Chopper´s Eye View

Hopefully this is 3rd time lucky.

Here are the pics from the Brazilian side of the Iguazu falls. The ride in the helicopter was fantastic as we rode above the falls and then swooped down for spectacular views. I was wrong the other day,there are over 200 individual falls and you can see how vast they are from the air. If you look in the first pic then you can see how small the people seem at Devil´s throat (there is a walkway running from top right of pic) and then pic 3 shows you Devil´s throat in context to the rest.

We had chance to visit a beach yesterday on Brazil´s Emerald coast. The Atlantic on this side is a bit warmer than in Galway, you can swim without your hat, gloves and coat!

So, it´s Rio Carnaval tomorrow. We are off to a ball tomorrow night where the theme is red and black in honour of the football team Flamengo. Then on Saturday we are watching a match at the MARACANA. Yes, that´s right the M-A-R-A-C-A-N-A to see Fluminese play Vasco de Gama. As UTD v Reading ends I will be in a stadium where 200,000 people once stood to watch the 1950 World Cup final between Brazil and Uruguay (I didn´t even need to look that up!). The capacity now is around 100,000.

The Carnaval has the top 13 Tango schools competing for the prize of best school with categories such as costumes, dance and music. Each school has around 5000 - 6000 dancers and they represent a specific area of Rio. The 13 schools are split and 6 compete on Sun night and 7 on Sunday. We visit the Sambadrome on Sunday to see the first 6 in all their glory.