The Eagle has landed...

Our Paralympics volunteer arrived today, bright and very early, and being determined to get herself onto local time asap, put in a long day settling in and preparing for the fray. The first priority, after unpacking, was a visit to ‘Samba City’ – where many of the large samba schools prepare their floats and costumes – to collect her accreditation and uniform. There could have been hitches, as only last week, after she had been asking for months what her assignment would be and long after she had bought her ticket, she was told she had to show up on the 31st or lose her place. And they wonder why so many volunteers gave up during the Olympics?
 
Fortunately, all went well, and as she has disabilities herself and can’t stand for very long, she was taken to the front of the various queues. Even so, it all took a long time. I couldn’t go in with her, so wound up sitting on one of the Carnival floats chatting to other people who were waiting for family members or friends. All very relaxed and Brazilian. When M emerged, victorious, we got the new tram through the revamped port area and past the amazing Museum of the Future, neither of which I have visited yet – can’t wait to do so, but today wasn’t the right time. And M still had to do her grocery shopping, as she has a very restricted diet. She was pretty shattered by the prices, higher even than in Geneva, where she lives.
 
I then went off to collect a bicycle that Miracle Maria is buying for her daughter and a quick visit to the friend we stayed with for the four days our whole house was let out, and by the time I got back, M was finally admitting to tiredness. I hope she’ll get a good long sleep, she certainly deserves to.