Today was an amazing day, The rain held off and so we absolutely filled the day.
Off by 9:30 am - the bus to some shopping at a local mall (youth agreed the market is way more fun!) Anne & Tobin taking Jeff and Landon to the clinic to get congestion checked out - after seeing Dr and getting medication we joined the group
lunch - at the food court
apres lunch - walked to the foot of Sugar Loaf mountain and took 2 yes 2 cable cars to the top of the mountain (Aaron is sleeping now and has the cord to hook camera up to blog so photos will have to wait until the airport tomorrow if there is time)
Shinnika, Anne and Jeff who are not fond of heights did well and we are all proud of them - infact some might say they began to enjoy the ride!
Lots of photos and walking around the top seeing the spectacular view of ocean and Rios many beaches.
Down the mountain
off to the Samba Drome and Merican huge football stadium in Brazil
at the Samba Drome we encountered the Samba school in rehearsal and our guide Carla who knew the instructor got us into the class room open air court. Next thing we knew we were watching a mini show and then pulled into dancing with the samba dancers - it was a wonderful moment of spontaneity that transcended all language barriers.
We also took a moment for some youth to try on Carnaval costumes for a small donation that goes towards the students of the school - then they paraded along a piece of the samba drome a stretch of road with concrete bleachers built on each side specifically for Carnaval
Back to the hostel for a quick change into our ¨semi-formal¨attire (or so thought Ben : ) ) and then back on the bus for a trip to a fabulous final buffet with live guitar player! And the desserts - well you will have to see the photos
It was hard to get everyone to bed - last lights went out after 1:30 and we need to follow -

Tomorrow morning we see Christ the Redeemer and then final hours spent at Ipanema beach before our flights home begin.

So sad to see this trip coming to a close but we are ready to come home.
There will be joy to be with family but tears as we leave each other.
Everyone is talking about our reunion in August already.
New friendships made, youth growing by leaps and bounds (leaders too).

oh yeah we really love out Bim Bom tour guide T2 Thomas. He has kept us going with laughter and so much knowledge about the country and ´people of Brazil. His sister Carla joined us for past two days and was really helpful as well.

shalom
Anne