Bye Bye Rio, Hello Campinas!

The folks spent their last day in Rio today. I think they wish they had a little more time in the overcrowded city bubbling with kindness. Rio, like any other big city has had it's problems with crime, but my folks were fortunate enough to see the good side of Rio. Mom said that the traffic was incredible. With 18 million people occupying a small section of land you can only imagine what the traffic must be like. Not many stop signs and many pedestrians can sometimes lead to chaos, but they said that everyone is so kind and vehicles seem to move at a friendly pace without the yelling and screaming that jams might cause in Chicago. She did mention that pedestrians don't really have the right away and need to be cautious of the signs to make sure they aren't run over.
An interesting fact I learned today from them was that there are 350 islands outside of Rio. It would take one calendar year to tour all of the islands. Of course, only those retired have the time for an adventure like that. And of course being situated on the Atlantic there are many, many beaches. Dad obviously enjoyed that part of the trip as I'm sure there were many beautiful women who couldn't afford the entire bathing suit. Unlike Americans, south Americans aren't afraid of showing their bodies no matter what size and shape.

The last stop of the day was at the Estadio do Maracana. A place I would have been completely in awe of. It is the largest futbol stadium in the world. It was built for the 1950 World Cup and had a seating capacity of almost 200,000 people. Today, the seating has been modified to seat only a mere 95,000. The reduction in seating came after the upper deck collapsed in 1992 during a futbol match in which several died and many more were injured. Hopefully, they have some good pictures. They got to see the footprints of many of my favorite futbol players and were privy to many other historical plaques, quotes and memorabilia of futbol history. I'm jealous. Since the stadiums inception it has been host to many worldly events and concerts. The likes of the Rolling Stones, Police, Rush, Madonna, Kiss and Paul McCartney. I used to have the album Rush in Rio and never thought twice about where it was performed, but now it puts it all into perspective.

They are safe and having a blast...until next time...