Rio de Janeiro

---

We arrive in Rio de Janeiro yesterday and settledinto our hotel The Windsor Excelsior right on Cocobana Beach. Several of us took at tour to see the FAVELA's. There are 1200 favels in this city of 12 million. One million people live in the favels. These are the homes of the very, very poor. It was very facinating, emotional, insightful to see how these people live. It explained the social and political differences of the very poor. One house is built on another up the sides of the hill. They pay no money to the state. Water is delivered and stored in blue buckets on the roof. They have electricity provided by the government. They work, go to school, live and socialize in these communities. It was shattering to see but very informative. Our tour lasted 3 hours. Then we went to a BBQ dinner and then to a Carnival and watched the dancing and saw the beautiful costumes worn at Carnival in Rio in Februrary.

Today, Wednesday, June 11 we were picked up at 8:45 for a whole day tour to see Christ The Redeemer. What an amazing experience. WE took a cog wheel train and then two set of excelators and an elevator to reach the top.

We then went to see the Ceramic Steps, the streetthe carnival is held on and then to Sugarloaf Mountain to see the city and its beaches.

---