Perfect Timing

Here's a good What Were You Thinking? question: What are the top 5 must see things in Rio de Janeiro?

Think about it...and the #1 answer is: Cristo Redentor.

One of the New Seven Wonders of the World, the 130-foot tall statue of Christ is Rio's iconic system and one of it's biggest--if not THE biggest--attraction. Most people prioritize visiting it...to the point where it's the first thing they see during their stay. That is, unless your name is Alex Davis and Benjamin Harris.

For 14 weeks, we bided (is that a word?) our sweet time and left a visit to Christ for another day. It was only until only our last week (when we realized that out stay in Rio might not include a visit to Christ) that we finally got our rears in gear. And what a week to choose to go. It started raining last Friday and only paused for bit on Monday. During that stretch, Christ was more often than not engulfed by clouds. Hoping the weather would change, we waited until this past Friday to go.

We awoke to bright sun everywhere--except Christ, who, due to crazy air currents, was still surrounding by clouds. Nevertheless, we left our hotel with the hope that things would get better, figuring that even if we didn't see the spectacular views seeing Christ (even surrounded by clouds) was better than not going at all.

Lucky for us, the weather had dampened the tourist traffic, so we made it up with relative ease and no delay. But we still found ourselves in the clouds. Seeing as we had no obligations until that night, we decided to wait it out. The weather would periodically increasour hope when, at various points, the clouds would broke and reveal a glimpse of below.

Come on, clouds.

Alex is frustrated.

5 minutes became 20; 20 became 45; and then, Jesus pulled a Moses and parted the clouds like nobody's business.

Oh, what a view.

While we really should have gone earlier on in our time here (especially when it was less rainy), in hindsight I'm glad we waited until the end. Looking out over the city that has been my home for the past 3.5 months and reflect on the blessing it has been to live here was a great way to spend my last Friday morning in Rio de Janeiro. In light of our weather delay and the subsequent parting of the sea of clouds, it was, in a sense, perfect timing.