Day 3 in Brazil (Rio de Janeiro)
After taking a couple of days off from the gym, I went to the Pestana gym to lift. The view from the gym was beautiful, with a line of sight over the beach and the cerulean ocean.
I sunbathed on the rooftop by the pool after setting my out of office automatic reply in Outlook. I jumped in and out of the water to cool off in the heat of the mid-morning sun.
I showered, got ready, and we went to the botanical garden of Rio de Janeiro near the lagoon. I bought a coconut from the coconut man (because what else are you going to do Brazil besides drink coconut water all the time) and we were immediately informed I could not enter the botanical garden until I'd finished the coconut. The garden itself is beautiful, with various ponds, fountains, themed areas such as a Japanese garden. I appreciated the orchid house. I think it's a testament to the perfect climate in Brazil for growing plants, as they didn't even need to really climate control the orchids in the orchid house. They all just seemingly hung out there, growing very well in their hanging pots.
We walked past the Fountain of the Muses, which I found nice but did not find quite as interesting as the tree nearby, which had a plaque stating that Antonio Carlos Jobim used to love spending time under the tree. What a beautiful thought, right? The idea that, I too can enjoy the same vistas that one of my favorite musicians used to appreciate. RIP, Tom.
We meandered out of the garden to the surrounding neighborhood, which was clean, well-manicured, replete with numerous little bars and restaurants. We ate lunch at a Middle Eastern place which served delicious pita, hummus, babaganoush, and chicken. We seemingly had time to kill before Ubering to the Cristo Redentor tour, so we stopped in a brewery across the street. Zach ordered Estrella Galicia 0.0, which tasted quite good, and I had one of the brewery's pilsners. Nothing beats a daytime pilsner on a sunlit patio in Brazil.
I finally called the Uber at around 3 PM, since that would leave us about a 10 minute buffer before our Cristo Redentor entry time of 3:30 PM. A bad accident caused a large traffic jam that had us on the road a bit longer than anticipated. We arrived at 3:42 PM, missing our entry time. The workers perfunctorily sent us to a very long line, one that wasn't moving and had over 250 people waiting. This was the line, we later found out, where they sent everyone who either hadn't made a reservation or those who were late for their entry. Almost everyone had been late, given that we'd all encountered the same traffic jam. We spent about 2.5-3 hours in line, only boarding the tram up Corcovado Mountain at around 7:00 PM. The tram climbed the mountainside in the darkness of the Tijuca Rainforest, as the sun had long set.
Once we arrived at the top, we disembarked and walked through the rainforest's mist to a couple flights of stairs. We climbed them and rode two escalators until we finally reached the base of Cristo Redentor. It's massive. I loved the vantage point. You're forced to look up at saving Christ. You're reminded of your own flawed, sinful humanity in the face of the Divine. There's beauty in being aware of your own human shortcomings, maybe something on the path to grace.
Z and I took a few pictures together in front of Cristo, then we stood off to the side and prayed.