We ended our trip in Rio De Janeiro.  Our girls Skyler and McKenzie along with Skyler’s boyfriend Cutter met us in Rio for a week.  I was so excited to see my girls!! We spent our time touring the city and seeing the Christ Redeemer, SugarLoaf Mountain, Copacabana Beach, Ipanema Beach, Samba Clubs and Vidigal Favela.  We packed a lot into a week.  I found a great tour guide that took us on private tours for 3 days.  The tour company is called Rio Cultural Secrets and our guide was Fabio.  He is a local and we got to see all the sights and really learn about the culture in a safe way.  Standing at the bottom of Christ Redeemer was like a dream come true, it was just magical to see one of the 7 wonders of the world.  The views from the top of SugarLoaf Mountain are breathtaking and it gives you a view of the entire city.  Rio beaches, especially Cocobana, are so busy and not as relaxing as I would have liked but the kids loved it. Everyone except Nick and I (Nick wasn’t feeling well) went on a nightlife tour with Fabio where they went to local Samba clubs and they all had a great time.  The highlight for me was the Vidigal Favela tour with Fabio.  What an amazing experience to see how 400,000 residents of Rio live. They build their homes up the side of steep mountains with very primitive resources. People work really hard for what they have and they don’t have a lot of opportunities.  The public education system is not great and many children don’t receive proper education which limits their opportunities that we take for granted in the United States.  Vidigal Favela is a favela that has been pacified and I felt safe visiting with our guide Fabio.  There is a symbiotic relationship between the drug dealers and the police.  There is a code of ethics that the residences follow that is enforced by the drug dealers.  For example, stealing from each other or fighting will get you into big trouble with the dealers and if there are any disputes it will be solved by the dealers. There is some gentrification happening in the Favelas because the most beautiful views are from the Favelas.  Some houses are being built that are being sold for a lot of money compared to the locals which bring in business that the residences can not access due to the cost.  I read all the warnings about visiting the favelas and I was nervous about visiting, but I also felt it was important to show my kids the real Rio. Visiting Vidigal Favela was an amazing opportunity with a great guide and I am glad we did it.  

I hadn’t posted about a great place we drove to from Paracatu.  Rio Quente is a 4 hour drive from Paracatu.  Rio Quente is a river resort that was really fun.  They have a water park that Nick really enjoyed.  I was laying in the pool watching the tropical birds fly in and out of the forest.  It was magical.  

Trip Home:  32 hours of traveling and we are back in Colorado.  We are so blessed to have the experiences we had this summer thanks to my husband’s hard work. Watching Nick take on the challenge of navigating a different culture and language was impressive.  His compassion for the children at the orphanage made me so proud.  He really took on every challenge and was a leader many times for me.  I am just so proud of the young man he is growing up to be. I saw a doctor for my foot the day we got back and it looks like there was a fracture.  MRI is scheduled for Friday.  A broken ankle didn’t keep this traveler down.

Until next time adventure waits.