It was kind of embarrassing for me to be Lyndsay's host because I almost never run around Rio by myself talking to bus drivers and asking directions from strangers like I have to do while traveling. We managed to get out and do something new everyday despite my timidness for Rio, and pretty far out of the house at that. One afternoon we walked around downtown and then took a ferry to Niterói, a smaller city across the bay from Rio. Niterói always seemed like a joke to me because it's mostly famous for the views it has of Rio, which I can see perfectly well from this side of the bay. Before getting on the boat we had to pass downtown which I have to admit--I didn't give it much credit before. The commotion of suits "rushing" by and street vendors pushing their products always entertains this suburban raised S0Cal girl. And in strange countries like Brazil, there's always a restaraunt with a funny name for me to photograph. For example, "Burgão" while literally means "big freakin burger".
Downtown also has a beautiful Municipal Opera house amongst more modern looking government buildings. And of course, everyone had their Brazilian colors out in honor of the World Cup.
When we got off the ferry the differences between Rio and Neterói were immediately obvious; there's much more pollution, the people are significantly less attractive and consequentially way more inclined to be polite and help you find your way around. Anyway, we went to some freak museum there that's in every guide book I've seen of Rio that looks like an abandoned UFO perched on a cliff adding more weird charm to Niterói's already surreal tendencies. The walk there seemed to take forever but the road was charming and the view of Rio proved to be worth the boat fare.
Contemporary Art Museum of Niterói
My reflection in said museum
View of Pão de Açucar (sugarloaf)
Niterói
And its reflection
Another day we finally went to go look at the Christ statue. The process of getting there by bus almost discouraged me from going in the first place because drivers and the dudes that make your change on the bus are fucking morons. It's like they've never talked to a human being before. You ask them if their bus passes where you're going and they look at you like you're the biggest inconvenience of their day..."Oh, I have to tell this person where my bus goes..sheesh!" And forget about asking them to warn you when your bus stop comes because they won't. Someone sitting behind me did the favor of telling me that the bus had passed the place were we should have gotten off--I wonder how far we would have gone without someone lending a friendly hand of assistance. Anyway when we finally got to the bottom of the hill where the Cristo rests, we were totally attacked by a group of shirtless brazilian hooligans pointing and ushering us to a group of older hooligans wearing shirts and holding blue tickets. The Cristo is a public park, but the system of getting up there has been monopolized by one van company that seems to have created a mafia of cuddy dudes that push you into mini-vans. Lyndsay and I felt really sketched out those first minutes sitting in a van handing over 50 reals to a guy that looked soo red-light warning sign. A Brazilian family from Curitiba piled in later after us which calmed my nerves and eventually we were on top of the highest mountain in Rio looking at the most beautiful view of my life. The actual statue of the Cristo wasn't too important to me--you can barely look at it because it's blocked by a pile of idiots wearing sandals made out of velcro and holding their arms out to take stupid pictures. Like this photo of this women here--do you usually make the shape of whatever you're standing in front of for a picture? Have you seen any pictures of people in front of pyramids making little triangles with their hands? All things considered had I had the patience to wait in the line to take a photo I probably would have done the same.
Beautiful Rio de Janeiro, how I will miss it
Escalator to get to the Cristo level of the mountain
Jesus
Jesus actually just finished being remodeled for the last few months. Before he was in a cage getting groomed and now just the bottom is surrounded by a metal barrier. This part that says "vale" on it I thought was silly because people say all the time "valeu" ("it valued") as a way to say 'ok' or 'good job' I guess. It's basically just something to say while you make a thumbs-up. So yeah thumbs up and valeu to you Jesus Cristo.
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