Hi! Hi! Hello!

Sunday we had a full day getting out and seeing all the things in Rio that were on our to do list. On Saturday, we talked to our go-to guy here at the hotel, Jairan - Jay for short, and gave him our list of things we wanted to do in Rio. He said he could book a tour guide for us. After looking over our list, he asked if we might only want to do a few things, saying that it was a lot to pack in all in one day. I wanted to say to him that that's how we roll, but instead just said no, we want to do it all. When we travel, we try to do as much as we can, especially if we're only in a place for a couple of days, like our stay here in Rio. In fact, our tendency to pack many things in one day gave rise to my brother's nickname for our travels: "grueling vacations". As it turns out, we managed to do everything on our list Sunday and had a great time!

Our tour guide/driver's name was Guilherme, which is the Portuguese version of Guillermo (Spanish), Wilhelm (German), and William (English). This was a private tour, which means that he would take us wherever we wanted to go. So we gave him our list, and off we went. 

It was great having a local tour guide. Guilherme was able to speak the local language to get us where we wanted to go. If we had had to do some of the things we did on our own, it would have taken us a long time to figure things out. Guilherme got us the best place to sit on the tram, got us to go to the head of the line without waiting at the cable car, mostly because we're senior citizens. Getting old is not fun, but sometimes it has its privileges. We parked in places where we were the only car, right in front of the place we were going. Everywhere we went, everyone knew Guilherme and they treated him (and us) like royalty.

Our first stop on our list was perhaps the most iconic place in Rio, maybe even in all of South America: Christ the Redeemer Statue. This statue is one of the seven wonders of the world, with other such sights as the Egyptian pyramids, the great wall of China, and the Taj Mahal, to name a few. We drove to the station where you buy a tram ticket, and then we rode the tram - through the Tijuca National Forest - to the top of the mountain where the statue is located. When getting on the tram, Guilherme would run ahead and grab the best seats for us. The tram ride was nice with forest scenery on the way up; there were coffee trees on one side and jackfruit trees (brought to Brazil from India by the Portuguese) on the other. Once the tram reached the top, we took an elevator, a few stairs, and an escalator to get to the very top where the statue is located. 

This statue of Christ the Redeemer is amazing. It was built to commemorate Brazil's 100th anniversary of independence. Originally built and maintained by the Catholic Church, it became part of government property when the surrounding area was made a National Forest (Tijuca), at which time the government began to help with maintenance. When viewing the statue, there is just a special sense of sacredness. It is moving to see this huge statue of Christ the Redeemer with arms outstretched as if to embrace the whole world. Off to one side was a staircase that went from the base of the platform to the bottom of the actual statue, but the staircase was used only for maintenance and was closed to the public. I was wishing I could go up the stairs to touch the bottom of the statue, or should I say to touch the hem of His robe, but not even Guilherme could swing that. 



While viewing the statue, the words of the song "O Redeemer" kept going through my mind: "O Redeemer, O Redeemer, receive the song of those who sing your praise." Written by Rev. James Chepponis of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, sung at the Holy Thursday Chrism Mass. A beautiful song!

At the base of the statue is a small Catholic Church/chapel. While we were there, a baptism was taking place.



We took photos of the statue and the surrounding vista of the city of Rio. This was not just a tourist stop, but almost felt like a pilgrimage. We've seen this iconic statue so many times, in photos, movies, etc., it was hard to believe that we were standing here right in front of it. We spent some time just taking it in and enjoying the experience before heading back down. 







On the way down, we were on an escalator, while a woman who was heading towards the statue on the up escalator was passing next to us. This woman began waving wildly and hollering "Hi! Hi! Hello!" directly to Joe, who at first was oblivious to her salutations. Meanwhile I'm wondering how Joe knows someone in Rio who apparently is so excited to see him. Joe finally realized she was trying to get his attention, and at first wondered who this crazy lady was. Then she said one word that brought it all back: "airport". And Joe realized that he had struck up a conversation with this lady and her husband at the airport, learning that they were going to be on the same cruise as us. Finally he smiled, said hello, and waved back. Joe's making friends all over the place.


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