This morning, about 0700 hours, our home-away-from-home for the last 12 days tied up to the pier in Rio de Janeiro. Rio was the colonial capital of Brazil, under the Crown of the King of Portugal, from 1763 until 1815 when it became the Capital of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil, and the Algarves, after Napoleon invaded Portugal and the King fled to Brazil. It was about a year later that he returned to the Iberian Peninsula but left his young son here. According to the story our tour guide recited yesterday, the King’s son was not old enough to be a monarch. When the boy turned 15, he was declared the ruler of Brazil and, shortly thereafter, granted Brazil their independence. (This story could not be completely confirmed by Google.) Portugal was, during this brief period in their history, the only country to have its capital on a different continent.
I almost forgot - the story of how Rio got its name…
The Portugese explorers landed north of Rio and settled there first. They then took off to explore the coast, heading south as they took around. When they got to the mouth of the bay they took a Quick Look and were amazed at all the water in the bay. It was likely a hot summer day in January and they didn’t need to look much further to come to the conclusion that this water flowed from a large river, so they named it the January river, or in Portugese, Rio de Janeiro!
We had an early breakfast, the completion of which came just after the opening of passage to the pier. We grabbed our I.D.s, excursion tickets, and raincoats (despite being constantly reminded that we are in “the rainy season” this was the first rain we had witnessed since our arrival at Buenos Aeros.) and headed ashore. We soon found ourselves on a tour bus headed across Rio toward the base station of the train to the top of Mount Corcovado. Few trips to Brazil, and no trips to Rio de Janeiro are complete without a visit to the UNESCO site of the statue of “Christ the Redeemer”, the iconic symbol of Brazil.
Access to the base of the statue can be had from two sources. It is possible to drive about halfway up but not farther. The most common method is to take a train ride, which stops mid-route to pick up those who thought they could drive up. From there all must take the train to the station at the top.
The main reason to avoid the full-train option is the wait. There is a seemingly endless line that moves at a glacial pace to find one of about 120 available seats on the train. The line moves slowly not because it takes so long to load the train, but because there is but one route formed by the rails, so cars climbing and descending must wait on a small siding while a train, moving in the opposite direction, passes by.
At the mid-point, visitors are told that they have two options (so many choices!) One can take the stairs or (if you would prefer to avoid 230 steps,) you can stand in an even longer line than you did at the bottom, and take the elevator. This line is longer because instead of 120 people at a time, the elevator takes 9-13 at a time (odd numbers because these are metric people.) There are three elevators but, on this day at least, two were non-functional.
Construction began in 1922 and was completed in 1931. The statue stands 98 feet high and the outstretched arms reach across a 92 foot span.
As you go through the line a vendor offers to take your picture, hoping that you will buy the photo when you return to the bottom station.
We were given an hour and a half to complete our visit to the top, which, after standing in lines twice, both coming and going, meant there was about 15-20 minutes free-time for pictures. There was a refreshment stand that, taking its queue from the train station (deliberate choice of the word) had you stand in line to order, then again to receive your order.
When you sat down you needed to be sure you laid nothing on the table as there were monkeys stealing anything from food, to sun glasses, and hats. If they grabbed something, then retreated with it to the edge, finding that it was not food they would through it over the wall and return for their next crime.
The final “climb to the top” was by escalator. Once you arrived at the base of the statue you had numerous photo opportunities: selfies in front of the statue,
Pictures of the iconic figure,
and pictures of the city below. The mountain rises into the sky, dividing the city into northern and southern views. On a clear day you can see both. Today we settled for just one, the other being obscured by low level clouds
The view was spectacular! These two peaks (below) are, I believe, two of the three highest peaks surrounding Rio. The flat plateau in the background is a popular hang-gliding location.
Once we returned to the bottom train station we re-boarded the bus and returned to the piers by way of a drive-by tour of two famous beaches, Ipanema and Copacabana.
Don’t know what this is but it was pretty
Looking back up at Christ the Redeemer
Ipanema Beach, meaning “Bad Water” or “Water not fit for human consumption,” remains true to its reputation. Due to the presence of drainage water from nearby houses, the beach used to be almost unusable. The government has taken steps to clean up the mess but water quality often fails to meet Brazilian standards. Recall the emergency steps taken during the 2016 summer games? The water was ruled unhealthy for the athletes and was repeatedly tested. Although no games/events were canceled, several athletes did become ill.
The beach (and the neighborhood that bears the same name) became culturally popular in 1962 when two local musicians spent many days at the beach and wrote songs about their experience (and having Frank Sinatra record your song was likely a good move too!). The Girl From Ipanema caught their eye, but she paid no attention to her admirers and, as a result, became their fantasy romantic dream girl.
Today the beach is quite popular with visitors and hosts events like surfing contests, and beach tennis, as well as revelers during Festival.
I think the girl in the middle is the granddaughter of the Girl from Ipanema.
The gentleman in the middle is a statue. It is an homage to a well known Brazilian guitarist who is not as well known in Idaho.
The beach at Ipanema has been developed by several hotel chains and famous individuals who could afford to live there.
The development at Copacabana has never been on par with Ipanema. Although there was a hit song (by Barry Manilow) to promote it, as it turns out he wasn’t singing about this beach but, instead, the Copacabana Night Club in New York City that he frequented. It WAS a visit here that got his curiosity going, wondering if a song had ever carried the name.
This is Sugarloaf Mountain, accessible by cable car from the much lower peak to its right.
This building had a great story about this guy that did a thing that made him very unpopular. So much so that he was slain, cut into pieces and… something else!
We drove past several beautiful churches in the area near the piers.
This is the view just beyond the pier where we will be tonight. The architecture of the building is very unique. The mural in the foreground was painted for the 2016 Olympic Summer Games. There are five faces on the wall representing indigenous peoples from five continents (which are also represented by the five colored rings of the Olympic logo.)
We are packed and ready to leave the ship after breakfast tomorrow. We will be picked up by a private driver and delivered to our hotel. We will then do one last excursion before our departure the following afternoon.
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