Easter Sunday with Christ the Redeemer

Thwarted Again

It is slightly overcast when we get up but I am optimistic as we take an Uber to the ticket booth to catch the special vans that go up to Christ the Redeemer.

It seems appropriate that we are going to visit him on Easter Sunday.

But “Christo’ as he is called in Portuguese is not ready for us. The attendant at the ticket booth tells us that it is not a good time to visit. He points to a video screen, the ‘Christo Live Camera’ that displays live views of Christo and its all white… Christo and the mountain top are blanketed in clouds.

“Thwarted again”, John says. “It looks like we are not destined to go”.

“Oh yes we are. Let’s come back in a few hours. The clouds will move,” I say.

Back to Selaron Stairs 

Grabbing another cab, we head to the bottom of the Selaron Stairs which is near the Lapa area and aquaduct. Here at street level the sun is out, illuminating the vibrant colours on the stairs to their full brilliance.

We climb the 125 metres of stairs, (250 steps) to the top….stopping to take more pictures. Both Snoop Dog and Pharrell Williams did music videos on these stairs. Click the link here to see the video. They are a popular film location.

Brazilians love their dogs. Almost everyone from the wealthy to the homeless have at least one furry friend, as the dog poop on the street can attest to. Why don’t people pick up after the dogs? Brazil streets are every bit as bad in this department as the streets in Paris. There was even dog poop on the Selaron staircase.

Park of Ruins

   
Once at the top of the stairs, we climb a steep hill up to the Santa Teresa neighbourhood. We make our way to the Parque das Ruinas (Park of Ruins) which has the most gorgeous views of Rio from the ruined shell of a mansion built around 1900.

Santa Teresa Neighbourhood

It starts to drizzle as we leave the park. We walk around the neighbourhood a bit more and see the Saint Theresa tram rumble by. All the street poles in the area are painted with various scenes ranging from birds to scantily clad Carnival dancers. And of course, lovely murals.

Christ the Redeemer

We take a cab back to the Christ the Redeemer ticket booth and good news, Christo is back in business… we are able to get tickets for a 1:00pm departure.

We have 45 minutes to wait so we get some lunch at a bakery where we have coxinas. We are not sure exactly what they are but know that they are a favourite Brazilian snack food. The ones we have are a deep, fried bread ball stuffed with cheese and potatoes. You can also get them stuffed with meats. They are not my cup of tea.

At 1:00pm we head out in the van. The van drives up and up and up taking hairpin turns. My ears pop. Much of the drive goes through a national park that surrounds Corcovado Mountain. As we get higher it starts to become misty and rainy. We arrive at the main welcome centre where we turn in our tickets to take another van even higher up to the Christ the Redeemer monument on the top of Corovado Mountain.

We are really high up. It is so much colder here. I’m glad I brought my raincoat because the extra layer of warmth is greatly welcome. There are numerous people here in bathing suits with coverups. Some are shivering. Hmmmm

From the van we take a short elevator ride to a higher level and then two outdoor escalators to the summit.

We can barely see Christo as he is shrouded in cloud and we can see nothing of the view far below. After all the time and trouble to get here and we can’t see a thing!

We glumly walk to the base of the Christo monument to take some foggy photos of him. And then we get a miracle… for about five minutes the clouds part and we can see! Rio is spread out below us and Christo emerges from the mist. The views are truly spectacular. We take pictures and very soon the clouds roll back in again. Christo is back in his cloudy blanket.

We hear sightseeing helicopters flying around the top. The sound of the chopper blades is so loud you’d think the helicopter was right above but we couldn’t see it because the clouds are so thick. Those tours are not cheap so the passenger’s weren’t getting their monies worth today. We wonder how the pilots can see where they are going.

The clouds briefly roll away again and we take a few more pictures of the monument and the view of Rio from above.

A few capuchin monkeys are hanging around the visitors in hopes of handouts (despite the do not feed the wildlife signs).

As we leave, the clouds are back and it starts to pour rain. Boy did we luck out.

Back to Copacabana

We grab a van back to the welcome centre and then another van to Copacabana. The drop off point is a 40 minute walk from our apartment so we flag a cab. The driver starts taking us to the wrong place, we catch him fairly quickly and we get dropped off at our apartment.

I quickly get changed and we head out for a relaxing drink at a beachside bar on Copacabana Beach. We watch large waves hitting the shore and the cable cars going up and down Sugarloaf Mountain.

Supper at the Colombo Cafe

Walking a few blocks we go to Fort Copacabana and head directly to Colombo Cafe which is on the grounds of the fort. The main Colombo Cafe is in the Centro area. The Colombo is a long time, well known establishment in Rio. According to our travel guide the other day, even the Queen dined there when she was in Rio.

Despite having to pay a fee to get into the fort, there is still a lineup to get in the bakery and we have to wait for a table. At least the line isn’t as long as the one in Centro.

Our table is outside by the water, looking out onto Copacabana Beach. I order a sundried tomato, pesto and olive pasta salad and John orders waffles. We both order brigateros for dessert. This is another popular Brazilian dessert which is a very sweet, large chocolate ball rolled in chocolate sprinkles. It seems to have condensed milk in its ingredients. It is not bad but very sweet and rich.

Surfers are in the water below us, hoping to catch a big wave. The sun sets and bright lights for the whole four kilometers of Copacabana Beach come on illuminating the beach like it is daytime. The lights at the base of the fort also come on, lighting the water around. The surfers stay out long after dark.

I buy a sparkly Rio t-shirt from a vendor on the beach before heading to a pharmacy for some last minute purchases. Our tour guide had told us of some hangover cures which she highly recommended. I thing they would make great Christmas gifts for some of my friends and relatives. I try to explain to the clerk but she doesn’t speak English. An English speaking doctor is in the pharmacy and after explaining what I am looking for (stressing that it is not for me), he takes me to the product. I buy a fairly large supply.

The rest of the evening is spent packing and organizing for our flights home tomorrow. We try to get a few hours sleep.

Homeward Bound

The 3:15am alarm drags me out of sleep. Since most things were done the night before, we are ready to go in no time.

Our Uber takes us past Copacabana Beach one last time. A Barry Manilow tune is playing on his radio. There is a full moon.

Christ the Redeemer is brightly lit up. He seems to be floating over Rio de Janeiro in the black sky.

The airport is quiet and we quickly go through security and get to our gate before boarding the first leg of our jouney on Avianca Airlines from Rio to Bogota. John gets some great pictures of Rio from the plane window.

It is dull and rainy when we land in Bogota but that is ok because we are just here for three hours before we catch our flight to Toronto.

The flight is uneventful. We are now home.