Attempt #2: El Cristo

By the time we finished up in Santa Tereza and got back into a taxi, we realized we were 3/4 of the way up the hill already to see the Cristo.  Maybe we should have a second attempt!  So, we made our way high above the city once again.  Only to find the the clouds were starting to close in on us.  There was no way we could miss out twice, was there?!! 

When we got to the top, we told the kids to run up those stairs.  We had to see the view of the city and the Cristo without complete cloud coverage!!!

I started madly clicking away in hopes that I'd be able to capture everything before bad weather hit.  Thankfully ...

we succeeded.  It may have not been the brightest most beautiful day, but it was clear enough to see FAR below us.

We were thrilled.  

We literally felt like we were in the heavens we were so high up!  It was amazing.  

And it was even clear enough to see the heart on the Cristo's chest.  

We did it!  Feeling happy. 

Feeling a little crazy!

As you might be able to tell, it started to get a little chilly way up on top.  And before we knew it, big raindrops began to fall.  

Time to put the raincoats on.  We scrambled to get our hoods over our heads and noticed that everyone had cleared out so fast, we needed to grab a picture in front of the Cristo WITHOUT the hoards of people surrounding us.  As we walked back toward the stairs, we saw where everyone went!  They were all huddled together, standing underneath the Cristo's arm.  Apparently, with the way the wind was blowing, his arm was a blanket of protection from the rain.  The area wasn't very big, but if we all huddled together, no one was getting wet.  You can come up with the spiritual parallel there.  I felt it overwhelmingly strong at that moment.  

We stood under His protection for quite some time and then realized, Oh my!  NO ONE is out there!  We've gotta grab a solo pic!  Too bad no one volunteered to take it, or Joe could have actually been in the picture!  I love this family of mine.  I love that they are willing to get out there and have fun.  

We were soaked.  We had our picture.  It was time to head home and get out of our wet clothes.  

So, we boarded the train and tried to dry out a little bit.  

At the bottom of the hill we were able to get off and find a taxi.  It was perfect.  We could leave Rio totally content.