Saturday 8 November 2008

As Ray headed home to Texas this week, I also flew south to Brazil. A week long workshop in Rio de Janeiro occupied most of my time, but as the returning flight to London wasn’t until Sunday night – I took advantage of a summer weekend in Rio. The temperatures were a lovely 27°C (about 90°F) and it was such a nice change from the cold and rainy London.

On Saturday, our hosts in Rio arranged for a private taxi to take us on a personal tour of the city. Linda and I had a wonderful day seeing the sights. We drove past the Copacabana and Ipanema beaches full of sun lovers and frolic.

We went into the city and visited a beautiful monastery church filled with gold and wood carvings. We visited the Catholic Cathedral (one of the most modern Catholic churches I have ever seen). Our driver took us on a hairpin turn road up the mountain through the Tijuca Forest. And that last 100 meters that we had to walk was the steepest path ever!

Once we reached the top, we were treated to a fabulous display of hang gliders and parasailing. Apparently, the weather conditions were perfect – and it was truly amazing. We sat in the spectator area overlooking the forest and the coastline and watched the sport for an hour or so.

We stopped for a fabulous Brazilian BBQ lunch. This is the red meat feast with servers bringing skewers of meat and carving it directly onto your plate. Delicious!

Next was Sugarloaf Mountain and its cable cars made famous by Roger Moore in Moonraker. Yes, I rode the cable cars (both of them) all the way to the top! It was a beautiful view and the clouds moving across the mountaintop were awesome.

Our last stop was Corcovado Mountain and a visit to the large statue of Jesus, known as Christ the Redeemer (Cristo Redentor). We waited all day for the clouds to clear so that we could see the Christ (this is how the locals refer to it). And finally, as our afternoon was ending, the clouds parted. It was really an amazing site and we were able to get up close for a few photos.

Christ certainly has the best view of this beautiful city.