Politics - always remember not to steal cause the government hates competition !

My time in Rio de Janeiro is coming to an end. My last class with the kids in the favela will be Monday the 5th of September.

Kaio, Louis Felipe, Fabriciu and the rest of the gang in Lela's treasure hunt

It has been an incredible experience and honour to be part of their community even if it was for 3 months only and I will treasure the memories with the kids for the rest of my life. All those narrows corridors and  no ending steps kept me fit and increased my appetite, as I was coming home from the favela yesterday , I knew I was starving when I saw a short , fat man waiting at the bus stop and thought he was a roasted chicken wearing nike shoes.
I sometimes wonder why tourist would pay 40 USD per head  for a favela tour, I'm not sure this tours are very sensitive and respectful about the dignity and privacy of the people living in the favela. I'm sure these tours agency will say that the community support the idea and the benefits but I'm curious to know how much of this money actually goes to the community. If anyone wants to see how people live in a favela and the struggles they go through each day, maybe they could go and help a community centre for few hours or a day in a favela but I suppose money gives you convenience and nowdays people who do things for nothing in return are becoming like white flies, very rare indeed.



Favela Otoni

I will miss the kids and the incredible people I met here like Thais and her adorable mum, my landlady Teresa, my mum in Rio Rita , Vadir and the dogs but I have another bunch of kids to go to and so my journey must continue.



the Incredible team with Lela the master mind behind the plot

One of my best friends from South Africa is coming on friday for ten days so I couldn't think of a better way to spend my last fews days in Rio. Rio is lovely but the contrast between rich and poor is incredible and sadly like every country on the planet is affected by the most deadly diseases: politics or religion.


I always say that politics is like smoking, it kills !


I was watching a clip about Silvio Berlusconi's government and feeling sorry for those idiots who voted for him. Honesty in politics is much like oxygen. The higher up you go, the scarcer it becomes. Who in the right frame of mind would vote for a man paying for sex with an underage prostitute and accused of corporate fraud ? Stop selling viagra to this man !!!!!


I couldn't sleep last night ! Although its winter, we had 34 degrees here in Rio and my bum was sizzling, in fact my "rear cheeks" are now looking like 2 sun dried tomatoes so at 3am I started watching Dragon's Den, a british programme where entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to millionaires willing to invest their own cash. I was contemplating if I want to work in finance once I go back to London or if I should ask the Dragons to invest on my business idea which is a portable debit/credit card machine for hookers so the customers can swipe their card on the machine rather than the buttocks of the "working girls", leave a 15% gratuity and get some cash back as well;
If I can't offer the Dragons a stake of the company in return , I can always count on Silvio Berlusconi to boost the sales. I'm Italian, he is Italian, I would like to legalise prostitution, he will enjoy the "benefits", I could do the marketing campaign on television, he owns most of the TV stations in Italy so I'm confident that my business idea has potential to be very lucrative.
I sent my application to the Dragon's den today and left a message for Berlusconi with his PA, she said Silvio is gone to Disneyland with Gaddafi, the President of Zimbabwe Mugabe and Salvatore Riina head of the Sicilian Mafia in the 1980s and 90s.
It will a hell of a "ride" for these guys, even though I think a ride to hell would be more appropriate jajajajja






what an incredible journey