Saturday, February 12, 2005

Back on Top



With a little over 48 hours left in Rio I finally got motivated to do some sightseeing outside of Ipanema and Copacabana. This shot is from Corcodova -- the giant statue of Jesus that looms over Rio. I also took the two cable car rides to the top of Sugarloaf mountain. Both locations offer amazing views of Rio -- which truly is a beautiful city. (The fact that it was too cloudy for the beach made it easier to leave Ipanema too.)

Regular readers of this blog know that last Sunday night I went to the Samba School Parade. Though I lasted to 2:30 a.m., I've been kicking myself for missing a couple of Samba Schools that went on after I left, including the performance by the reigning champion Samba School. Apparently they've dominated the contest for several years. I've heard them called the Yankees of Samba Schools -- which means I respect them and hate them at the same time.

On Wednesday afternoon I was walking around Ipanema and everything came to a halt. Everyone was huddled around their radios. I could hear what was being announced, but couldn't understand it. It wasn't a soccer game or a sporting event. (For a second it seemed like a coup or something like that.) Well it turns out they were announcing the results of the first round of the Samba School Parades. And a second school is within a hair of overtaking the long reigning champions. And everyone in Rio was hanging on the results like I couldn't believe.

Anway, all of this led to me buying a ticket to see the Samba School Championship tonight back at the Sambadromo. The tickets for tonight are a lot less expensive then for the first round. But the best six schools are performing and I have a seat in the third row. And I'm determined to make it to the end -- which apparently really is around 7 a.m.

1 comment:

Anne said...

But Jim, Ted just took a picture of the statue. He isn't in it too.
:(
Ted,maybe you do need to have someone take a snap of you posed so that it looks like you are indeed in a picture with the Son of God.