I felt almost back at home returning to the pousada in Rio from Ilha Grande. Being able to crash on a sofa with wifi and watch Dexter of an evening was heavenly in it's own way but also quite sad knowing it was home time. Penialla and I were invited to on a walk to the top of Vidigal to see the amazing view and visit the favela by one of the workers at the pousada, we couldn't say no. We were told the walk would take 'a minute or two' and that our beloved havianas were more than appropriate, as with almost everything in Brasil the estimate for timing was wrong. It took forever but the views were more than worth it. Once we got to the top of the mountain we wandered in to the favela and were welcomed by everyone we met, one of the locals even leant out of his window and poured us all drinks. We then wandered on down to the local bar were the men were all playing dominoes, more drinks were poured and everyone enjoyed my pathetic attempt at speaking portugese, fluent Penialla didnt fair much better as in the favelas they speak slang which is a long shot from the language taught in school. Before we got too tipsy to walk back to the pousada we thanked everyone for their hospitality and left. The evening was spent in a por kilo restauarant where we stuffed our faces with Brasilian food and puddings before heading back to sadly pack our suitcases to head back to the UK the next morning.
Ciao Brasil, it's been a blast.
xo