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Published: April 30th 2007
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Rio; They Think It´s All Over.
A rescue operation on Ipanema Beach. "Where were you at Lagoinha Do Leste when I needed you?" Sunday 29th April to Wednesday 3rd May, 2007.
It seemed only fitting that my journey should end in Brazil and in particular the spectacular city of Rio De Janeiro. After all it was this place that was responsible for giving me the the inspiration to hit the road in the first place and so, having said a sad and emotional farewell to Stella at Floripa airport I boarded the one and a half hour flight and headed north to Rio.
Due to a by now dwindled financial restrictions I took a bus as opposed to a taxi from the airport in Rio to Ipanema and when I walked through the by now familiar gates at the end of the street that houses The Lighthouse the first person I set eyes on was Marion, the talkative (but always about herself) Swiss girl who had been ubiquitous throughout my first two weeks on Floripa who had also been found responsible, when she leant our football to an Argentinian beach bum and with it any chance whatsoever of coming back from the surprise tennis defeat, for my sleeping over a week in the collapsed flea pit that was the single bed
following our move to the apartment. She was bouncing her recently acquired possession, a brand new volleyball and was eagerly looking for playmates. There was no way I was going to spend the last three days of my trip risking permanent ear damage listening to Marion talk about herself and complaining about the price of chips so I made my excuses and headed for the Lighthouse.
When I entered Claudia rose from her slumber and handed me a home made envelope, two pieces of paper attached back to back by an unbroken chain of staples with my name on and inside was a postcard from Helen, the lardy Scottish girl who two and a half months earlier I had begrudgingly assisted to the nearest A & E. She wanted to thank me for my kindness, inform me what a gentleman I was and, most importantly at that stage of my trip, re-imburse the 200 reals I'd paid for her medical treatment along with a bonus payment of 10 Reals. My faith in the human race was again restored. She went onto say the she had actually contracted Pneumonia and had been bed bound for over a week after I
Rio; They Think It´s All Over.
He's got one ball bigger than the other ! The Lion of Rio exposes his balls. had left and I was struck by the slightest pang of guilt. I thought it was a hangover.
I arrived in Rio on Sunday lunchtime and on the ride to the hostel I couldn't help noticing the abundance of Flamengo shirts that were on show. Today was the first leg of the final of the Rio Cup, the very same tournament I'd nearly received a bullet through the chest at at the semi final stages two months earlier. I had already decided these final three days were going to be spent alone so I watched the game at a beach side kiosk at Ipanema and when it was over got talking to a Brazillian guy who told me on presentation of his police badge that he was on official undercover duty in Rio attempting to infiltrate a money laundering ring that was operating in the city. However, it was the guy who was accompanying him that was interesting me more.
It was the legendary Lion of Rio, the fifty five year old silver haired genius who spends his days on and around the beaches of Rio defying gravity by keeping his balls in the air for prolonged periods
of time. Sounds painful I know, especially at his advanced years but when one is a marble and one a ball bearing just a handful of millimetres in diameter you had to take your hat off to him. Apparently is a word that is used to describe something that allegedly happened but at which the writer is expressing a modicum of doubt and I'll go no further than to say that apparently his record for keepy uppies, as we lovingly call them on Merseyside, is fifteen hours. They asked me if I wanted to join them for a bite to eat and a short while later I was sat eating traditional fayre with an undercover cop and a legend of Rio De Janeiro.
Most of my time for the last three days in Rio was spent alone. I was missing Stella and was generally feeling deflated at the thought of my adventure nearing an end and decided for a few days contemplation. Tuesday, my last full day, was yet another public holiday and after watching Liverpool progress to the Champions League Final I took a final walk to Copacabana. It was as though the whole of the City had
turned out to see me off, the avenue along the length of Copacabana was closed to traffic and at the far end of the beach was the real reason for the massive turnout, national heroine Daniella Mercury playing a free concert to a huge crowds gathered on the sands. The two things that I noticed about Brazillian people on my first visit was that they love to smile and they love to dance, put free music on the beach and you have a lot of both.
I departed Rio De Janeiro at 2.15pm on Wednesday 2nd, May 2007 one hundred and sixty three days after my departure and as the Jumbo tilted its nose towards the skies on take off I was filled with a wave of emotion that said simply "It's all over now". And it was, apart from a brawl breaking out on the plane in the row in front of me that put red wine off the menu for lunch but which meant I had two seats for myself and my bag not turning up at Manchester Airport condemning me to three days in the same underpants!.
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non-member comment
...sigh.