Saturday 6th Oct. Today we are off the see the big fellow. Before we left home I booked a tour through Viator for a ½ day Christ the Redeemer (early access), Sugar loaf mountain & Brazil BBQ lunch. A quick breakfast and walk to the pickup point we joined 5 others on the bus. It stopped for a little breakfast for those that didn't get any, our guide - Paulo was a bit of a character and you couldn't always believe what he was saying! But he would tell the true story along the way while we headed up through the Tijuca Forrest to the top of Corcovado Mountain. Well, I can recommend viator - we were the first to see the Christ- YES all to ourselves, for 10 mins, but enough time for photos before the crowds started arriving.

Christ the Redeemer - what an impressive new wonder of the world, built from concrete and covered with a soap stone it stands 98 feet tall, and arms stretching 92 feet, it took 9 years to construct from 1922 - 1931. It was proposed in 1850's by a Priest but rejected due to cost, its price when built $250,000 US, now equalling $3.2 Million US. The right arm points south & the Left north. It truly is magnificent to see.

Next place was Sugarloaf Mountain. The name "Sugarloaf" relates to the 16th century Portuguese during the heyday of sugar cane trade in Brazil. Blocks of sugar were placed in conical moulds made of clay to be transported on ships. The shape & name made by these moulds was similar to the peak, hence the name. To reach the peak you need to catch large cable carriages that hold 65 people. As we ascended the clouds were beginning to set in and it looked quite wintery, before long the Christ was no where to be seen, so we were lucky. It was quite mystic walking around up in the clouds. From here it was off to our Brazil BBQ lunch. We were warned by the relatives in Argentina not to eat the red meat as it wasn't nice due it being from "Sabu" and not cattle, we had eaten so much meat that we had fish and other dishes. With dinner over it was an hour wander back via the streets to the hotel.

The evening has turned into a cool, wet and raining night, so we ducked out to dinner at "Marius Degustare" which is just around the corner from our hotel - good job as is was fairly raining, this place has a mixed décor of a junky pirate's treasure chest with mixed antiques collected from old Brazil farms, all hanging from the walls & ceilings. You help yourself to a food bar while waiters dressed as pirates walk around with testers of grilled & BBQ seafood and meat. It was a great experience the waiters very attentive always there to move your chair and the food was delicious. I read this place features in the book "1000 places to see before you die". If you are in the area I recommend it!

The rest of the evening was spent relaxing watching the lights sparkle on a wet Copacabana Beach from our hotel room.