Woke up bright and early to a beautiful sunny day on Lagoa Araruama! Plenty of coffee and chocolate cake for breakfast after last nights caipirinha! Mauro (our friendly bus driver) took us to our first stop of the day - RC Araruama's Headquarters! There we met the District Governor Elect - Luis Spitz and other Rotary Club member who would be our guides for the day. From here we headed off to the Escola Politecnia where college students and adults learn electronics, travel and tourism, nursing, health and safety in the workplace, architecture, and computing. The Director showed us around all of their facilities - quite high tech - and treated us to a morning coffee break in the staffroom!

After leaving the school we went to one of RC Araruamas projects - AFADA - which is a place which assists/supports people who have HIV and their families in the city.

The archeological museum was our next stop which is an old slave farm which a Rotary Club Member now owns and has turned into a museum and is in the process of restoring it to it's original state. There were beautiful with Birds of Paradise, Tangerine plants etc. Some children from the school next door sang a traditional Brazilian song to us in the local Indian language - it was warmly received and the children loved the smiley face stickers we gave them! We were then treated to a brunch of dishes made from the Manioc Plant - a traditional Brazilian vegetable which can be used for sweet or savoury dishes!

Next was a hair raising drive up a dirt road with long grass overhanging the roads (the bus had more grass in it by the end than the fields!!!). At the top was a beautiful 360 degree view of the lakes region - with views of Cabo Frio, Buzios and Araruama.

Our next adventure took us over to Praia Seca where there are lots of salt farms and we learnt about how they produce the salt and even got a little bag to take back with us (not sure how we are going to get that through customs - it looks a little dodgy!). While here we also took a stroll along the beach and saw the Atlantic waves crashing into the shore! We thought about swim but the red flags were up and looked a little cold!

Lunch took us back to the Square where we enjoyed chicken, rice, chips and ice cream. Our last stop for the day was the Equestrian Therapy centre which helps to rehabilitate children and adults with injuries or learning difficulties through contact with horses. Katie and I even got a ride on one of the horses and tried out some of the activities used - it's actually quite scary riding a horse with no hands and your eyes closed!! The boys opted to be the cameramen!

Now we are back at Casa Abel writing our blogs, and preparing for this evenings engagement - an evening of music, dancing, food and festivities at one of the Rotarians houses!