ICON OF RIO

SUNDAY, April 17, 2011
This began as an early morning for us. We left at 7:15 and hopped on a bus
to Corcovado. The heavens aligned and the bus was on time, so we arrived at
8:00, purchased our cog train ticket for the first ascent of the day. We
traveled upward through beautiful forest to the 704.6m-2310ft summit. We
arrived in a cloud - literally. As we watched, the mist burned away
gradually and we were treated to the etherial emergence of Cristo Redentor
(Christ the Redeemer). Slowly the clouds lifted on Ipanema, then the rest
of Cidade Maravilhosa was revealed below us. We enjoyed refreshments and
had a work session in this inspiring setting. As we began our return to
home base, we saw many residents carrying palm fronds and remembered that
it was Palm Sunday.

Back at Rene's and Janine's, most of us had another work session and
interesting discussion while a few of us headed to a soccer stadium to
enjoy an afternoon game.

In the evening, we walked to Garota de Ipanema (or Veloso Cafe), where the famous song "The Girl
from Ipanema" was written. A Wikipedia article describes the famous story:
The song was inspired by Heloísa Eneida Menezes Paes Pinto (now Helô
Pinheiro), a fifteen-year-old girl living on Montenegro Street in the
fashionable Ipanema district in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Daily she would
stroll past the popular Veloso bar-café, not just to the beach ("each day
when she walks to the sea"), but in the everyday course of her life. She
would sometimes enter the bar to buy cigarettes for her mother and leave to
the sound of wolf-whistles. In the winter of 1962 the composers watched the
girl pass by the bar, and it is easy to imagine why they noticed her — Helô
was a 173-cm (five-foot eight-inch) brunette, and she attracted the
attention of many of the bar patrons. Since the song became popular, she
has become a celebrity.

The last hold-outs walked across the street and listened to Bossa Nova
music at Vinicius Show Bar.

Another great day!

- Paula