So much for the previous blog entry being the last! There's proving to be a lot to pack into the remaining few weeks. Wytze & Joska's flight was delayed leaving Rio because of a violent thunderstorm and they flew into more storms in Europe.
The day after they left we flew to Campinas in Sao Paulo state as Patrick was going to be teaching a course at the university in Rio Claro this week. Rio Claro doesn't have a lot going for it but fortunately Dimas had arranged for us to be taken out to explore the area over the weekend.
Our outings pointed up some interesting if entirely unscientific differences between RJ state and SP state. For a start, the roads are much better. Wider, safer, better maintained with less traffic too. The landscape around Rio Claro is green, rolling and largely agricultural (mostly sugar cane and oranges). Every so often there was a new town with a big modern industrial unit which added to the general air of prosperity (ie employment) and was in marked contrast to the area outside Rio. SP state is much bigger than RJ state but much wealthier too and it seems that some of the money at least is being well-spent on infrastructure.
On Saturday a university driver took us up to Serra Negra, a pretty town in the hills which reminded us of Whistler. It was full of well-off Brazilians enjoying a day out. We also did a tour of the university campus which makes UFRJ look very grand in comparison.
On the Sunday we were collected by 2 members of the Geology dept P is giving the course for and taken in different direction out of Rio Claro. George was keen to take his jeep off-road and show Patrick some local geology so we ended up driving up an escarpment and over a plateau crisscrossed with dirt tracks. How he knew which one to take we have no idea!
We had lunch at a pousada where the food was OK but there were lots of flies and then coffee at a weird antique type place where there were meant to be orchids and where we tried to sit out a heavy downpour. We then got driven to another popular local town that P realised he'd been to before and finally we called in on George's parents in Piracicaba. Again, all v different from towns in and around Rio and not a favela in sight.
That evening, George and Juliana took us to the restaurant area of Rio Claro for a Japanese meal. It was quite a relief to P that there were some restaurants in RC as the area around the hotel seemed to be completely devoid of them and he'd been wondering where he'd eat this week.
So now I'm down to my last week here. Patrick will be returning in the new year to tie up some loose ends. We've sent quite a lot of stuff back with W&J who kindly came with minimal luggage and have given quite a few things to Refazer. Our Iranian friends will take more items and hopefully what's left will fit in our suitcases! The flat is looking very bare now.
I'm spending this last week saying goodbye to friends, doing some shopping and trying to mentally prepare myself for the fact that it'll only be a week until Christmas when we get back to Edinburgh next Wednesday!
I've been to the Refazer Christmas party at Fluminese FC this week and it was interesting to put faces to the names of the children we input data for each week. I happen to be reading Behind the Beautiful Forever about growing up in a Bombay slum at the moment and I couldn't help comparing it with the kids from underprivileged families at the party.
The kids were thoroughly indulged on Monday, as the disabled kids and their siblings all received generous presents from Papa Noel and there was a massive amount of food, ice-cream and fizzy drinks as well as slides, swings, bouncy castle, and an entertainer. They even had 'celebrities' from a local soap who came along and had their photos taken with the kids.
It was great to see them all having such a good time as I'm sure their daily lives with a disabled member of the family must be pretty grim but having met the Refazer families on Monday, life in a Bombay slum sounds a lot tougher than in a Brazilian favela.
It's hot and sticky. 35 degrees today but another thunderstorm this evening. There's a patch of wet, unsettled weather that seems to have been lying over Rio for months now but temperatures are definitely rising. I'll miss getting up in the morning and putting on a sundress and Havianas!