During August 2016 I was working as volunteer at Rio Olympic. 15th and16th August 2016 I had couple days off so plan was to try to utilise these days to explore Rio. Plan for
day was to visit Christ the Redeemer and sugar loaf.
Christ the Redeemer statue is The most famous statue of Jesus is also considered the largest Art Deco statue in the world is at an elevation of 710 meters (2,328 feet) above sea level. The statue’s height is 38 meters (125 feet).
Sugarloaf Mountain is a peak that rises 396 meters high and presents a bird’s eye view of Rio de Janeiro. More than a million tourists visit Sugarloaf every year to enjoy a breath-taking view of surrounding beaches, mountains and forests.
Monday morning, I left home around 8am and I arrived at metro station close to the site around 10 am. I went to queue to buy ticket for the site and for special mini bus that take tourists very close to top of the hill. I had to wait in queue for 3 hrs to buy tickets and then another 2 hrs in another queue to get into mini bus. So mini bus left around 3pm and we reached at first station around 3:30pm, now from here again in queue for one hr to get another mini bus to reach at the top. It was 5pm and had to walk 15 min more via stairs to reach front of Christ statue, I was feeling very exhausted so planned to stop at café and to have coffee before walking on stairs. At 5:30 pm I was at the top of the hill and front of Christ statue. It is very inspiring Christ statue and I could see a beautiful view of Rio from this place. It was worth spending all the time to get at the top. There was small church beneath the Statue of Christ so I went there, made a prayer, it was really a unique experience. So next 1 hrs I spent around the site and enjoyed the beauty of the place. 7 pm I started again waiting in queue to get down. At the end I managed to reach my flat around 11pm.
On Tuesday I went to Sugar loaf. I did not spend much time in queue for this site. Its beautiful site and there is lift that will take you on top of the hill. There are beautiful restaurants, shops and you can move around the hill quite far away and see most the Rio city from top of the hill.
Later in the evening I went to Olympic stadium with my host to see basketball match between Canada and France. Until half time Canada was winning but 5 min before the end of the match, some of the Canadian players crumble under pressure of final moments and made lots of faults and missed goals that made France to win the game with narrow margin. So stay calm under pressure, stay positive and keep focus really help to deliver better results weather you play any sport or work on a project
Just to let you know, my host was a medical student and did not speak English and I know only few words of Portuguese but we tried to communicate through sign, through google translator and through emotions. We had great fun I knew it can’t be perfect but we tried to make sure we convey the message in way that is understandable by each other. I believe we all do the same things when we face ambiguity- we try to find a workable solution that fit the purpose rather waiting for perfect one and move on.