24/07/2014
Recap de Janeiro
As we are travelling to Foz do Iguaçu from Rio de Janeiro, let's take some time to reflect.
The past eight days have been very intense and full of impressions. Rio has turned out to be a city of contrasts. Lots of rich people live in big houses behind locked iron gates, while homeless people sleep on the sidewalks. The world-famous beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema are, at some places, just a few hundred meters away from favelas. The Brazilian efficiency (which has given an entire new dimension to the word slow) is compensated by friendliness of the people towards strangers. In spite of language challenges, the people are proud to talk of their culture and history.
I think that I can speak for all of us that one of the highlights definitely was the favela tour and the story that goes with it. The two famous sights of Rio, Christ the Redeemer and Sugar Loaf Mountain, can also be ticked off of our bucket list. From the engineering side, it was very impressive to see the influence of fossil fuels companies like Petrobras in the research industry and university. Even in the renewable energy research, their influence could still be felt. The warm welcome at UFRJ and our many (de-)tours on University Island and showed that this was a really pleasant environment to work.
All in all, our first stop in Brazil has left us looking forward very much for the next stop.
Foz do Iguaçu, here we come!
If you want to know more about our trip and our activities in Rio and the rest of the tour, please visit http://prosperando.thor.edu/.