Too much for once a week

Ok, I said I would write once a week but when I am traveling so very much takes place in such a short time that I have decided to write everytime I get a chance.

Where to begin..................from the window of our hotel room we could see the Atlantic Ocean and if we kept the windows open we could hear the ocean. It was a one block walk to Ipanema beach. It was the perfect place to start to relax. The room came with breakfast and we could eat outside and people watch till our eyes hurt. It is no understatement to say that the drivers here think the street are actually lanes for racing and it seems that if your vehicle has two wheels then you can do whatever your merry heart desires (meaning that bikes and motorcycles can actually drive into traffic in the wrong direction).

As I wrote yesterday we spent most of the day relaxing (at least our version of relaxing) by traversing two beaches during the day. I swam in the ocean, the same ocean that I grew up swimming in but much further north, and was reminded that the Atlantic ocean is much warmer than the Pacific. We then wandered the streets to an area called Leblon for dinner. There were too many food options to miss and I really wanted to try a juice at one of the corner juicebars (suscos) so before dinner we had a snack and a juice at two different juicebars. It was decadent.

Photos of Rio really do not do it justice, it is an amazingly three dimensional place. As we have walked, the topography plays tricks on our eyes and the national landmarks seem to move of their own free will. It is a dramatic landscape to say the least and it appears that the people live and act in accord with the sceenery.

And then there was today!

Marcelo (who I will describe in detail someother time) picked us up at the hotel and brought us to his apartment. It´s a three level place that looks out to Sugar Loaf and the Guanabara Bay. It is a lovely home and complex complete with a swimming pool, ping-pong, pool table and two maids. Apprently most middle class families in Brazil have maids to clean and cook. Marcelo has opened his heart and home to us and it is allowing us to have a very unique Brazilian adventure. After settling in we drove (it´s one thing to watch the traffic, it is an entirely different thing to be in a moving vehicle in the traffic, and I am not really sure why there are traffic lanes) to Corcovado (click on the link before reading the rest)

Before I tell you about the climbing I need to remind you that it is Saturday, and that most people are off from work and that Brazilians are mostly Catholic. Sooo because Marcelo was up until 4am and we killed sometime at his home we do not get to the giant Jesus statue until 11:30am. It´s hard for me to explain the sheer number of people and cars and the parking chaos that ensued but we did eventually park (apparently 20 minutes late to meet his friend, who we did not realize was going to be waiting for us). And then we followed Marcelo up railroad tracks and through the (I´m not kidding) JUNGLE, or at least it seemed that way to a me.

Marcelo informed us that this route is considered "Brazilian trad" and that basically means very run out (meaning 20-25 feet between bolts). All I could think was that since we were climibing up to Jesus, and since it was fairly committed Brazilian Catholics who designed this route, they figured Jesus is with us, who needs gear. (I am genuinely sorry if this offends anyone.) To add to the thrill, every few minutes a tourist helicopter hovered super close making the rock vibrate a bit. For those of you who do not climb, imagine standing on a ledge 20 feet high while it vibrated. Now it annoyed me but I could not help but think my mom would appreciate the fact that, in addition to the Jesus support (not much good for this here Jewish girl), I was being watched by those helicopters and should anything occur they could probably call for help.

The views were surreal, and I got chocked up thinking about the lucky and spectacular life we have. Then we summited...imagine this us bushwacking up through tall grass to a mob of people all there to see the statue. It was awesome!!! Marcelo gave us a quick geography lesson, we walked back down the train tracks (with the train) and got some food.

Who knows what is in store for us next.....