Carl and Beccy Haines Carl and Beccy Haines are off for a whole year to travel the world!

Hi everyone,

Well it's been a while and given that we're sat at my sister's house in New Hampshire we have a few stories to tell before we get to this point...

Back in Rio we had an awesome final few days.  The favela (slum) tour we took on the Weds was one of the highlights.  For those that aren't aware of the favela's of Rio below is a good description taken from Wikipedia:

"Shanty towns are units of irregular self-constructed housing that are typically unlicensed and occupied illegally. They are usually on lands belonging to third parties, and are most often located on the urban periphery. Shanty town residences are built randomly, although ad hoc networks of stairways, sidewalks, and simple tracks allow passage through them. Most favelas are inaccessible by vehicle, due to their narrow and irregular streets and walkways and often steep inclines.

These areas of irregular and poor-quality housing are often crowded onto hillsides, and as a result, these areas suffer from frequent landslides during heavy rain. In recent decades, favelas have been troubled by drug related crime and gang warfare".

Hopefully this will explain what these places are like because they’re pretty hard to describe. Our tour took us on a motorbike taxi to the top of the favela and then we walked all the way down to the bottom. We had to travel with an organised tour because these places are not safe to visit on your own. The residents of the favelas tap into the electricity grids to get free power!   We walked past a house that had a meter outside reading 00001.  The guide said this had been the same since 2002!!   They are completely self sufficient and have shops and schools within the favelas.  The favela we went to was called Rocinha and is controlled by a drug cartel called ADA (Amigos Dos Amigos).  There are people waiting at the entrances to the favela with walkie talkies and machine guns to keep an eye out for rival drug gang members.. Pretty hairy stuff.  Once inside the favela we visited an art studio with local painters and also a bakery where we sampled some yummy wares!  We also visited a children’s daycare centre which was great.  The money made from the tour ticket went to funding the free centre although the waiting list for a place is very long.  It was a very unique and eye opening experience for us and one we shall remember for a long time.

From Rio we flew to Miami which seemed like world’s apart….  For one the language was a little more familiar to us expect there are so many people from Cuba and Puerto Rico who live there we almost heard more Spanish than English!!  Miami was hot.  Very hot.  Beautiful beaches and Art Deco buildings.  We spent our days wandering around the shops, a pretty exciting pastime given that we hadn’t seen a GAP for 10 months!!  On the Saturday we took a guided tour to the Everglades and went on an airboat.  Saw some alligators and then watched an alligator show which was pretty amazing.

From Miami we flew to Washington DC and met Carl’s friend from HMV, John.  We didn’t get to DC until 2330 but it was just great to see someone we knew so we sat up chatting for a few hours.  The first day in DC we visited the Lincoln Memorial, the WWII memorial and saw the Washington Monument, White House and Capitol Hill in the distance.  We visited Georgetown which is the main shopping area of DC with many boutiques shops, bars and restaurants.  We had a late lunch in a diner called Johnny Rocket’s and had the perfect milkshake and burger meal!  Even I had a great veggie burger with all the trimmings!
Day two we visited the Capitol and then the White House and walked up to the Washington Monument along the Mall.  John had kindly booked us three tickets to go up to the top of the monument to get some panoramic views of the city which was great.  That evening we visited a bar by the river in Georgetown and got very drunk!  
Day three was a write off!!  We wandered into Georgetown and did some shopping and had another lunch at Johnny Rockets which is great for hangover food!  Spent the rest of the day at the hotel and then had a nice meal out in the evening.
Thursday we said goodbye to John at the subway and caught a tube to the domestic airport called Reagan National.  We flew from DC to Boston on a tiny plane with only three seats in width…..!  The flight was great because we got to see the whole of DC from the air including the Pentagon which was disappointing from the ground.  In Boston we waited a few hours at the airport before catching a bus to Lebanon, NH, where my sister Jo and nephew Mason were waiting for us!!   En route we saw some amazing autumn colours on the trees. Had a Chinese meal for tea which was great because we’ve missed it!

Our first weekend here we went to Tilton shopping at a big outlet centre and then Sunday we went apple picking which was great fun.  Mason who is 11 months loved sucking the apple juice from the apples!  During the week whilst my sister and brother in law went to work Carl and I have been enjoying the novelty of being in a home and have just really been enjoying chilling and not having to move on every day!  On Friday we had the pleasure of looking after Mason on our own for the morning and then we ate whole lobster for the first time that evening.  It was messy but yummy. This weekend we went to their camp which is a two bed cabin on a beautiful lake in Vermont.  We helped them close down the camp for the winter but also found time to enjoy a trip round the lake on their speedboat!!  We had a campfire on Saturday evening with baked potatoes and toasted marshmallows and then Sunday we went to an all-you-can-eat buffet where we feasted on pretty much everything!!
We leave here on Thursday to head to Montreal, Canada where we only have three more weeks before flying home!!!

Love to you all,

Cecs and Barl xxx