Aline's travel blog: Dec 3, Saturday

Dec 3, Saturday

Slept very well but was awake early so I read for about an hour and dozed off again for a bit. The sun was shining when I opened the curtains at 8 am so I decided to go down to the lobby on my way to the breakfast buffet to see about booking a tour for today or tomorrow: Full day excursion of Rio which would include both Corcovado (Christ the Redeemer) and Sugar Loaf Mountains. Got it ! I had less than ½ an hour for breakfast so I didn’t eat much and went back up to my room to pick up my cameras and what I would need for the day. Back in the lobby by 8:30 but the small bus did not pick me up until 9 am. Oh well !

After picking up a few more passengers in the Copacabana Beach, Ipanema Beach & Leblon Beach areas, we proceeded up and around Lake Rodrigo de Freitas. This used to be a fresh water lake, but it generated a lot of mosquitoes and therefore diseases. They decided to dig a canal between Ipanema & Leblon beaches to bring in salt water from the sea. Results: no more mosquitoes ! I had no idea that would work; did you?

The waves along the three beaches were quite impressive, so I hope there will be some sunny days next week so I can spend some time there as well. Although my arms are nicely tanned, my legs are very white since I’ve only worn my skort once in the past 3 months!

Sorry, no pics from the bus; the tinted windows could not be opened and they were spotted by yesterday’s rain drops.

The botanical gardens are on the west side of the lake and that will definitely be a future visit. The Royal Palms that line the roadway there must be 100 feet tall. From the north end of the lake we headed for the Rebouças tunnel that would take us under Corcovada Mountain and into the Laranjeiras area of Rio so that we could climb up to the Corcovada Entrance to the Tijuka Forest Park. (Corcovada means hunchback in Portuguese, although our guide told us it meant a camel hump) The road up the mountain is narrow and winding and the driver was zooming right along, despite the bikers and hikers and other cars on the road. It’s “move out of the way or get hit” around here; something I will need to remember while I’m crossing the streets. The drop off and parking area at the main entrance is very small and quite congested, but from this point everything worked like a charm. Since we were part of a group, our guide went in ahead of us, got our entrance tickets and we got on a park mini-bus that would take us the rest of the way up. There were 4 other mini-buses waiting to take other people and we passed more on the way up. Very efficient system. At the other end, you can climb up to the statue via a nice wide staircase, or do like our group did and take a series of escalators up to the viewing area of Christ the Redeemer statue.

It is just as impressive in person as when you see it on TV; beautifully carved 38 meter high statue. And the views of the city are spectacular. Unfortunately those nice sunny skies had already turned cloudy, and the pictures lack that sparkle.

Christo Redentor

Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas, with Xmas tree which is lit at night

View of Copacabana Beach

Motorized glider passing by

View of Sugar Loaf Mountain from Corcovado

Notes about Christ the Redeemer Statue: 1921, discussions begin around the idea of marking Brazil’s 100^th year of independence with the creation of a statue and where it should be located. Corcovada Mountain was selected because it was the highest in Rio. The foundation stone was laid in 1922. Designed by Carlos Oswald and sculpted by Paul Landowski, it was inaugurated in 1931: Largest art deco sculpture / monument in the world.

From there we came back off the mountain and headed into Rio Centre, and I’m not kidding, the bus actually drove past the hotel I had stayed at the first night I arrived, as well as by the Hotel Ibis where I had been hoping to stay. The streets were still filled with garbage; and I don’t mean that it was garbage day, there is discarded garbage everywhere in the historical district. We made our way to the Metropolitan Cathedral, which is in a newer part of the downtown area. This is definitely not your traditional architecture for a church; actually, I did not find it pleasing to the eye. It looked like a big cement cone (see picture). But the inside simply took your breath away. It can seat 5,000 people.

Metropolitan Cathedral

Inside the church and its stained glass windows; mass was being said.

Zoom of the hanging wooden crucifix

From there we drove around the streets that surround the Maracana Stadium (or Sambodrome) where they have football games, music concerts for big celebrities and where the Pope celebrated mass when he came to Rio. We then stopped at what was supposed to be a Carnaval Costume Museum; the operative word being “supposed”. It was a store where you could put on Carnaval costumes and have your picture taken. The problem is that thousands of people have put these on before you and there is no doubt that they have not been cleaned. So I passed on this option but watched others dress up. They weren’t as impressive as the real Carnaval Costumes we see during the parade; it looked more like what you would find in a Halloween costume store.

We then had our buffet lunch stop which was quite nice with a great selection of salads, hot dishes as well as some sushi and shrimp. I sat with a Mexican lady and her adult daughter from our group and we had a nice conversation. The daughter, her husband and 2 daughters now live in Brazil and Mom was visiting, so they had come to Rio for the weekend to see the sights.

From downtown, we drove to the Estaçäo do Caminho Aéreo (Cable car station) to ride up el Morro da Urca, and from there on up to Sugar Loaf (Päo de Açucar) Mountain. Here is a picture of the “maquette” showing both mountains, so that you can understand what I mean; plus more great views of the city !

The mountains

Helicopter pad on Morro da Urca

Views of the city from Morro da Urca

Cable car up to Sugar Loaf

The skies had become dark grey and it was surprising that we did not get rained on. Definitely have to come back here on my own if we get a sunny day!

View of Guanabara Bay and Corcovado in the background with Cristo Redentor on top