“Where’s the Giant Jesus Statue?”

When we first titled the blog “Chasing the Sun,” we did not think that we would be on a literal search for the sun.  After our nine and a half hour flight to Sao Paulo, we were very excited to hit the famed beaches of Rio de Janeiro. 

Much to our dismay, our landing in Rio was greeted with nothing but clouds and rain.  Upon arrival at our humble abode in Copacabana, and determined not to let the weather dictate our visit (but more likely due to the fact that it was 10am and we couldn’t check in until 2pm), we set out to the beach.  March is historically the second driest month in Rio, and naturally the second we set foot on the beach the skies opened up and the gods of the Amazon rained down upon us.  After a four-hour self guided walking tour of Rio in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the elusive Cristo el Redentor, we returned to our hostel in order to put on some dry clothes and re-group for the night.

With our spirits low, the only cure was an endless buffet of meat on a skewer.  Such a remedy was served up at Caretão.  For 52 Reais, (about $25), a parade of various meats is continuously carried out to your table via skewer, and carved directly on to your plate until you wave the white flag and can eat no more.  With no one

speaking any English, we found ourselves saying “yes” to every hunk of meat brought out to our table.  The various cuts of steak, along with chicken and pork were some of the finest we have had the pleasure of tasting.  One of the particular pieces of meat that we could not identify but enjoyed nonetheless turned out to be iguana.  Perhaps this could give Dave Jenk’s some inspiration for the upcoming mystery meat at the Green Key pigroast.

Feeling fully satisfied, and mainly just looking for a spot to sit down and loosen our belts, we wandered to a small open-air shack on Copacabana beach.  Here we relaxed and had a few Chopps (one of the local beers) while listening to a live band play an array of authentic Brazilian music.  The atmosphere was incredibly warm and friendly, as people spontaneously broke out in song and rose from their chairs to dance whenever their favorite numbers were played.  We enjoyed singing and dancing the night away at this small beachside paradise.

The next morning, we were relieved to find a literal silver lining in the grey clouds that covered the sky.  While it was not 85 and sunny, there was no rain and visibility was fairly good.  We decided to head to Corcovado.  Here we were greeted by surprisingly only the 4^th largest statue of Jesus in the world: Cristo el Redentor, or Christ the Redeemer. 

 Situated roughly 1,800 feet above Rio, this giant 120 foot tall statue of Jesus was built to safeguard the harbor.  We reached the summit via train, and after emerging from the jungle we were rewarded with incredible views of “The Marvelous City.”  

After doing our best Jesus impressions and feeling as though our sins had been washed away, we headed back to Copacabana for some lunch.

While walking along the beach, one particular spot caught our eye, Pizza in a Cone.  Intrigued, and thinking that something must have been lost in translation, we ordered two pizzas in a cone along with some iced cold Capirinhas (a lime, sugar cane liquor concoction that is the official drink of Brazil) to wash it down.  There was nothing lost in translation.  We literally received two blends of cheese and sauce in an ice cream-esque cone.   

They were so good we had to order two more for our walk to Ipanema beach where we sat and watched a group of surfers catch some waves until dusk.

Ipanema Beach

That night we caught wind of a “hostel” party at one of the major clubs in the Laplam district of Rio.  Shuttle was afforded from our hostel and 25 of us were crammed into a van and taken to Club “00”.  The group was comprised of Australians, Germans, Brits, Italians, a few French people, and us.  The lively and care-free atmosphere of the van was matched with the care-free travel plans of many of these people.  As we learned from our new friends, travelling South America for a year, with no firm plans on where you have to be when is quite common.  We also found that almost all of them had stayed longer than anticipated in Rio, and did not know when they would be leaving.

After arriving at “00”, and having yet to speak with, or even to see anyone we saw as “American”, the first person to come up to us was a player on the Harvard Rugby Team.  Unlike the Dartmouth Rugby Team who is currently in Ireland on their training trip, Harvard chose to go to Rio because, as one player put it, “if we went to Ireland we would get our asses kicked.”  

Although they were fellow Americans, they were very Harvard and so we moved on to befriend two Irishmen who had also just arrived in Rio.  After talking with them for a while, and bouncing around the club for a bit, it was getting late and we headed back to our hostel. 

Being fairly exhausted from the night before, we spent the day relaxing at the beach under at best poor weather conditions and re-energizing our minds and bodies.    


Our final morning in Rio we were greeted by something we had not seen since the Untied States, the Sun.  We spent the final two hours before our flight at Copacabana beach, taking in the much-anticipated sun.   

The sheer excitement of seeing the heavenly rays shining down as if they came from Cristo el Redentor himself (or perhaps his Brazilian reincarnate seen on the right) blinded me from seeing the need to apply sunscreen.  As a result, I will be taking a little bit of Rio with me to Peru on my neck, shoulders, and chest. 

Rio was an amazing first stop, and as Alex must have said 30 times in our short visit “I could really see myself here.”  We just arrived at our hotel in Lima and are headed to Cusco and then Machu Picchu tomorrow!