They all get sucked in by the lobby
Palm trees finger the sky and there’s enough sunshine to lay some off on Pittsburgh
But that’s all on top…
That’s a total paraphrase, as that quote is actually about Los Angeles. But Like so many things, Rio is not exactly what you expect. Since it’s been immortalized in song and imagination for so many years as one of the ‘ultimate’ exotic destinations, reconciling your expectations with the reality – this is after all still Brazil – takes some doing at first.
That said, the city is still beautiful. The architecture is a hodge-podge of old and new, often as not blacked around the top edges with what looks like smoke damage but may well simply be age. The old lives alongside the new here, and the poor alongside the wealthy. Looking out my office window you can see traditional red-tile roofs butting up against modern apartment buildings.
All of it, old and new, young and old, rich and poor, lies, of course under the cool stone gaze of one of the seven “new” wonders of the world.
When I signed up for the tour to take me up the mountain to the foot of the famous Redeemer statue I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect, and I wasn’t precisely at ease with the idea either. I often feel out of place at sites of mainstream religious pilgrimage, as if I have a blazing sign painted on my brow announcing to all that I do not belong there. Except Cathedrals, I always have and always will find that Cathedrals hold their own kind of magic. But all that is beside the point. I made the trek to the statue as a (former) student of art history, in order to cross one more famous landmark off the list of “amazing things I have seen and done before my 30th birthday” (the title of that list will obviously change next year…).
As an art history student, I actually take a great deal of joy in comparing the symbols of different religions, of looking at different cultures and seeing them through different eyes. In my current line of work, I’ve been lucky enough to have rather a lot of opportunities to do so. As I stood there at the base of the huge modern statue on the top of Corvocoda, I couldn’t help but look back at the last time I stood at the feet of a huge representation of a deity. That was Buddha of course, I’ve stood beneath his gaze twice in the last year, once in Hong Kong and once in main land China, both times I was overcome by a tremendous sense of calm, as if those eyes radiated blessing on anyone who looked into them, whatever faith they may follow. Today however, I looked up into the cool, pupiless eyes of Christ and felt no emotion at all. Not calm, not serenity, merely a very human sense of awe at the size of the structure itself. An art historian’s reaction to the carving and the work itself, but nothing of the kind of emotions one would expect from such a spectacle.
Please know that I am not making any kind of a judgement here, far from it, just observing the different effects different places have on different people. How dull would life be if we were all the same after all?
I’m very glad I went of course. It was, in and of itself, quite amazing. The statue stores a massive 38metres into the sky and its reach seems to encompass the whole horizon. It’s the eyes, something is missing from the eyes, and that is the fault of the designer, not the subject.
The cable car up to the statue is an experience in and of itself. A crazy-steep fast moving rail-car that’s a long way off from the easy going lift through the rainforest in Costa Rica. At random points though, the forest surrounding the track breaks, and you can see the whole of Rio spread out in front of you like a child’s playset. Everything else aside, the view once you get to the top, not to mention the blessing of cool fresh mountain air after the heat of the city below, is breathtaking.
Statuary aside of course, there is one other thing that definitely deserves mention: the world famous Copacabana Beach, while not the basis of the equally famous song (that’s based on the club in New York, yet another reason for me to attempt a trip to the Big Apple one day) – is one of the loveliest stretches of white sand I’ve yet to lay eyes on. Not nearly as secluded as Half-Moon Cay, nor with water as clear as Aruba, the hustle and bustle of this beach provides an amazing opportunity for people watching while sipping something cool straight out of a coconut.
Don’t hate me because my job is amazing 
And off to the next…