7/27

This morning was another beautiful morning. We woke up early and I went hang gliding with some of the people. It was so much fun and something that I’d love to do again sometime soon. The views were insane.

AirCat

After hang gliding, we went back to the hostel and changed into our bathing suits for the beach. We went back to Ipanema Beach and hung out for a few hours. We swam, walked on the rocks, and Evan taught me how to throw the frisbee the cool way.

After the beach, we got back, cleaned up, got some acai, and then went on a tour of the Favelas near Copacabana. For those who don’t know, Favelas are the slums in South American and Latin American cities. They are giant neighborhoods built on the outskirts and undesirable places with scrap construction material on open land. They are very dangerous and have a lot of crime and gang activity.

We walked up into the Favelas, listened to and played the drums with a community organization that keeps kids off of the streets and teaches them percussion. After that, we walked to a cliff/mountain that the Favela was built around, got a couple cool pictures, and headed back down. Before heading back down, our guide gave us a rundown of his engineering background and his life. He grew up in the Favelas and got an engineering degree, which is something that is both taboo and impressive to do. Lots of respect for him.

After we got back, we went to the buffet for a quick bite, came back wrote some blogs, and began getting ready to go to the jazz festival. It was pretty cool, there was a cover concert and they played everything from Daniel Caesar to Prince. Pretty cool. Now, I am finishing up these blogs and hitting the hay!