EC-Rider Travels

My wonderful friend has booked Paulo to take us to see the sites while I am here – this is just the biggest treat as it has to be said, I am not the only tourist in town! The luxury of being driven to the door, skipping the queues as Paulo is an official guide and then having a cool car to get into, is beyond spoiling.

Our first stop was to see my second ‘New Wonder of the World’ within a week – Christ the Redeemer. We headed up Corcovado mountain on a little train to come out literally under his arms. The weather is still a little cloudy, but our timing was pretty perfect to see him in his full glory and then disappearing into the clouds. Once again, expectations were exceeded, it is also ‘awsome’!

You can in fact see Christ from Analida’s apartment and I thought it did not look that big …. wrong! – it is huge: 30m high excluding its 8m plinth with an arm-span of 28m. It was created by French sculptor Paul Ladowski and built by Brazilian and French engineers, Hector da Silva Costa and Albert Caquot. A Romanian sculptor, Georgie Leonids, sculpted his face. It is made of reinforced concrete and soapstone and took nine years to construct, completed in 1931. Christ was originally to be holding a globe in one hand and a cross in the other but this later changed to the statue of today, with the arms spread as if he is protecting all of Rio. It is of course a symbol of Christianity around the world and was voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in 2007.

There are amazing views of the city from the top of Corcovado (700m) and Paulo pointed out all the key points, including the Jockey Club!

Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world and has a population of over 250m, though no one is quite sure! Like Peru it is a country of many different mixed-nationalities who have arrived from Europe and also Asia. It has the largest populations of Italians and Japanese outside their own countries. Rio is the second biggest city after San Paolo, with 6m in the city and 12m in the ‘greater city’. 20% of the population live in Favelas. These are dotted all over Rio with walls separating them from the wealthier neighbourhoods. Most are still run by the drug-lords and we were very much advised not to drive in to a Favela unless invited or escorted.

We then drove to an area called Santa Teresa, which is a historical, hill-top district of steep winding streets with a rather charming arty/village vibe. Lots of, what would have been, the most stunning colonial houses with incredible views, (Analida’s father had a house here which she has very fond memories of) but sadly they are now all pretty dilapidated and it is not a safe area, particularly at night. We had lunch in a bar serenaded by wonderful singer and a lot of dancing.

We walked down the famous Escadaria Selaron – or the Selaron Steps. These are the work of a Chilean artist who began renovating the steps in front of his house with fragments of blue, yellow and green tiles, reflecting the Brazilian flag. At first, his neighbours mocked him, but he continued, scavenging tiles from construction sites and painting 300 or so of them (many with an image of an African pregnant woman). After a while visitors started sending him tiles from all over the world which he used until he covered the entire set of 125 steps. There is even one of Lady Di!

After a lovely long day we returned home for a delicious salad, made by the wonderful Nina (who has also hand washed all my clothes ☺️) and bed!