What have we here?

On the way down to Rio, HH nobly allowed the blipper to stop at the lookout for a few shots of the sunset and the mountains. We found we had been preceded by two busloads of lads and priests from a Catholic religious group, looking for all the world like some misplaced Crusaders. They've come from Ponta Grossa, down south in Paraná state, to spend a couple of weeks in Teresópolis and Nova Friburgo, another town an hour’s drive further along the range of hills (just as well they won't be in the city of Rio - they'd die of heat in those costumes. And they're wearing knee-length boots, for heaven's sake). In view of their religious inclination, the backdrop of the Finger of God mountain couldn’t be more appropriate.

I was just deciding against climbing up on the wall (when did I become so sensible?) when a priest offered to help me up. Like the boys, he was smiling and friendly and not at all ‘in-your-face’ religious. He stood there chatting happily while I fired off a few shots, before helping me down again.  The whole episode left me driving down the hill with a big smile on my face. I reckon HH missed out – he didn’t even get out of the car.

A detour via the North Zone on our way home, to collect an ancient amplifier of HH’s, which a technician has had for two or three years, but couldn’t find the parts needed to mend it. Now it’s back in our house – imagine how pleased I am. After that, another detour to pick up a small tablet I’ve just bought from a site called Gringos Buy & Sell. As the friend who introduced me to the site said, it’s addictive (almost as bad as blipfoto), and has already lead me into temptation too many times. Let’s hope the tablet will survive longer than my iPhone.