Brazil day 5
Monday 11-23-15
Mom and I went to Escadaria Selarón, also known as the
'Selaron Steps', is a set of world-famous steps in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. They
are the work of Chilean-born artist Jorge Selarón who claimed it as "my
tribute to the Brazilian people"
Here is some information that I found on Wikipedia about
this cool attraction in Rio:
The Steps:
Running from Joaquim Silva street and Pinto Martins street,
officially known as Manuel Carneiro street, the steps straddle both the Lapa
and Santa Teresa neighbourhoods in Rio de Janeiro. There are 250 steps
measuring 125 metres long which are covered in over 2000 tiles collected from
over 60 countries around the world. No sooner than one section of the steps
were 'finished', Selarón started work on another section, constantly changing
it so that it was an ever evolving piece of art. Selarón considered the work as
"never complete" and claimed that "This crazy and unique dream
will only end on the day of my death".
Originally, tiles for the work were scavenged from various
construction sites and piles of urban waste found on the Rio streets. But in
later years most of the tiles were donated by visitors from all around the
world. Of the 2000+ tiles, 300-odd are hand painted by Selarón depicting a
pregnant African woman. Selarón didn't comment on this except to say that it
was a "Personal problem from my past".
Later the work spilled over to steps at the foot of the
Arcos da Lapa.
What is that you may ask… read on my dear friends! You will
find out! Read on!
First I have to tell you one my favorite parts about being
on these steps today! I was almost at the top of the steps talking to mom and I
heard, “Kristy!?!” I turned around and it was my friend Ellen and her husband
Andre! I know Ellen from BYU! We had quite a few theatre classes together! I
knew that Ellen and her husband would be in Rio at the same time as mom and I.
I even messaged her last night to see what their plans were but didn’t hear
back. So it was totally by chance that we ran into each other today! What a
Small SMALL world! Crazy that I would run into an old college friend in Rio de
Janerio Brazil! Haha! I love moments like these!
Jen shared an article with me recently about synchronicity.
It talks about the appearance of “meaningful coincidences” in life that are
unlikely, ironic, and sometimes very helpful. They say that this phenomenon is
a “wink” from the universe, a sign of your intuition and connectedness. If you
have been experiencing synchronicity, you have been in the right place at the
right time.”
Today was a PERFECT example of synchronicity! It was so good
to see Ellen and her husband!
And Universe, thanks for the “wink”! I feel really good
about that!
Carioca Aqueduct
The Carioca Aqueduct (Portuguese: Aqueduto da Carioca) is an
aqueduct in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The aqueduct was built in the
middle of the 18th century to bring fresh water from the Carioca river to the
population of the city. It is an impressive example of colonial architecture
and engineering.
The Carioca Aqueduct is located in the centre of the city,
in the Lapa neighbourhood, and is frequently called (you guessed it! I know the suspense we
killing you… now you know) Arcos da Lapa (Lapa Arches) by Brazilian people.
Since the end of the 19th century the aqueduct serves as a bridge for a popular
tram that connects the city centre with the Santa Teresa neighbourhood uphill,
the Santa Teresa Tramway.
There is more interesting information about this that you
can find here:
Mom and I took some fun phots at the Arches and saw the tram
riding across the top of it! We remembered our host Lucio telling us about the
tram and that it is free to ride! So we wanted to do that!
Hehehe!
We also took this one with just the 2 of us!
Who says you can't BOTH be in the photo if you don't have someone to take it for you!?
FIRST we went over to this building…
Any guesses what it is!?
Yep! It’s a Cathedral! It's prettier on the inside cause
there are stained glass windows!
We found out way over the the Tramway!
Here is some interesting Wikipedia information on it:
The aqueduct was deactivated at the end of the 19th century,
as new alternatives to supply water to Rio were developed. The arches were
adapted in 1896 to serve as a bridge for a tram - the Bondinho de Santa Teresa
(Santa Teresa Tramway) - that transports passengers between the centre of Rio
and the hilly Santa Teresa neighbourhood. The picturesque ride is popular among
locals and tourists alike. The Santa Teresa bondinho is the only tram still in
use in Rio de Janeiro.
In the 1960s, several houses that had been built near the
aqueduct were demolished, improving the visual impact of the monument.
In August 2011, an accident occurred when brakes apparently
failed and left five people dead. All service was subsequently terminated.
But guess what! Last year they were re-opened! So Mom and I
got to ride the Tram today! No worries! It’s totally safe now! The brakes
worked and we had a nice little ride into the next neighborhood Santa Teresa.
We decided to wander around the streets and see the houses,
and views and discover the little shops.
Mom makes for a good travel partner cause she is easy going
and will just kind of wander with me instead of having to have a solid plan and
running from here to there. I like to have this kind of time in cities cause
then I stumble upon things that I would not have seen otherwise.
Like this really cool little artist gallery that we came
into today!
There was a man sitting there, painting! I LOVED his style!
We spent a while looking at all of the art work. Mom found some pretty
earrings and I found a painting that I
liked. (Well the painting that I REALLY
liked was already sold, for more money than I have, and is being shipped to
Dubai tomorrow) but the artist kindly let me take a photograph of it!
But I
like the one I got too! It will always remind me of Brazil and this amazing
trip I am having.
After we were shopping and wandering and taking in the
street art, graffiti and little shops we found a cute little café to have some
dinner.
After dinner we were walking to the bus, it started to rain.
Not a torrential downpour- but more than the little sprinkles here and there
that we have been experiencing.
As we were walking I missed the turn down the road we were
supposed to be on, I noticed only a block away so we backtracked and I realized
that the reason we missed the road was because it was a very steep set of
stairs that were set up in switchbacks.
As we descended the stairs we saw a group of children
playing soccer – in the rain! I love how much Brazilians love futbol! I wish it
was futbol season! I would love to go to a game in the big stadium here!
We made it to the bus station. Fortunately we didn’t have to
wait long for our bus.
We were on our way home and then...
See the little blue dots? Thats was where we walked to get to the yellow line- which is our bus ride home... to the Red pin drop!
See the "Harry Potter: dot in the bottom right hand corner. Yep! thats where we ended up going!
We realized that the bus
took a turn that I didn’t expect and we were now going in the completely wrong
direction.
Oopsie!
I said, “Well we will end up close to the mall, and we were
thinking about going there anyway…should we go?” We were wet and ready to get
home – but we decided to go ahead and stop in the mall for a little bit.
After a short visit to the mall we got on the right bus and
made it home.
I really like this photo the I took today because it shows how the houses really ARE stacked on top of one another. Such an interesting place we are in right now!
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