The guidebook says that the view from Cristo Redentor should remove any doubt that Rio is the most beautiful place on earth. I have a lot of the earth left to visit, so I´m not about to make such absolute statements, but that view was incredible. The statue opens his arms to a sprawling metropolis, laced with long stretches of white sands. Favelas crawl their way up the oddly-shaped mountains that have sprouted in the urban landscape, islands and rocks formation lie just off the coast. It´s not called the cidade marvilhosa for nothing...
The rest of the afternoon was spent eating and wandering in the b ohemian Santa Teresa. Santa Teresa is a world away from the madness of Copacabana and Ipanema. There are beautiful turn-of-the-century houses, with sweeping views of the city, little bars and restaurants and plenty of corner shops. It was just so...quiet compared to the rest of the city.
As the sun was setting we made it to the Stairway to Heaven, a gift of a chilean artist to Rio. The stairs and decorated with tiles from all of the world (send a tile to the artist and he´ll add it): living art in an otherwise dingy part of town. There was a tile from Alfama, Lisbon which we have on a hot-plate in our house, as well as few from Canada. Represent.
We´re back at the hostel now...there´s a pizza party in the making, the usual relaxing and socializing with the grabbag of people we live with. Tomorrow we´re heading past Ipanema to a beach called Barra. I´m still frighteningly white so looking forward to a day of snoozing on white sands...
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