The next day was based upon seeing some more of Ipanema beach and later on, the Cristo Redentor himself! Feeling religious. Both locations will once again give me plenty of wicked photo shots I am sure and that is just another string to Rio’s endless bow. This place is full of photo opportunities! Cristo in particular as it brings a massive religious surrounding to the country in itself.

It’s not all just football, carnivals and never ending samba that Brazil is all about. This is a spiritual country, a lot like the majority of countries in South America but here Christianity is massive and understandably so. Seeing this remarkable statue will show me just how far I have come on this trip and what a great accomplishment or achievement (call it whatever you will) I have managed to pull off here altogether. All I am hoping for today is although it’s a little bit overcast that the sun will eventually come out at some point as it’s not ideal for pictures with the big dude when it’s like this I have been told.

I wanted to wear a footie shirt today and decided to go with one I had bought earlier when I arrived in Rio. After watching Palmeiras on TV yesterday a young striker by the name of ‘Gabriel Jesus’ really taking me by surprise. Literally he made me sit up and take notice of his talents almost instantly like one of those players who you just kinda felt will be maybe something special one day so yeah I was developing a bit of a crush on his side Palmeiras and went and went out and wore their colours. Today I wanted to test out the local transport as yes having a taxi take you everywhere does save you heaps of time but can also take an impact on your finances. To be fair I was managing rather well but I was curious to test out how the buses work here so I walk down the standard steep hills of Vidigal onto the main road where buses are frequent and hop on! Some of the looks I was getting off of the locals wasn’t very pleasant I will say!

Most of the buses only really go one way into LeBlon and Ipanema beach so it’s bit hard to get it wrong although for Copacabana beach not all take you directly there without sometimes having to change. It’s rare though. I wanted a good look around on the main strip today for not only photo’s but of course yet more football shirt collecting! I had started to develop a rather unhealthy obsession of collecting as many as possible as the fake copy versions are so cheap here! My favourites are Gremio, Botafogo and Fluminense mainly down to their actual colours based although you need to be very careful of what kit you choose to go out and wear in public according to my good friend Dino, especially in Rio where football is huge and there are a lot of teams based from all the different areas! Wearing Vasco De Gama for example apparently takes a lot of balls and I was kind of hoping to make it back to U.K. in one piece! Here’s a few from Copacabana and Ipanema beach…

Looks quiet eh! Anyway it was time to go see that special statue! I hopped back on another bus and managed to get there in no time. Now, how do I get up to the top I am wondering? I certainly don’t fancy another hike in this muggy weather! Well fear not Billinho, there is actually a travel cart that takes you up to the very top that leaves every fourty minutes. How this thing was designed was beyond me as it doesn’t look the safest if I’m honest but hey guess I just need to go with it and see what happens.

The views up here are just spectacular! Certainly on par with the Sugarloaf that’s for sure. You can see all of Rio and even the Maracana where I still have yet to go to yet but you can see me pointing towards! It is packed out with tourists (as expected) up here from all over, it’s selfie heaven for some and their selfie sticks! Some of the most ridiculous over the top photo attempts to get themselves pictured with the Cristo himself. I was trying my hardest to keep my own poses as subtle as possible 😇😇. Let me know what you think of these!

Once I was all cammed out and battery in need of charging as there’s only so many photos you can take of the big dude himself I headed on back to to the cart area to make my way back down and along the way I see about four monkeys I think chasing one another around (much to everybody waiting in the cues delight). Our entertainment was saved for the fairly long delay of getting back down as these carts are only specifically designed to take a certain amount of people at a time. I was one of the very few who missed the next one down and had to wait another fourty minutes for the next one sadly :(. It was worth it though!

Another day of sightseeing complete and it’s on back to the beaches for some more foozball and attempted tan! There are a lot of youngsters playing today, even the young Flamengo FC kids I think. Brazil just simply breathes football all day everyday. Maybe even the legendary Dunga might be watching lol!

I headed on back to my hostel on foot and decided to try make it up those dreaded slopes of Vidigal on foot. Yes it was steep, yes it was tiring and left me slightly breathless at times but all in all a good days work of cardio all done. I had some social media homework and catch up with loved ones to attend to and being as wifi is so good at this hostel I rarely had any issues. I also discovered that if I am in the country where football is a religion in itself and the most famous city in Brazil that I need to be trying my absolute hardest to catch a game at the famous ‘Maracana!’ It just so turned out that Fluminense were actually going to be playing Internacional this coming Saturday night, (the night before I fly home!). There were thousands of tickets available to go watch, best put that one in the diary! As it started to get darker it was time for bed I think. I’m obviously underneath the obsessive disorder I have with collecting kits in abundance a São Paulo fan at heart so I needed to pick a team from Rio that I liked and stuck with. I went and chose Fluminense, much to Dino’s disapproval as he is a loyal Flamengo fan, their arch rivals! Here’s a few of Vidigal.

