Sunday in Brasilia. We got up and the guys had laid out a yummy breakfast and we ate together before going to the best part if Brasilia. Parque De Cidade. This park is actually the largest urban park in the world with 4.2 million m2 and was buzzing on this Sunday morning with so many people being active. We power walked and at times stopped and kicked the ball around. Awh I've missed having someone eager for football around. That was Carlos. Not Zusanna as she waited patiently for us to run out of tricks and moves haha.

We watched Capoeria and I was so impressed. The way they move so quick, their agility, their strength to hold them self up, their ability to be creative in their movement, their intuition and also the sense of community. One person could be fighting/dancing in one instance and then in the next, playing an instrument and singing. Capaoeria was developed in Brazil mainly by African descendants with native Brazilian influences, probably beginning in the 16th century. The word capoeira probably comes from the Tupi language, referring to the areas of low vegetation in the Brazilian interior where the game was played. It was invented by slaves and disguised as a dance in order to prevent its capoeiristas from punishment or execution for learning how to fight and defend themselves, which was forbidden to those who were legally defined as property

Please take a look at the video to see how amazing it really is. They make it look so easy and I bet it's super hard. My next step will to be to try it.

Learning of childhood

Being around kids at the end of my trip made me think a lot about childhood.

At the beginning of my trip, I learned a lot of things by staying in the favela. It was the first time in a very long time, that I felt a true sense of community like we had as children. Heading back to hostel at 10pm, I saw kids still out playing and running around whilst the adults sat in groups drinking and chatting. You could hear music playing and people laughing. And actually even standing out, I still felt pretty safe.

Maybe this was also due to the pacification. In 2008, the Unidade de Policia Pacificadora (UPP), a law enforcement and social services program began. I stayed in the Cantagalo Favela and the UPP was in full force there. It was actually located right next to my hostel and there were always police officers around with their big guns. Is that off putting or does that help with a sense of safety?

Obviously I was only there for a couple of days but was able to observe. Sunday was their party day and looking out across the hill, I could see lots of celebrations. Also, in walking down the hill, I could see people partying for birthdays; different groups; fireworks going off; people drinking beer but mainly the children playing with smiles on their faces.

I believe that society has changed the way kids are brought up to extremes. In the developed countries, kids as young as 2 can play on iPads, watch shows on big TVs and are more technologically advanced than some granny's. When we were younger, we didn't have that luxury. We had books, we played on the street, we interacted a lot more because we couldn't hit behind our mobile phones. We had to use our brains to memorize phone numbers, we had to stick to plans because we made a call before left house and arranged plans, and we were able to carry out simply sums. Nowadays, life is easy. We have technology to do so many things that we don't need to use our brains to think, or our legs to walk to the library, or our creative part of brain to make up playground games.

Of course, technology is amazing. You can learn so many things like your alphabet for when you are a kid to a language when you are a teenager. The easy life. For research projects, you can just google for information, whereas before you had to go to library, put in key words, search the shelves and sometimes even wait til someone else returns the book. How much time do we save now? Maybe now we can use that saved time to be kids? To revert back to our youth and be a kid? The days of being free and playing using our creative minds, our body for activity and our social skills for interaction.

For 2014, maybe as adults we can try to be kids more. Use the list below and try to be a kid maybe once a day? Once a week?

Visit a toy store and purchase a game/toy

Play Mini golf

Finger paint old bed sheet

Watch 3 stooges

Pick dandelions

Make daisy chains

Read with torch under cover

Go on swing

Play on a roundabout

Play tig

Scavenger hunt

Use crayons

Play in rain

Play in a Forrest

Play trophy (handstand games)

Run through sprinklers

Make pancakes

Pillow fight

Slumber party

Climb a tree

Play on farm

Jump on a bed

Fly a kite

Play with Lego

Watch cartoons

Play kirby

Mix different colours of ice cream

Make a sand castle

Bury someone in the sand

Make snow angels

Go sledging

Paint by numbers

Sing karaoke

Play card games

Play house

Play twister

Build a tree house

Ride a bike with stabilisers

Rollerblade/rollerskate

Go home when street lights go on

What are the other things that you can do to feel like a kid?

The last day day in South America was spent in a town near the airport and it was nice to be able to introduce Shannon to real life Brazil. We ate at a favela restaurant. That was just the name of it and not actually in the favela as that would be a bit of a shock to Shannon's system! It was typical Brazilian food and it was very good. We also had Acai and Brazillian coffee. Even in the midst of the Christmas shoppers, it was hard to believe that it was Christmas Eve.

At the airport, it was time for Shannon to taste the pasties. It wouldn't be something we would normally eat but whilst in Brazil we had to try!

So my South America overview:

3 weeks

3 countries

8 states

7 planes

31 buses

7 cars

4 metros

3 boats

3 taxis

Foods tried

Argentinian steak house (yum) - asado

Empanada

Matambre

Morcilla

Mollejas

Chinchulines

Milanese (yuck)

Dolce de leche (yum)

Acai

Brigadeiro

Cozinha

Stroganoff

Farofa

Quindim

Guava paste

Beijinho de coco

Feijoada

Pasteis

Pao de queijos

Aroz doce

Cuscuz branco

Goiabada

Chourico

Linguica

Requeijao

Pacoca

Meujar de coco

Tapioca

Acai na tigela

Empada

Misto quente

Comida por quilo

Drinks tried

Local Argentinian - beagle

Brahma

Antarctica

Skol

Bohemia

Gaurana

Agua de coco

Cachaca