I´m here,will fill you in later. J xx

It's now the 27th. November,we are flying out of Rio tomorrow, heading for home, I'm really looking forward to seeing all my family again.The flight stops over in Sao Paulo, then non stop until Heathrow the whole journey takes 13 hours, if I'm quick crossing to terminal one I should catch my connection up to Edinburgh.

Anyway today it is raining so I dont feel so bad having to leave this amazing city.

We had a wonderful tour of the city, we couldn't get into the football stadium as there is a big match on tomorrow between the two big Brazilian teams so they were checking security, did manage to get some football shirts to take home to the boys though.

We had a conducted visit through one of the Fabellas,we were met at the entrance of the Fabella by a group of the young men who live in it and they took us up to the top on their motor bikes, all Fabellas are built on the hillsides. The journey was a quick one, it was like driving in a cork screw, we just weaved our way in and out of traffic which just went up and around, didn't feel unsafe at any time,I think the lad who was driving my bike might have a few bruises round his middle where I was hanging on!!!

We were then told about life in the Fabella and taken into an art gallery, some lovely paintings done by the youngsters who live there, bought a few small ones that was all I could get into my rucksack, had a stop at the bakers dug into a cake just out of the oven, yummy, further down we listened to some young musicians, mainly drums they were playing. There were a few stalls on the way down selling handmade trinkets. Also passed a few armed young men ,just a wee reminder of what goes on. All in all it was a very interesting visit.

We then had a visit to the big carnival stadium, there were people there practicing for the next carnival, loved watching them Samba. We went into the museum they had costumes from previous carnivals you could try them on and get your photo taken, I tried to coax Alison but she was having none of it, Hannah and the other Alison tried some on they looked fabulous, they put a headress on me,I tried to tell them I had a big head but they rammed it on anyway, it was huge and heavy and felt like a vice but it must have given me another foot in height, which was quite nice.

We then headed up to Jesus's statue, by this time it was hot, temp.36. It was amazing though, the light and just being with so many people from all over the world. I opted to take the stairs as I wanted to take photos of the city, the stairs went round so I could see the city from all angles. It was busy at the top, had to literally lie down flat to try and get the statue in the picture frame, it was quite funny as you were lying down beside someone you didn't know and others were delicately stepping over the top of you. It would have been nice if we were just on our own but that was not meant to be.

We then headed over to Sugar Loaf Mountain, we stopped at the Cathedral on the way and had a quiet half hour there, it was lovely and cool inside, the stained glass windows were fascinating, got a good few photos of them. We had to take two cable cars to get to the top of Sugar Loaf, our aim was to stay up there and watch the sun set over Rio, which is exactly what we did. It was truly wonderful.

The next day we just walked and shopped, visited a market and walked on the beach. Hannah and Alison were heading away the next day to a retreat so they wanted to pamper themselves before they left, they booked into the Sheraton for the night so we parted company in the afternoon and arranged to join them there in the evening for dinner!! Shirley our tour leader was also leaving the next day so this was to be a farewell dinner. We had a great time, thought we might look a bit out of place in our trekking gear but we dined out on the terrace by the beach and everyone looked the same in the semi dark. It was sad to say goodbye to the girls, we had been through so much together and had kept each other going during the hard bits but all good things must come to an end and we might catch up with each other again.

Alison and I spent the day getting last minute things and packing up stuff we wanted to leave, the Fabella we visited had a community centre which welcomed all sorts of things and they picked up from our hostel so we knew it was going to them. It was a rainy day, warm rain mind you but just enough to remind you it wasn't paradise.

We left the hostel at 11am.the hostel staff were very nice and came to see us off, they got our taxi and arranged the fare so that we wouldn't be paying over the odds, we arrived at the airport hours before we needed to, got our rucksacks sealed up and were first in the queue for check in, had to wait an hour for it to open, the duty free shop was very disappointing so we didn't get what we were hoping to buy there. The flight was on time, we were meant to be in Sao Paulo for just under the hour but we were there for over two hours and couldn't get off the plane, it turned out that our flight crew were stuck in a traffic jam in the city, great excuse. We made up time and arrived at Heathrow 25minutes late but we circled for an eternity and when we did go to land we skiffed the runway and shot off into the air again, the pilot said there was not enough room on the runway for us,REALLY!!! Anyway we landed, by this time I reckoned we had missed our flights to Scotland. Heathrow was busy, security was very efficient, this time they tested my liquids, a lovely cheerful lady did it, I just sat on the floor and put my boots back on.

My flight to Edinburgh had been delayed so I was told to get myself to gate 76 quick, Alison's flight was at 10, as I shot off I stopped and turned round and told Alison to be sure and get on the Glasgow flight, it had been quite a job to get her this far.