Is it really now Saturday!? I am on my last full day! Packing this whole trip hasn’t been fun as it’s meant a lot of stress packing accordingly along the way but believe me it doesn’t get any easier especially when you (like me) keep buying things! Particularly bits you have bought from other countries you have visited previously. Most of mine mainly being football shirts! In as little as ten minutes I am all packed and it’s time to go out and enjoy myself these last few hours I have with me.

Now you probably heard me mention back in Part 1 regarding Beckham possibly having his own property here in Vidigal.Wtf!? Vidigal used to be a a place people would avoid like the plague but nowadays I have to say after living here the past week that the people seem very welcoming and are incredibly friendly (particularly with de gringos!). The views from the top are something else and I mean something else! No wonder Becks had realised that also! Well this came about from the owners of my hostel telling me about it previously and I was very keen to be shown just exactly where it was! I have to admit if this is indeed Beckham’s gaff it does look very very nice but sadly he wasn’t at home 😂. Here’s the pictures of his supposed home anyways. It is based on a slope so it made it difficult to get photos of it all but I didn’t want cause a fuss so I got my photos and stuck them up on social media! Sorry Becks!

I met up with Dino and decided out of common courtesy to treat him to a ticket for the game at the Maracana to come see it with me for Fluminense vs Internacional. I was wanting a Fluminense to win as Inter were hot on São Paulos tail for Brazil Champions League Qualification, meaning they play other teams from South America in group and knock out format the same way we do back home across Europe. Exciting stuff!

Dino had chauffeured me everywhere at an incredible budget rate prices for all the places I had got to in such a short space of time. The very least I could do is buy him a ticket so not only do I get somebody to sit with and talk to at the game itself but to also say a massive ‘Thank You’ for everything he had done for me this week. Tickets weren’t as cheap as as they were in São Paulo but they were still a dam site cheaper then they are for an average game back in England! Remember also, this is a game being played in a stadium which is still very brand new but has caused a lot of unrest in Brazil itself. This stadium cost alot to build and it was known the revenue that was pumped into it and of course the World Cup bid in 2014 had not gone to where it should have and this upset the locals based here alot. Fair enough I say! It’s alright having a fancy stadium but it has come at a hefty price and no idea when it will all start to calm down here if I’m honest.

Anyways back to the game. Upon entering the stadium there is a vigorous body search to make sure your not bringing in something you shouldn’t be. I was obviously too excited to get inside but I forgot didn’t I to empty my bumbag (which went everywhere with me). About the size of a golf ball there was a small block of salt sitting inside one of my zip slots I had brought over with me from Bolivia Uyuni Saltflats previously and had forgotten to leave back at my hostel! I started to think the worst and when they took it out my bag I was horrified of what the consequences could turn out to be! Lucky for me I was rather fortunate as Dino helped the best way he could to speak to the guard and rest assure him it was just salt and nothing else illegal! The guard was very apprehensive of what my intentions were to do with it itself in the stadium and rightfully so I guess. I think they thought my intentions were to use it as a weapon to throw at one of the players!

After a very tense five minutes of talks they handed it back over to me although I had to sign something in the event it was found on the pitch that I would be arrested immediately! Doubt there will be anybody else in the stadium carrying something so random as I’d be pretty easy target to track down. Such a silly mistake on my behalf! Lesson learnt anyways, let’s get inside!

Well it’s very yellow in here I must say! Surprise surprise! Not as big though as I had imagined it to be though. 60,000 capacity but it’s structure made it look more closer to half that amount. The game itself was far from a sellout also with about 5 to 10,000 thousand spectators. This made the atmosphere very eerie to say the least but the Fluminense fans were in full voice soon enough and started showing up more and more in their numbers quite increasingly. Here’s a video of them starting to get in the mood and of the course the Brazilian National Anthem!

The game finally got underway as was off at a frantic pace as Internacional took an early lead and it was literally out of nothing. Good finish to be fair from outside the box and Inter have the lead! The rest of the half didn’t draw that much attention to the crowd but there was a rather drastic red card for Fluminense which was always going to make the second half an uphill struggle but I was in for a surprise and once again another coincidence!

