Day 13 – Last day in Rio

Sept 10th

“I’ve been inside Christ”
After three hours of sleep, Fernando woke us up with another friendly phone call at 7AM. We had breakfast, checked out of the hotel and headed out for the last day of site seeing. This time the weather was as glorious as I expected Rio to be and we were going to see Christ! We boarded 4x4 “jeepies” (something Fernando could not pronounce not did we tell him he was saying “jeeps” wrong) and headed toward the Santa Teresa district. After a cool, breezy drive through the Tijuca rainforest, we came to a plateau on Corcovado Mountain across from the infamous Christ the Redeemer. We took pictures off the most spectacular view of the soap stone statue that rises so far above the city it looks tiny from below. Then, we finally rode to the top of the mountain to see Christ himself up close. We took a tour bus only so far up, and walked the 250 steps to the top. From the highest point in Rio, it is absolutely amazing view of every part of the city. We took tons of pictures right up close and visited the chapel inside him. Of course, there were more tourist shops to peek inside as well.

Coconuts on the beach
After returning to Copacabana for some free time to enjoy our last meal in Rio, we headed back to yet another delicious churrascarias for grub. Corey and I then decided to walk to Impenma beach and check out the surfers. Sprawled along the beach were the infamous Brazlian bikinis and speedos we had heard so much about. They really don’t cover much else than what a thong would. Some kids on the trip did even get speedos for the pool deck on ship. We just bought coconuts hacked open with a machete and sat on the beach enjoying the slightly sweet coconut water. We strolled back to the hotel to discover we were actually 20 mins late for the bus. I guess we really adapted to South American time. Luckily, our leader did not give us ‘dock time,’ which is when you have to stay on the ship after docking at the next port for being late in an earlier port. After two two-hour flights back to Salvador with a lay over in the capital Brasilia, we made it back to the ship safe and sound.

Highs and Lows
My "high" was not getting dock time. My "low" was seeing women who should not have been wearing thongs on the beach.