Santa Teresa

Geert, (the one with the computer) who allowed me to use his computer to make free long distance calls to the US, asked me to go with him to the train statin to pick up his wife. At which point the two of them would go to points beyond in Brazil. He will not be back, unfortunately. He asked me to go because he was alone and carrying his computer and important documents and wanted me along for safety concerns. He would not let me buy my own tickets to and from the train station. This was my first time on the subway here (called the metro). I think I like the busses better as the metro is subterranian giving the busses a view of where you are going and where you have been. I used the return ticket to come back about half way and stopped in a suburb of Rio which was the closest stop to a historical location.

I walked from the metro to this historical place called Santa Teresa. Santa Teresa sits along a ridge top of a somewhat very wealthy neighborhood with dwellings dating back to a couple hundred years ago. There was a ruinas location along this ridge at one of the higher points which had been converted to a museum. The ruins were of a house built over 300 years ago. Being on a high point, there were awesome views of the surrounding city and its beaches. The historical area continued along the ridge for about 2 miles with many bars and curiosity shops.

My initial intention was to walk through then return the way I had come. About 10 minutes before turning around (which was at the very edge of the street map I was carrying), I saw the Christ Statue as seen on my second day here on a nearby mountain top. I continued along this main route toward the statue which maintained its elevation as the route meandered around the mountain going above several favelas. After the historical area, the road forked, the right going into a rather large favela which I had seen walking through Santa Teresa and the left going toward the statue. The historical area dissappeared as well as the dwellings except for an occassional clearing giving a vista to favelas far below on the steep mountainsides and other favelas across the valley (the velley containing a suburb of Rio) below Christ. It seem like I was walking through the jungle for about two miles. Along the way, there was very little traffic as there was an occassional landslide which was in the process of being cleared. The reason for the lack of traffic became evident when, at one point in the road, there had been a major landslide only allowing for foot trafic and motorcycles to pass. I continued, coming out on the main road to the Christ statue.

Had it been earlier in the day, I would've continued up the main road toward the statue to see it agian, but I went down instead. The road down was very steep, lined with brick and often without a sidewalk. Along either side of the road were the favelas I had seen from the deserted road above although I felt safe walking there as there were many passanger transport (vans and taxis) vehicles clogging the street taking tourists to one of the seven wonders of the world. I came to the first village just below the statue, the village in the valley between the two favelas I had seen from the road above. Here, I took a bus back to the hostel arriving at about dark.

My feet did surprisingly well on this walk with several long up and down hill stretches along the roads. I took four advil upon entering Santa Teresa early in the day, not because I needed them but for a just in case, to give me the extra boost to walk further. Each time I try to push the limits in order to gain more strength in my legs and feet. This has been working well as my stamina has improved. I figure I walked about 7 to 10 miles today.

The favela funk street party was canceled Friday night due to political reasons and recreated tonight with a van leaving at 2300. It's now 1945, enough time to shower and a nap and then maybe go have a few beers in the favela, we'll see if this occurs or not. My energy may decline drastically before 2300.

Chewy