Chapter Nine

OUR next country of call is Brazil, by far the most important in South America. It is an economic giant in a continent which in the past has sometimes been peopled by pygmy and basket case economies.

At the outset let us declare we have a small financial interest in this country with portion of our AVCs (top-up-pension) invested in the precious commodities section of its economy; hence, we may be biased in what we are seeing and saying in this chapter.

By far the biggest country in South America (SA), it has a population of over 191 million, with 17 million of this figure alone living in one mega city, Sao Paulo, and a further 6.5 million in Rio de Janeiro, one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

We are located 5 minutes from the beach in Ipanema, one of the swishiest parts of Rio. The city is dominated by water, surrounding hills, and forest parks. The south Atlantic waters kiss the beaches that fringe the city and a huge internal salt-water lake (Lago Rodrigo de Freitas) around which high-rise luxury apartment blocks are built, and which is linked by a canal to the sea. One day Trish and I walked right around the perimeter of this lake, a distance of 7 kms.

On the city outskirts, slum favelas compete with multi-million dollar apartments for some of the best views in the world. Often, the very rich and very poor live side by side, with the former protecting their homes with electronic fences, security guards, alarms and secure underground parking.

The beaches are cleaned daily and temperatures range from low thirty degrees 22 during the day to low 20s at night, all in all a very pleasant climate. If one could ignore the favelas, and one cannot for they are an integral part of this city, Rio could be compared to any chic Med-side city in France. Some rain falls occasionally, as it did when we flew in from Lima.

Next day, we went of to the Maracana Stadium, which up to three years ago, was one of the biggest in the world with a capacity of 200,000. But like most sports stadia around the world, health and safety provisions have been introduced to make it an all-seater, thereby reducing capacity to somewhere around 95,000. One of Rio's most famous football clubs, Flamingo, were playing the less-fashionable Fluminense and we were not disappointed. For sheer passion, excitement, enthusiasm and emotion, this ranked as a brilliant and unforgettable spectacle.

The game ended in a 2-2 draw but the 4 goals were nothing compared with the drama of what took place in the stands. Fire crackers, smoke bombs, giant-size flags, and highly passionate supporters, all singing their team songs, and jeering the opposition, were a sight to behold. One young Spanish man compared the occasion to a Roman Games. Trish was amazed at the sheer drama of the occasion. But not once was there any hint of danger or aggression. Everyone was in high spirits and happy. Soft drinks, food and non-alcoholic beer was sold within the stadium, along with scarfs, banners, flags, and the usual match souvenirs. Fans were carefully policed leaving the stadium to avoid any hint of trouble. Incidentally, Rio has put its name forward as a candidate to host the 2016 Olympic Games.

Earlier that day, Trish and I witnessed a street mugging as we strolled along the beach front with thousands of walkers, joggers, cyclists and skaters. The road nearest the sea is closed off from traffic on a Sunday to permit people enjoy it as a seaside pedestrian way. A woman screamed as a young man on a push bike snatched a necklace from around her neck and sped off through the crowds. But the woman's husband immediately kicked off his shoes and gave chase, with witnesses shouting and whistling to alert others on the street to what had happened. People in the path of the getaway cyclist obstructed his escape by joining hands across the road, forcing the thief to abandon his bike and attempt to escape on foot. But he was captured, given few digs, dragged to the ground, and the necklace retrieved. Police were called and they too searched his pockets and took control of the situation . To the congratulations of on-lookers, the husband brought the necklace back to his wife who was shocked by what occurred but who was comforted by passers-by while her husband gave chase. Being only 6 to 10 feet away, we witnessed the entire episode. But, we must add, that this was the only negative event we have come across since our arrival in Brazil a week ago. It was a salutory lesson not to carry anything of value around with us.

All in all, this is a very comfortable city and one which we would have no hesitation in staying any length of time, or returning to for a longer visit.

Next day, Trish and I took ourselves off on a major city tour. We went to Tijuca National Park, a protected 32 km square natural reserve on the edge of the city which has a population of bush dogs, sloths, capuchin monkeys, snakes, cobras, boa constrictors and - the most deadly of all female species - the preying mantis who, as you know, eats her male companion within seconds of her mating with him !!!!!

We then went on to what has been voted the third greatest man-made wonder of the world, after the Great Wall of China and the Pyramids in Egypt - the Statue of Christ the Redeemer, which dominates the skyline over Rio. Despite its near vertical appearance in photographs, it is possible to access the world's second largest statue (after the Statue of Liberty in New York) by driving up its steep and precarious hillside roads, and accessing the base of the statue by way of a lift and two escalators.You can if you wish climb the 217 steps from the entrance to the base platform but you can guess which route we took!

From this vantage point we had a 360 degree view of the entire city from a height of over 2, 400 feet above sea level. Being a warm, clear, bright sunny day, the views were stunning. We stopped to take in the sheer beauty and magic of the site and the occasion, amazed that we had managed to actually make it to this world-acclaimed spot. We hugged and comforted each other as if to re-assure one another that this was reality, and at our good fortune in making it here. It was awesome.

Helicopters buzzed around us, carrying their rich sight-seeing clients, determined to catch their bird's eye view of this phenomenon. Work on the statue began in 1922 and was completed in 1931. Pope John Paul the 2nd paid his respects in 1980. But even for non-practicing Christians, like us, the dramatic location, its dominance over the city, its vast size, the amount of sheer effort that went into its construction, made this a real, worthwhile and inspiring visit.

Included in the tour was a visit to the Sugar Loaf. As it can only be reached by a funnicular (cable car) from an adjoining hill, and because I suffer an irrational phobia of heights, Trish kindly passed up on this part of the trip. I was extremely grateful she had. Right now, we are heading off to soak up the sunshine and atmosphere on Ipanema beach.

Well................someone's got to do it !