Weekend antics and a word on the protests

This weekend was a good'n. On saturday we rose early and headed to the train station at the bottom of Corcovado - the mountain which the Cristor Redentor statue stands atop. Despite arriving to the ticket office at 9am, we could only book for a 1120am train, as all the others had been bought out. So we hung out in the church across the road, and I was able to get to confession which was wonderful. The priest had trouble understanding my English as he learnt American English... blooming yanks tainting our fine tongue (I love America, really). 

The train journey up was delightful. The sky was blue and we climbed up the steep tracks through thick green jungle, with fantastic views over the ocean at times. At one of the stops a 4 piece samba group came in our carriage and played a song. The train journey took about 30mins.

 

From the end of the line, we walked up a few flights of steps to the statue. It's awesome. Made out of concrete with little sandstone triangles to plate it, it was brought up in pieces along the same train line sometime in the 30s, I think. Beneath the statue in the base, there is a small chapel with the Eucharist in, built more recently. In the late afternoon, some of us went to Colombos: a popular upmarket confectionary shop and cafe. I had a brownie and espresso - sold an organ or two to pay for it.

Today (Sunday), we began with mass in a nearby favela - the same place where we went to visit a school in the first week. The chapel is in the base of that school. It was a lively, joyful service, with music and clapping. Afterwards, we went to Ipanema Beach to swim and relax - fitting for a Sunday. The waves were powerful; the girls and I had a lot of fun being thrown around by them.

Our final week of work commences tomorrow. 

A quick word on the riots: they're basically about the publics' discontent with the government. Politicians are extremely corrupt here, taking lots of money for themselves, and changing laws subtly and secretly. Tax money, that could go towards things like the road repair, which are pretty shocking in places, or education and sorting out the terrible living conditions in the favelas, is going into the pockets of these politicians. A proposed bus fare increase was what was thought to also be a cause of the protests, but there is much more to it. And so, people here generally agree with the reason for the protests, whether they participated or not. But obviously such large groups in urban areas mean opportunities arise for others who want to take advantage of the chaos to loot and get agressive.

A storm is coming now.

Smoothies before Corcovado Train:

Chapel in the favela: