Blogs from Centro, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, South America - page 3

My god Iguazo Falls defid the imagination wth heat and humidity. Must have been close to 100% with temps around the mid 30´s. It was exhausting just getting up! We spent 2 nights there and was a nice town, small and easy to get around. The falls were magnificent, we took a train round the park, a boat ride doen the river and then the jet boat into the falls. I did take photos while we were in the falls but to be honest even I´m having difficulty working out what they are of! Cant download any phtos as there are no USB prts on the computers here. So have made it to Rio. HUGE city. Our hotel is fine - with great airconditioning, and a fridge, but it looks like it might be a dodgy ... read more

Opravdu velkej stadion. Prej se sem veslo 200 000 lidi. Jo a ma zaviraci strechu :)... read more

Waiting for a beautiful day to take the trek up to the top of caricauna (or something) to see the big man. And Monday was he day. Sitting around the hostel for a wee while, we managed to gather the troops and about 8 of us headed off on a local bus journey with your truly being the guide - are they madmen...?!?!? Off bus, attacked by portugeese minibus driver, kicked in, door shut - off we go! yippeeee..... he took us to the first look out point which is like on the hilltop/mountain beside the christ. But the views are unbelieveable!! You can see right over Rio and realise how it streches through the hillsides and drops down into favella´s and tower blocks and well basically a pretty diiiirty city - but still beautiful!!! Took ... read more

The soccer game was wonderful. It was, however, quite an interesting experience. We had read that we should consider taking a guide and paying extra money because the stadium wasn't in the nicest neighborhood. We decided to do it on our own after discovering it could save us about $60.50 with the exchange rate. (Mike wanted to make sure you knew exactly how much we were saving). The only problem we had was waiting in line for tickets. There were no lines...nothing to distinguish any sense of order. Instead of waiting in line for tickets we found ourselves trying to buy tickets with 300 passionate Brazilian soccer fans. We stood in a massive crowd of people for about an hour before we finally were able to purchase the tickets. We started to question our safety when ... read more

Projeto Morrinho Today the “Tour of Justice” continues with a visit to Projeto Morrinho . Projeto Morrinho is located in the favela Vila Pereira da Silva, close to the neighborhood Laranjeiras, where coincidentally the seat of CDI is also located. (Note: I’ll be coming back to CDI this afternoon to meet with Rodrigo Baggio - stay tuned!) My friend Carlos co-owns a bed and breakfast network in Santa Teresa called Cama e Café with his friend João, and between the two of them they know everybody in town. So, Carlos agreed to take Laura and me up Projeto Morrinho. The project is already famous and has been featured in top international art festivals in Venice, Berlin, Munich and Prague, among others. And they are accustomed to receiving tourists. However, coming with Carlos was really cool because ... read more

CDI - Rio de Janeiro This morning, bright and early at 8 am, Dad and I headed over to the center of Rio de Janeiro to meet up with Maurício, director of CDI - Europe, and Marisa, one of the RJ metro area coordinators, to visit two EICS (Citizenship and Information Technology Schools). Right now, CDI is having its semi-annual international meeting in which coordinators from all the countries in which CDI operates come for a retreat, of sorts. CDI is also in the process of strategic planning for the next ten years so the meetings have been rather intense. Scheyla Maia, Rodrigo Baggio’s incredible executive assistant, worked her magic and organized for us to tag along and visit the schools. Before I get into relating our experience, here is some background on CDI: CDI was ... read more