I decided I couldn’t wait for the weather any longer today, and took the cute little train ride up the Corcovado mountain to the monumental “Big Jesus” statue (offically “Cristo Redentor”, or “Christ the Redeemer”), Rio’s icon. Predictably, the top of the hill was shrouded in cloud most of the time (not to mention a bit chilly in just a T-shirt), although I got occasional glimpses of the incredible view through gaps in the clouds. I may try to go again on Monday, when the weather is supposed to be better.
This bit of blatant tourism necessitated a rather irritating shopping trip beforehand; I had to go to the Rio Sul Shopping Center and spend $150 on YET ANOTHER 35mm compact camera, an overpriced Canon Sure Shot 80u, because the Olympus Stylus Epic 35mm compact camera I brought with me refused to accept a new roll of film (despite appearing to function normally otherwise). This second camera failure on this trip is particularly frustrating, since I already bust the screen on my Canon Digital Elph while snowboarding in Chile (see blogs passim): Even two cameras are not enough for me, it seems! However, I know that I wouldn’t be happy with the results from disposable cameras, and I still hopefully have a lot of travel memories to capture, so I felt that I really had little choice.
Yesterday I didn’t do very much, apart from wander around a bit, send some postcards and use the fitness centre in the hotel — it was kind of a recovery day. I did manage to book my flight to Peru, though; I fly out of Rio early on 1st September, and may even have a few hours to check out Bogota in Columbia before my connecting flight to Lima.