Day 4: Christ the Redeemer - Natural Environment and Cultural

This is what it looks like from far away.

      We all wanted to go look at Christ the Redeemer. Everyone piled into a cab which took us to the base of the mountain, which took about one hour and cost about $17. The mountain is known as Corcovado Mountain.There were so many people waiting to take one of the trains up, that we decided to hike up  The trail leads us through the Corcovado Mountains, all the way to the 2300 ft top, where the statue sits. The trail starts at a busy street in Rio de Janeiro, but when you enter the lush surroundings, you immediately feel as if you have entered another world.  The climb started out easy enough, as we took in the gorgeous trees and plants that were around us.

The start of the steeper parts. 

          There were several really cool waterfalls that glided down the rocks along the way. At this point the hike starts to get a little steeper and harder to climb. After only a few minutes of going up the steep hills, we were all out of breath and and panting. Luckily, each of us brought a water bottle to help us hydrate along the way. The penetrated through the canopy of trees and provided us with bright natural lighting.The steep trail lasted for almost thirty minutes when we reached the most difficult thing we all had ever seen: a chain to pull ourselves to the top. Each of us struggled to pull ourselves up because of the physically draining hike, but after a couple of tries (and infuriatingly close misses) all of us made it to the top. Throughout the hike, someone would speed up and yell impatiently for the others to catch up and see what lay ahead. We constantly kept each other on our feet. Once we all made it to the top, our breathing hitched. The view was stunning. Among the trees, we had a gorgeous view of Rio de Janeiro. The water was closely hugging the coast which was dotted with the shining glass that made up the city. We couldn't hear the bustling city noises,though because of how far up we were.
    After taking a few photos and enjoying the view, we decided it was time to move on and climb the rest of the mountain. After a while we crossed the train tracks, reaching a road, and knew we were getting close to the end. We got more and more excited as the end got closer. 

The train tracks before the road. 

                                                                       Cultural
When we finally got to the top, we could see Rio de Janeiro panning out in front of us. It was spectacular. We could even see Sugar Loaf Mountains in the distance. We all decided that the pain and effort to get to the top was completely worth it. When we walked around to look at the statue, it was absolutely unbelievable, it was huge (130 ft)!
 

Rio de Janeiro and the amazing view
we had from the top

Christ the Redeemer, close up. 

            Seeing the statue and being able to touch it was an experience none of us will ever be forgetting . It was so cool being up there and looking down on all of Rio. The construction of the statue started in 1922 and officially opened in 1931. It is now considered a symbol of the city and is well known around the world. If people say Rio, this statue is automatically associated with it.It was so tall, everyone was craning their necks to look up at the statue.We spent a while taking pictures of the statue and talking to some friendly people that were visiting all the way from Canada.  We learned all about the statue and when it was built, stopping only to eat a quick lunch. After taking a few more pictures we started the grueling hike back down the mountain. When we finished, everyone was exhausted, but happy.