Well the last day in Rio Branco saw me meeting with the Federal police. They deal with Pretty much everything and are a little like the USA FBI set up. As Rio Branco is a small city by our standards i was surprised to see the standard of equipment used. I spoke with some CSI's who had access to equipment that was very hi tech and up to date. I visited the building site that will be their new police headquarters in 12 months time. It was very impressive indeed and the helicopter landing pad gave me an excellent opportunity to have a birds eye view of the city. I then Met Ricardo for Lunch ( heaven forbid we should miss a meal !!) and we then went to the military special ops team to see the dogs. Nothing much different to ours in terms of training although i think our standard is higher ( i suppose i would say that !!). I put the bite suit on for a Rottweiler and got the exercise wrong as the instructions got lost in translation !! Result the dog bit me on a stand off !!! My own fault and i felt a bit daft but that is the issue with the language barrier, you are convinced someone has told you to do something when in fact they have told you not to do it !!!!! Anyway it was a good visit. The guys with me were horrified to discover that the bite had marked my arm through the bite suit! Professional hazard for me im afraid !
This evening we have been to a bowling alley in the town and had a drink and a bite to eat. It gave me and a few of the local Rotarians to get together and discuss a joint project between our two districts. We have almost agreed on most of it and the idea will be to renovate the childrens creche we visited yesterday and install water for the children. There is a long list of other things that need to be done and it will be a complicated thing to set up at first but we hope to have something more concrete in place very soon. We were all quite moved by the work done by Maria but the facility cannot go on like it is it needs urgent attention. Watch this space.....
I really like Rio Branco, it has a lovely feel about it. We have been on the TV the Radio, on all the government web sites, we really are VIP's here!! They must not have much news here! Our coordinator Assistant governor coracy is a wonderful Guy. Tomorrow we leave for Rolim de Moura in Rondonia and the adventure continues. I feel sure that there will be a teaful good bye as we leave our host families behind once again, they have been so kind.
So next stop Rondonia and to see our Friends Emerson and Gisele who came to the UK last year, cant wait to see them!
Steve, I read this on my phone on the train in to work. It's freezing and blowing gales here, so I found it a very warming read!! Thanks and hope the dog bite wasn't too hard!!! ;-)
ReplyDeletethe dog bit through the suite but its nothing im not used to im always covered in bruises !! They look a fearsome lot but they were a nice bunch and we had a good afternoon together, much rather have the dogs than the boa contrictors though!! They were found in the city! and the police come and collect them and take them back to the jungle !
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