Its Fluminense with all the attacking surprisingly enough and it eventually paid off. Penalty to Flumi! I better get the camera out as I am about to see another goal hopefully! GOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLL scored by number 21 of Fluminense in the 76th minute and 21st second! Coincidence!? It’s just something I have become accustomed too over time during this whole trip but I am running out of the times this lucky number of mine continues to keep cropping up on me. It’s spooky enough but I also feel it’s that reassurance something or somebody is keeping a watchful eye over me. The rest of the game saw the ten man of Fluminense try to go for a winner but it wasn’t to be unfortunately. Such heart! What I will say is for a couple of thousand fans they sure made a lot of noise and gave me some great photo and video footage. Dino drove me back to Vidigal afterwards once we picked up some coxinhas for the trip home, of course! I went back to my hostel knowing tomorrow is my last day in Rio for probably a long time so I thought I needed something to do for my last day being as my flight was a midnight flight the day after. I arranged with Dino to see if he would be so kind to drive me back to the airport tomorrow to which he agreed Not tonight like I did before back in Buenos Aires! Here’s some videos of the second that goal went in from the spot.

All I had left really to venture out and do was actually take some last minute photos and footage of Lagoa, Botafogo clubshop and bit more of Vidigal itself as I had the whole day ahead of me to ponder on what’s been an emotional rollercoaster over the past six months. These were all recommended things to see and do on my last day by Dino’s recommendations. Still not quite time for that emotional speech just yet though.

It was lovely sunny day and it probably couldn’t of been more fitting that it this was the way it was all going to end in such beautiful circumstances. The hostel agreed to let me have late check out being as I wanted to see my last bits and if I’m honest I didn’t want to leave. I had fell in love with the country, the people, the vibe here and it was hard to give up on. I was even offered the possibility of staying if I wanted to teach English to local youths and families at their homes and it was something I maybe should of given some more thought on as had I of gone and done this I may of had to take a massive drop in salary to what I currently do back at home but it wouldn’t of been about the money, for once. Just the experience. Something I should of certainly have thought it over more.

My journey has finally come to an end and after checking out of my final hostel and looking back over visiting the majority of South America with seeing all the special things I have in each country brings a tear to my eye. This trip has been the best thing ever to happen to me. A real eye opener and gave me the opportunity to see what life is really like over here and how lucky I am back home to live the current lifestyle I have and live in. I have seen a lot of third world places and probably even worse then that in some areas/suburbs. The type you have to see with your own eyes to see for yourself to appreciate.

It’s time for the long direct ten hour flight back home and sadly back to reality! It’s here at the airport I start to open my eyes and realise this is finally the closing chapter for what’s been like a dream the whole way through. After beginning this adventure in Eastern Canada of Montreal I worked my way north into Quebec coming back down into Ottawa and Toronto and crossing the border at Niagara Falls into the states seeing Chicago, Boston and New York. I honestly spent way too much in the Big Apple and had to go back home to reschedule how I would complete this story. Returning back a month or so after straight into Vegas winning more money and seeing L.A., San Diego and Texas before crossing into the unknown of Mexico City, Guatemala and Cancun. Then on into Quito and Galápagos Islands followed quickly by going into Cuzco Peru and climbing the IncaTrail. Shortly not long after was crossing over int Bolivia and La Paz/Uyuni for them well known Saltflats. Santiago in Chile then followed and so did Buenos Aires in Argentina. Flying back North I did that one day in Panama City and started my Colombian adventure through Cartagena, Medellin and Bogota before finishing up in where I am now Brazil with São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Not a bad list eh for me, myself and I practically!

For five months I had been out of the U.K. in 2015. I had lost count on how many flights I had been on! I had seen many things and to do the list you see above gives me a great sense of pride achievement in itself. Very proud of myself for sticking it out all the way through and also very lucky to be coming back all in one piece. Although can’t say the same for my dreaded Toms shoes, they have done me proud and it will be here that I end up throwing them away as you can see they have clearly of had their day lol 😀.

People will always ask me what did you do with all your winnings? I didn’t go spending it on a car, buy myself my own place to live or blow it all on things I probably won’t remember. I spent it on the adventure of a lifetime. These memories will live on with me until I am grey and old I am sure and it’s a great satisfaction to say I did something truly remarkable with my life and I would like to take this opportunity now to Thank my sister for applying to go on ‘Million Pound Drop’ whilst being bored on her lunch break! You did well Sis! We all did on that special day!

Sending all my love out to all those back home and to whomever made it this far in my story. “Where there is a Will there will always be a way” and yes I finished writing this up in my A4 pad of page 21! Coincidence!?

See you all in Part 3 for my big return to Rio just four months after leaving there! Your nearly there folks….

God Bless! Peace xXXx