Christ the Redeemer, Rio de Janeiro

The tour of South America culminated with a visit to the Statue of Christ the Redeemer on 10 January 2020. This statue is acclaimed to be one of the seven new wonders of the world while some like to call it: One of the seven man-made wonders of the world.  We are fortunate to have seen two of the seven wonders found in the South American continent. The other is Machu Picchu in Peru.

I was quite surprised to discover that the statue was built after World War 1 from 1922 to 1931, almost 100 years ago.  It is a product of collaboration between French and Romanian sculptors and French and Brazilian engineers. The statue is 30m high excluding the 8m pedestal. The arms stretch 26m. It's erected at the peak of the 700m high Corcovado Mountain. It can be seen from every corner of Rio de Jainero.

Christ the Redeemer on Mt. Corcovado as viewed from 

the Hotel where we stayed next to Copacabana Beach.

A set of escalators installed in 2003 facilitate easier accessibility to the platform surrounding the statue.

Statue of Jesus in open arms is a symbol of Christianity as well as a symbol of peace.

Sugarloaf Cable Car, Rio de Jainero

Copacabana Beach is flanked by two prominent massive rock outcrops at both ends, Sugarloaf at the east and Mount Corcovado where Jesus the Redeemer is built at the west. Both are shaped like half buried bread bun on the ground. Tips of the "buns" are vintage points to have a grand bird eye view of the city of Rio de Jaineiro. A ride of the cable car is similar to the skyride experience at Grouse Mountain, Vancouver (Read here). But it is probably the lift chair at the Nut in Stanley in Tasmania that offers most thrill (Read here). In Stanley, the unenclosed two-seater lift chair exposes your body to the chilly air while the legs are free to dangle all the way up and down.

Sugarloaf Cable Car has a pretty amazing history since it was first built in 1912. It has since undergone a few upgrades. The thrill of this cable car was brought to world attention in the 1979 James Bond movie "Moonraker" featuring Roger Moore as 007 (See here).

Sugarloaf ride consists of two stages. First is from Ground Zero Station at the base to Morro da Urca Station at 220m elevation. Stage 2 is from Morro da Urca to Sugarloaf Mountain at 396m elevation.

At the first stop at Morro da Urca, one can catch sight of the Statue of the Christ the Redeemer at the far west.

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Stage 2: To Sugarloaf Mountain.

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Back to Main Station at Ground Zero.

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After the cable car experience, we were driven to the Cultural Space Estacio de Sa Monument, a small park by the bay to have another view of Sugarloaf Mountain.

Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro

In Rio de Janeiro, we stayed in a hotel overlooking one of the biggest beaches in the world - Copacabana Beach.

Its white sandy beach, crystal clear water and litter-free environment make this crescent-shaped beach the top magnet of holiday makers from around the world.

Its sheer size is best demonstrated by the 3-million colossal crowd (Read here) which gathered on 28 July 2013 to attend mass conducted by Pope Francis during the Catholic Church World Youth Day.

Sunset view taken from roof top of the hotel where we stayed.

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Night view taken at roof top of the hotel.

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3 million crowd at the beach in July 2013!

Photo downloaded from web.

At the beach, we randomly invited a group of bikini-clad ladies for a group photo. The most remarkable thing arising from this incident was after uploading the group photo to Instagram, a total stranger lady commented: "It's me! (in the photo)". Yet a short while later, another total stranger lady commented: "It's me too!".

I was wondering, What is the chance of such coincidence happening? One in a million?

Street Art & Protest Art

In Lima of Peru and Santiago of Chile, we saw scores of protest graffiti on building walls and fences. In Lima, we were first prevented by law enforcement personnel from entering the Plaza de Armas (Mayor Plaza) until they were convinced that we were tourists and not local residents. This lockdown was a preemptive measure taken by the local authority to prevent local residents from staging protest or demonstration at the plaza. Many South American cities are still reeling from the effect of mass protests and demonstrations. The widespread protests were likened to another Latin Spring similar to the Arab Spring!

Even in a quiet place like Punta Arenas in Chile, the statue of the revered Ferdinard Magellen too could not be spared from protest graffiti!

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South Americans seem to have a penchant to draw on walls and fences. Whether it evolves from protests or a lack of art museums to showcase their artistic talents, street art is a phenomenon that is now entrenched and is here to stay. In Valparaiso, Chile, artists are welcomed to draw murals and graffiti on walls and fences provided permission has been obtained from the owners (Read here).

In a neighborhood in Sao Paulo, Brazil, a street is dedicated to street art - the Batman Alley. It is certain that first time visitors would be brought there for a stroll along this cobble stone-lined alleyway.

Iguazu Falls, Brazilian Side

At the Barzilian side, it is a similar trekking but at the opposite side of Iguazu River which eventually leads to a point close to the Devil's Throat - Lookout Devil's Throat.

The visual is distinctly different at the Argentinian side from the Brazilian side. At the Lookout Point which is the bottom of the massive waterfall, one catches a slight glimpse of Devil's Throat at a distance surrounded by cliffs with multiple shelto or "jumps".

The walk along the final stretch of the boardwalk to the Lookout Point turned out to be the most torturous experience at Iguana Falls. That short stretch (look here) which is a normal 15 minutes walk took almost an hour duration. The uncontrolled crowd was so massive that the boardwalk was jammed packed with literally zero movement at most of the time.

Before departure, a final glimpse of the Devil's Throat is to climb the long staircase or take the 69 feet high nearby elevator.

A group photo of the ladies at the Brazilian side just
before the trekking.

The boardwalk at the background shows the massive crowd which made the viewing experience to be remembered as being torturous!

The elevator.

A trip to Iguazu Falls would not be complete until one is done with the Wet Boat Ride. Quite unlike the ride at Niagara Falls, the boat which we took at the Brazilian side literally charged into the plunging water until everyone on board was fully soaked and drenched. The less adventurous ones  opted for the Dry Boat Ride. This boat merely passes by the plunging water and everyone on board remains dry at the end of the ride. Fortunately, it was friends at the dry boat who were able to capture moments when we were drenched with the plunging water!