Work by Wark

Not many blip opportunities today, so here’s a small sample of the work done by Wark, a young, prolific and now very successful graffiti artist, and the first person we visited in Rocinha on Wednesday. As an art student, he developed a visual language all of his own, based on the symbols used by Pythagoras to represent numbers. His trademark angels (as on his card) are to be found everywhere in Rocinha and, indeed, all over Rio, as are whole walls and buildings covered with his paintings. Initially illegal, he now receives commissions for his graffiti from far and wide and his works have travelled as far away as Australia, the US and Canada.

Our guests were returning to Rocinha today to sit in on Patrick’s last class and join in his farewell barbecue later. HH and I set off the hills, reaching the club in time to hit a few golf balls before playing in The Quaich tomorrow. This noble trophy has been played for by Scots in Rio since 1928, and is a likely candidate for tomorrow’s blip. The number of golfing Scots here has diminished greatly, so the net has been thrown wider and the competition is open to members of MOGA (the Macaé Oilmen’s Golfing Association, founded by Scots up the coast) and of the main foreign community societies. Forecast pretty grim and skies ditto, but we hit some balls in the dry before coming home. First time here without our beloved mongrel, Pepsi, to greet us. She disappeared the Friday before we went to England and extensive searches have failed to locate her. I refuse to think the worst and keep thinking that one day she may find her way back, as she did once before. Meantime, if someone has her somewhere, we can only hope they are treating her kindly. We did get a very warm welcome from Kayla, our other beautiful rescue dog, though she seems a little subdued without Pepsi.