Sunday was the last day of the Olympics. So the weather decided to give it one last parting shot.
We woke up late for the most part on Sunday morning. Only Jasmine had a morning shift at the website and we had no more newspaper stories to complete. The time to sleep in felt amazing given that a few of us are starting to feel a bit under the weather.
And speaking of weather, the one thing I’ll probably remember the most about the city of Rio de Janeiro is the weather, specifically its ability to change on a dime. Apparently it’s not just a Texas thing. Last Monday, the weather conditions for the diving competition went from perfect to windy and cold in about five minutes. The same thing happened again on Sunday.
I was sitting in the living room of the apartment waiting for the USA vs. Serbia basketball game to start when a howling wind came out of nowhere. The palm trees got knocked around and one even lost a branch (which is impressive given how palm trees have evolved to withstand high winds). Anything in the complex not tied down got knocked around. I imagine this is how it feels to be in a hurricane.
The worst part, however, is that it didn’t really die down. In fact, as I left to head to the press center for my last website shift, it became even stronger. Power lines popped and sparked in front of me and I wasted no time getting to the other side of the street. A trip that usually took me 30 minutes took 45 minutes as I tried walking into a very stiff headwind.
But I somehow made it to the press center for the last time. I didn’t really have much to do so I ended up watching the closing ceremony. It definitely lacked the sparkle of the opening ceremony. The only really cool parts were the Japanese prime minister entering through a pipe as Mario and then the carnival party at the end.
Then it ended. Like that everything that we had come here to do finished. We said goodbye to Sam, one of the many people to make this all happen and left the press center for the very last time.
This trip has been amazing. Yes, there have been struggles, but there’s also been a lot of fun and cool moments. It’s been hard work but we’ve been rewarded with being able to tell the stories of really cool athletes and even the people of Brazil.
Monday will be another rest day as we start to repack for the trip back home. One more night in this cool, complicated city before we head home.
Miles walked today: 4.13
Total miles walked: 142.41
