Petropolis

Very interesting full day tour today to Petropolis, a city two hours from Rio. Beautiful drive into the mountains and seeing the many sights. The city photo -third in Rio - shows the contrast of the big hotels along the beach front of Ipanema and the Favela in the background residing next to each other. The rich and the poor. Tomorrow we will have our last two highlights with a walking tour in one of the "shanty towns" call Favelas where 20% of the population of Rio lives. These are the poor neighborhoods of the working class. It promises to be a reality check. In Brazil, 70% if the people live in poverty. Then after we check out of our hotel and start heading for home, we will tour a Botanical Garden since our flights are all very late. We will be flying back to Miami most of the night and won't get back to Little Rock until late on Friday. We have had a great time, learned so much, but we are all ready to return to the lives we left behind so many days ago. Hope you have enjoyed following these posts as much as I have had sharing them with you. The photo of Luis, our tour director, and Lido, our guide while in Rio, did a great job of packing so much into such a few days. Unforgettable Grand Circle Tour. Will complete this section once I return home, so don't quit yet.