Friday 26 July 2013

The Plan

Day 56 - 24 de Julho: Rio de Janeiro

Today, we had an early start, despite such a late finish to yesterday. We had our breakfast and catechesis at a high school about 3 bus stops away. Very conveniently, we just realized that by a different route, we were only half a block away from the BRT (the main express bus route of the area). We jumped on and made our way, just before the breakfast ended at 8. There was a miscommunication with this which works in our favour - the breakfast goes until 8:30. Little by little, more of our group arrived, but one did not show up. Apparently when we parted ways last night, one group got lost and didn't get home until really late. So, they decided to sleep in. Our catechesis (church lessons) was done by a great speaker. My favourite part was when we had group questions. We all were told to make groups with unfamiliar people, which was to my preference. I love meeting people from around the world. At the end of the event, we got together and had to decide what we would do today. This is a rare day for world youth day - we actually had a little time to think. A first thing came to mind, lunch. The only thing nearby which took our food vouchers was McDonalds. The walk there would be fine in normal Rio conditions, but we had to deal with pouring rain today. This kind of rain is really rare in Rio - I kept joking that we brought Vancouver with us. We had a local girl here guiding us, so I didn't have to do any navigating this time. When we arrived, the place was absolutely packed! A line was going out the door and when we finally got in, there weren't real lines - just chaos until you got to order. They had all sorts of pilgrim deals as well, so I got a burger special. We hung out upstairs here for a long time - and yes, i really mean a long time! After a good while of hanging out, we decided to have a group meeting. It started out with a general recap of our days. But after this, we had to plan tomorrow and that was hectic. There were two distinct groups of people who wanted to do different things tomorrow. This erupted into a big debate, which ended up with the solution of separating tomorrow. Not to worry though, after the hours of going over every possible detail, we must be the most planned group in Rio. Tomorrow, I will go to mass downtown, then in the same venue will be our Canadian gathering (for all 1000 canadians!). From there, I will be going to Copacabana to try and see the pope and take part in the pope arrival event. It will be a crazy, but exciting day. There was still a lot of evening to go when we finished. We parted ways, but nobody was home to let us in at the house. So we went to the church to hang out. We met a cool group from texas, and another from Argentina. After a while of mingling, we headed back and tried our house again. It was open!! But the night wasn't over yet. Robbie wanted to see his favourite soccer team play in a final game verses a Brazil team. We went to a bar across the street to watch it. Our host brothers came along and treated us to a new drink for me - Caipirinha. We also had a ton of beer. These guys are so nice. Robbie's team lost, but it was still a good night. I know i am still behind in writing but i got to get my precious sleep now. 

Catechesis
This volunteer guided us to mcdonalds and hung out with us
Texas and argentina
My housemates

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