Christ Above

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So far, our weekend had been good and we had enjoyed almost everything. The weather, however, had turned out badly - wet and cold, it was not the Rio we were expecting. Granted, they're only coming into spring over here now but there had to be some sun here somewhere! In a situation like this, there's only one man to turn to - JHC Himself. We hadn't seen the iconic statue most of the weekend because of mist and there wouldn't have been much point in heading up because we wouldn't have been able to see jack shit. However, on Monday morning, God had truly smiled upon us, as a warm sun shone down on us from a partially cloudy sky. The omens looked good - we hot-footed it to the, eh, foot of the Corcovado.

A tame (by Rio standards) bus ride later and we were witnessing Aidan's expert haggling with the taxi drivers bear fruit as we secured a return trip to the top for $R100 for all 6 of us in the one van - sweet! The train up charges $R35 a head! So up we headed, along streets of cobblestone and steep ascents that give San Francisco a run for its money, being overtaken by mad taxi drivers and bus drivers (of bigger buses than ours!). We passed several favelas and had good views of several others - crammed into each other's space and seemingly teetering on the edge. It's hard to believe people can live in communities like these, but as we had come to discover, many millions do in Brazil. We saw a little monkey just at the entrance to the national park of which the Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer) statue is the main attraction.

As for the views, well I'll mostly let the pictures speak for themselves, but suffice it to say that this is probably the best view I've ever enjoyed (from the top of a mountain anyway).

Later on that day I got the chance to see one of the films from the Rio Film Festival, called Proibido Proibidar (It's Forbidden To Forbid) thanks to the lovely Luana Barcelos, a local Carioca friend of mine. Later on we went to a samba club called Gem da Carioca and saw some Samba. Ellie of course had to groove to the rhythms and got asked to dance by a black guy! Of course this chap had asked a couple of Germans before her so El wasn't thrilled at getting sloppy seconds. Can't fault the guy for perseverance though - at time of writing he has emailed her looking for a shuft when he gets to Europe next!

A couple of caipirinhas later and it was bedtime for this metal fan.

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Photos

The Father, the Son, and
Holy Christ!

Maracana
Rio's famous Maracana Stadium

Old Rio
Looking down on Old Rio: the bigger hill on the right nearest the water is Santa Teresa; just past the bridge on the upper left is Ilha de Governador (Governor's Island)

Millions Of Beaches
From left to right: Flamengo, Copacabana and Ipanema beaches, with the Sugar Loaf on the left

Blind Faith
Sometimes it's hard to be all-seeing from up this far

I need a hug
.. but nobody's interested

Samba
For an hour, with no breaks...