This is one of the must go place in Rio de Janeiro.
Fast fact:
-1882 Emperor Dom Pedro II intiate construction of Corcovado’s trem.
-1921 idea to construct to commerate Centenarian of Brazil’s independence at 1922.
-1931 statue inaugurated
-1980 pope john paul II visited
-the hill is 710m high.
-Corcovado means ‘hunchback’ due to shape of the hill
-Cristo do Redentor means Christ the Redeemer
To reach there, use bus 422 from Barcas (R$2). Just politely request the bus conductor to help to inform where to stop. She promptly informed us to disembark, at the hill’s trem station. Its very similar to Bukit Bendera’s trem. Statue is located on top of the Corcovado hill.
There are 24 ways to go to the hill.
First : Trem. Cost R$36 return.
verdict : ok lah… so so niah. if you want the experience of riding trem, use this, but boh special one. Can’t see anything from it. Just trees. If you want more, see below alternative.
Second : van / car. Cost R$36 return. Non bargainable.
verdict : this is a lot better because you get to stop at 2 additional vewing points, before heading up to Corcovado. The car will bring you through the neighbourhood of the rich, and the neighbourhood of the extreme poor.
Third : on foot or bycicles. Cost : free, but risks yourself of being robbed at the slumps.
verdict : too far for my. My stamina wouldn’t last that long. Halfway through the hill, you can use van ride up R$5 (no other transport is allowed higher into the hill beyond this point, except for these vans and taxis to avoid congestion).
Fourth : taxi. cost : by meter kuah, can’t really gauge.
brings you direct from hotel to leg of christ’s statue. Good option if you have the cash to spare, and can pau the taxi for a few places in the city.
me? I prefer second option, due to additional 2 viewing points for the same price as the trem.
More photos at http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2091091488
Wallpapers anyone? Right click to save their equivalent large size photos.
Ahu
12 June 2007
I’d sure love to this place. BTW, don’t forget to get me Christ the Redeemer statue ya…
jim
12 June 2007
got a few types of statute le:
A) wooden
B) soapstone
C) casted white cement
d) gambar only lah
which one?
Ahu
17 June 2007
Oh, casted white cement…something solid & permanent…
I exchange wif souveniors from San Francisco? Hehe
jim
18 June 2007
sure! of corze! business idea : i think i can compile a souvenir list for mailing order… just like the one we had when we were in lower Secondary School (neh… the one that Pete once done as well ah…)….. >
Whitt Patrick Pond
16 August 2011
The best single word I can use to describe the film Rio is ‘vibrant’ as it’s the colors that really hit you. One can see why, when you’re doing a story about birds, setting it in Brazil with its dazzling variety of brilliantly multicolored avian species is a truly inspired choice.
The story begins when a baby blue macaw in the Brazilian rain forest falls (literally) into the hands of exotic animal poachers and ends up being shipped to the US where, by a fortunate accident, he ends up being adopted by a young girl named Linda in a small town in, of all places, wintry Minnesota. A quick flash forward shows girl and bird, which she names Blu, growing up together, to fifteen years later where Linda is now an adult who owns her own bookstore. The thing is though, Blu, raised as a house-bird, never learned how to fly.
The plot really begins when a Brazilian ornithologist named Tulio comes to Linda’s store, having learned from her web-site that she’s the owner of Blu, who apparently is one of the last male blue macaws in the world. Despite getting off on the wrong foot with Linda, he eventually persuades her to come with him to Brazil so that they can mate Blu with a female blue macaw named Jewel that they’ve managed to capture. Once there, however, the mating plan hits a snag as Jewel wants only to escape back to her jungle and has nothing but disdain for Blu, who only wants to get back with his human. Further complications set in when both birds are stolen by exotic animal black-marketeers who intend to sell them to the highest bidder. The two birds, though chained together, manage to escape, but it’s rough going, particularly when Jewel discovers that Blu can’t fly and she can’t fly away while she’s chained to him, and the bird thieves are hot on their trail, right in the middle of Brazil’s biggest and most flamboyant of all festivals, Carnival.
Director/writer Carlos Saldanha goes the distance in bringing some authentic Brazilian touches to the film. I particularly liked the way in which he brought out how everyone in Brazil is soccer-crazy, with good guys and bad constantly being distracted whenever a game is on.
The themes are familiar ones – characters are thrust out of their familiar environments into ones they find strange and challenging, characters who don’t get along but are stuck together learn to appreciate each other, danger threatens, help comes from unexpected quarters, fears are overcome, and so on – but the characters in Rio are engaging and the story-telling is well done so you just lean back and enjoy the show. And Rio is a true visual pleasure to watch just for the sheer vibrancy of its colors and for the exotic setting of Rio de Janeiro during Carnival.
The voice actors for the most part do a creditable job bringing their characters to life. The stand-outs are clearly Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network) as Blu and Anne Hathaway (The Devil Wears Prada) as Jewel, who succeed in not only bringing out the individual personalities of the two macaws but also make you believe in the way the two birds gradually begin to accept and relate to each other. But Leslie Mann and Rodrigo Santoro are also exceptional as the humans Linda and Tulio, Mann for bringing out Linda’s mix of independence and introvert and Santoro for Tulio’s engagingly manic if clumsy extrovert. Comedic actor Tracy Morgan has fun voicing Luiz, a Carnival-loving bulldog whose bark may be worse than his bite but whose drool trumps both. And Jermaine Clement (Flight of the Conchords) adds a deliciously nasty touch as the villainous cockatoo, Nigel.
(Note: I was wondering why a Brazilian cockatoo was talking with what sounded like an Australian accent, but I later found out that cockatoos are in fact of Australasian origin. So chalk up another point for Rio for being educational as well as entertaining.)
The songs are enjoyable if largely forgettable but nicely add to the Brazilian atmosphere. The stand-out exception is the song Nigel sings (as near as I can tell, it’s simply called “Nigel’s Song”) where he explains why he is “not a pretty bird”. There seems to be some kind of rule, in recent years anyway, that in any animated musical film, the bad guys always get the best songs.
Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys beautifully colored animation, engaging characters and good basic storytelling.