Sun breaks out!

What a difference a bit of sun makes, eh?
I took a tour today up to the outstretched arms of Jesus overlooking the city. The 30 meter statue is visible from everywhere in the city - when it´s not shrouded in clouds, that is, so imagine what a pleasant surprise to wake up crisply at 6:30am to a crystal blue sky.
I rushed out to the beach to see what it looked like in the sun, ate another buffet breakfast, then eventually piled in the back of a van with Fernanda, the guide, two gorgeous Norwegian girls just about in their twenties, four Argentinians just about in their eighties, and two Brazilians in their thirties. Take a guess who I end up sitting with? You´ve guessed it, the Argentinian geriatrics. Gave me a good chance to confuse my already pathetic Portuguese with my equally rancid Spanish.
Fascinating tour, though, that was completely eye-opening.
First we left the Zona Sul for the more working class Zona Norte. First stop was the place where they hold the Carneval, and in the museum we were invited to step into the costumes and parade around like mutant peacocks. After this delight, we drove through much more shoddy and poor neighborhoods to the largest soccer stadium in the World, the Maracana, but we were not allowed in. The guide claimed that, in 2014, at the World Cup final to be held there, the result would be Brazil 4 Argentina 2. I corrected her faulty future memory with the correct score: England 2 Brazil 0 (after extra time).
What an amazing city this is!
After the stadium, we start steep hair-raising climbs up through jungle, past the favellas, the homes of the poor, up windy cobbled streets, with trees in bloom and exotic flowers everywhere and people grunting up these murderous hills, along the tram lines that lead up the side of the mountain Corcovada, into the National Park and towards the outstretched arms of monumental Jesus towering and glowering down beatifically over the city. At the top, we meet our first capuchin monkey, then take a weird escalator to the final steps up to the most outrageously, staggeringly beautiful view imaginable.
Concrete Jesus has got himself one splendid perch. Everyone is snapping away hungrily like digital crocodiles, including me. Clouds wisp in and out. We drank all of this in for an hour then came reluctantly back down, past school kids on their way home to the favellas, back down to the Zona Sul and the wealthy beach life.
What a difference a bit of sun makes.
The beaches were now filled with the cheeky bottoms peeking out of skimpy bathing costumes (on both men and women) of legend; hawkers selling Brazil soccer shirts, bands playing fabulous music on bin lids and four string eukele guitars, and an entire world of bizarre characters flowing through the streets, sipping drinks in the street cafes, walking ugly boxer dogs with purple hair and giant bellies, while the cars and buses stream past. I sip a beer and watch it all going past. It reminds me of summer in Paris. I can see what the fuss is all about today with the sun shining.
What a difference a bit of sun makes.
See you on the flypaper,
mike

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Part of trip: Brazil 2008

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