Friday 30 January 2015

Day 2 - Christ the Redeemer

Today we have been to Christ the Redeemer. The journey is approximately 10km from the beachfront where we caught the bus and as you get closer to Corcodova mountain, which is situated in Parque Nacional da Tijuca, the houses and area gradually becomes more affluent. Having endured a worrysome journey up the hair pin bends on the mountain, we arrived at Cristo Redentor 710 meters above sea level. Corcovado mountain is named so as it looks like the hump of a camels back; in Portuguese it means 'hunchback.'

Now Jesus himself is quite something, nothing more than a miracle that in 1921 the engineers were able to create this 30 meter statue. However it was the views did it for me. We were blessed to have clear skies so the view was uninterrupted and it really is as beautiful here as it is made out to be. The panoramic scenes from across the city were breathtaking. as you can see right around the metropolis, covering glimmering waters and islands that look like the ridges of an underwater dinosaur. As suspected Cristo Redentor is a massive tourist trap so everyone shuffled around the small terrace, managed to take a couple of photos then were pushed on by the surging crowds. A word of advice would be to visit this iconic Art Deco statue during away from off peak season so your views are not disturbed by a wandering "selfie stick"!


I suffered with a little heat stroke in the queue waiting for the bus which is scary as I have never experienced it before but in hindsight it is a good thing as I am now more aware than ever that drinking plenty of water is essential in this climate! Later on we caught the metro to General Osorio to visit world famous Ipanema beach, however after what turned out to be the wrong decision, we just ended up further up on Copacabana beach! This beach is world famous and it is easy to see why with its white sand stretching for a staggering four kilometers. After a long walk along we made it home in time for happy hour at the hostel and made the most of our two for one caiprinhas before getting a good nights sleep.  

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