A day on the beach and a good swim in the sea - after 3 weekends of rain - very pleasant change! Unfortunately, I then watched Liverpool v Chelsea which wasn't a happy FA Cup Final for us! After that we we to see the free concert along the beach at Arpoador. We heard 2 bands called Mulheres do Chico & Samba n Roll if anyone's interested. Ol? No, we hadn't heard of them either but they were very well received by the audience of Cariocas of all ages on the beach who seemed to know the words to all the songs. The evening was made all the more surreal by the fact that there were also surfers to watch, skilfully catching the last of the evening's breakers out at sea.

What an experience this week! I got on the bus heading away from the uni at Fundao, out past Bonsucesso to Penha and the end of the line! How stupid could I be!! A very sweet bus lady got me on to an express bus all the way to our local square, Gen Osorio - 2.5 hours after leaving work!! Could have been much worse. Actually poor Shana, one of the BG secretaries, seems to take 2.5 hrs commuting each way many days in the week. And our landlady Vera asked a man to come and look at re-varnishing some wooden surfaces in the flat - he left his home across the bridge at Niteroi at 6am and arrived with us at 10:30!! The commute that many people face in Rio is horrendous.
In fact P deserves a medal for the journey he makes to work. We've decided we're going to try not to add to Rio's pollution and congestion problems and manage without a car & rely on public transport which is thought very amusing by students & colleagues at UFRJ & BG alike! He's started catching a bus at about 7am which means his
journey out to the uni only takes about 40 mins door to door.
I went out to the uni with him one day recently and it's certainly an 'interesting' ride - through parts of Rio we'd be unlikely to see otherwise. All buses are driven like the clappers and race along / corner at break neck speeds which given their dodgy suspension and the state of some of the roads mean that you arrive at your destination feeling in
need of a stiff drink! We haven't yet worked out whether there are any speed limits or rules of the road as anything seems to go here except drink driving which I suppose is a relief!
It makes P's commute to HWU on his number 45 bus seem very sedate but we're working on the basis that the bus-drivers know what they're doing and are tuned into Rio traffic in a way we wouldn't be - even if it does feel like you're putting your life in their hands every time you get into a bus or a taxi. And as a pedestrian, you don't risk jay-walking either & heaven help you if you're elderly or infirm.
All part of Rio's rich pageant....