area - 10
Marysville 36
Narbethong 4
Yarra Ranges 3
Total number of deaths in the area - 43
Mudgegonga 2
Total number of deaths in the area - 2
Bendigo 1
Total number of deaths in the area - 1
The number of people who have died in hospital or elsewhere - 5
TOTAL 189
Hi John and Fran,
The National Day of Mourning is this coming Sunday - February 22nd.
The service is being held at Rod Laver Arena in the city.
They are still missing around 80 people, so the death toll will probably increase significantly in the next few days. They have also said that a final total may never be known due to the heat of the fire - will just have to wait and see.
On a lighter note, glad your trip is going well - we are planning our own trip to New Zealand. Leave on 4th April and come back 28th April. Have had a minor hiccup with Tina losing her job on Monday, but can't help redundancies in this economical crisis due to American wankers.
David
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