The Cristo Redentor is the most overvalued picture in the world

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But I took it anyway, as I had made my way to the top of the bloody thing. And guess what? Rio de Janeiro weather is very unpredictable. So by the time we made it to the top of Corcovado, which is pretty high, it was surrounded with clouds. So what was meant to be a beautiful view was as attractive as the middle of a cloud can be.

Now, there were some entertaining moments nonetheless. As it was so cloudy we couldn't see the statue most of the time, every 20 mns or so, when the wind cleared up slightly around it, you would hear cries of excitement from the expecting tourists, followed by the clicking of cameras whilst people speedily posed, their arms open so as to mime the Christ. These episodes generally last about 5 seconds, 10 seconds max.

As you can see, I managed to get some pictures of the thing itself, including a really stupid one of me looking like the complete tourist that I am. However, I have an excuse for that one: it wasn't my idea, but that or Rui, the Portuguese guy I met at the hostel with whom I went, who insisted on waiting for the clouds to clear to take a picture of me.

Fortunately, we also made it onto a slightly lower mountain close to that, from which we were able to see quite a lot of the city. My day finished pleasantly with a stroll on Ipanema and Leblon beaches.

And it started very agreeably with a breakfast of watermelon and goyava. Life is good here.

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Photos

Quick! Quick! Snap! Snap! ...and it's gone!
The Cristo Redentor, appearing for a few precious seconds

What an amazing statue
This is what it looked like most of the time

The real sight
Loads of tourists just waiting for hours for a simple glimpse of the statue. With a background of heavy fog.

Ecologico?
This was on the van that took us up the mountain. You can read "turismo ecologico", which is interesting considering the van had its engine running to keep the air conditioning on whilst waiting for the tourists.

Rio is very green...
Again from the same hill

Comments

[Lukasz the Polish]

Go David go!!!London working class envies you these sights so much!!!good luck

[Pablo]

...
I cannot see the photo of the cristo and you!!! where is that picture!!!! (In aslight puerto rican tone as in one of the episodes of seinfield with the 2 puertoricans.. hehehe)