Today was a whirlwind day of experiencing Rio. Our tour guide kept saying we needed a week in Rio but he was going to try and share as much as possible in one day. We were all wide-eyed and perky when we got on the bus at 8 AM...mostly wide-eyed from the bright sunshine. We set off at what was supposed to be a break-neck pace but quickly turned to a crawl due to crazy Rio traffic. We didn't mind the slow pace as there were beautiful beaches and yachts to look at not to mention the mountainous scenery. We finally arrived at our first destination...the Christ the Reedemer statue. We took a train up to the top to see one of the seven wonders of the world. It was indeed wonderful and magnificent. Several people attempted to take a selfie with the statue but weren't too successful. We learned that the statue is 38 feet tall including an 8 foot chapel inside the bottom. While the statue itself was great it was the view from so high up that was truly amazing. It was a 360 panoramic view of the city. Buildings, mountains, water, and beautiful beaches could be seen from all around. We took many photos that will make our families jealous when we get home.
After the Christ statue we were off to the Sugar Loaf Gondola. It was another chance to take in the beautiful scenery of Rio as the gondola took us up and across the mountains. We snapped a few pictures of climbers on the rock face. We took pictures of the beautiful greenery, the ocean below, and the white sandy beaches outlining the ocean. We then descended the mountain and headed for lunch. Lunch was on a military base but more importantly...a beautiful beach. Several people declared that coming to the beach was one of the main things they'd been looking forward to and immediatley headed for the sand and the water. The beach did not disappoint. The water was a beautiful temperature, not too hot and not too cold. It was blue and green with white foam. It was also very salty as some people discovered when they divided head first into the waves. Many people went fully into the water and enjoyed a rare chance to be in the ocean. Others stayed on the beach, worked on finally getting a tan so people will believe them when they say they've been to Brazil, and searched for shells.
After a thoroughly enjoyable trip to the beach we headed back to the hostel to prepare for our evening concert. Our concert was hosted at PUCS Rio and was about a five minute drive from the hostel. Once again the short drive was dragged into a long one, 30 minutes, due to Rio traffic. We finally arrived and were shown to our venue which had great accoustics. It was a unique experience because the crowd was the smallest so far, around 50 people, and we followed the PUC choir. We were a bit concerned by the size of the crowd and following a very good and very different choir from our own. Once again we were blown away by the Brazilian crowd. After one song it was clear that a small audience did not mean a low energy level. The concert went wonderfully and we had a chance to meet some of the choir members afterwards.
Our evening concert was a little earlier, 6 PM, so we headed to a night market to do some shopping. It was a good chance to get some souvenirs, experience some local night life, and enjoy a relaxing evening. We then headed back to the hostel to grab dinner and begin the nightmarish task of repacking our suitcases.
Today`s blog title was created by Courtney and Randi
No comments:
Post a Comment