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Published: September 21st 2009
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After the 2 weeks in Florianopolis, a rather sleepy town, it was time to see the famouse places of Rio! I was looking forward to Ipanema, Copacabana, the Christ and many more. But first I stopped at Sao Paulo, as it would have been a 18 hours journey going direct to Rio. Sao Paulo was really just a stop over, it is an industrial city and not much to see. Also it was time to adjust to higher prices again, it seems nearly as expensive as in Switzerland! I just stayed for one night and wasn't too sad to leave the next day as it was pouring down with rain (the following days were even worse, glad I left before the big storm came...).
Rio welcomed us with sunshine! We started off with a meeting with the local organiser and the other volunteers in Rio. Due to a public holiday we were off for the rest of the day to enjoy our first trip to the city. And of course the first place to go was Cococabana! The beach was packed but did not disappoint my expectation, specially not the sunset!
The next day I started with the last part
of the volunteer program. I was going to work in 2 places, one was a school in the favelas (shantytowns in Rio). Even though there is public transpotation, the area is not safe for tourist. However we have been informed that the school was safe and we should not have any problems to get there. At the school we were welcomed by a lot of 5 year olds, all coming from the favelas and all with different stories. While we (there were 2 other volunteers assigned to this project) getting to know the class and spend some time with the kids, the local organiser translated some of the kids stories, which the teacher told him. I was shocked by all the things these little kids had to go through and this only at an age of 5! He also mentioned, that some of them might not even get to their 20th birthday. The school for them was like a little resort, here they could relax, not being scared of anything, play and learn as much as possible! For us we had the task to play with them and give the some exercise running around outside the classroom. They just loved
it and it was great fun to work with them!
The next day we went to the second place, it is a Creche (day care center) for kids, most of them with single parents. The places is privately organised and some of the kids parents might not even be able to pay the fee. The owners, a local couple, spending all there time in the Creche and will take as many kids on as possible. The first day we visited all age groups, from babies to 7 year olds, and spend some time with them. Also here we had the task to work with the kids and specialy be creative with recycling material.
These were the tasks we had for the next two weeks and I was looking forward to work with the kiddies. Also here the impact might not be as big as I would like it to be, but as our local organiser mentioned, sometimes these kids just need a little bit of attention, love and a big hug. And these is what we did!
But not only work was done in Rio, I also had the chance to see all the famouse places. For me it
is always astonishing to read about these places, see the pictures in newspapers and magazines and than standing in front of it myself. I went to see another sunset at Ipanema Beach, walked through the hippie market, went to the Christ and partied all night long in Lapa!
One sunny Sunday we went down South to Iilah Grande for a boat trip. This place is amazing, the water is cristal clear and white beaches invite to sunbath. The boat took us to 3 different spots to swim, sunbath and snorkeling. This is comparable to the junk trips I did in Hong Kong, but much better as the water quality is a lot higher :-)
As everyone knows, this city is not the safest place in the world and I made my experience as well. However it is just a matter of adjusting and getting used to it. Walking around without a handbag, no mobile phone and just a little bit money might be a bit strange in the beginning but after a while it is just normal. This is unfortunately also the reason why I don't have too many pictures of this place! Never the less, I like this city
a lot and hopefully will come back one day!
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