Word: cristo
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...Corcovado is Cristo Redentor, the huge statue of Christ with his arms stretched out that's become a symbol of Rio. It was completed in 1931, stands 100 feet tall and weighs 1,145 tons. In the base of the statue is a small chapel with a few wooden seats, a red carpet, and a marble altar with purple flowers set in vases on top. Visitors throw bills and coins on the carpet and say prayers...
...Later, as I ride in a taxi back to my R.E.M.-fan-encircled hotel, and after I pass the many multicolored billboards announcing Rock in Rio with all those pictures of enraptured Internet-connected youth, I see one sign that really stands out. It's a billboard of Cristo Redentor standing behind a huge, sweating can of Pepsi, almost like he's about to throw his arms around it. But I'm not thinking about Jesus' Pepsi just this moment. I'm thinking about how I'm gonna fit into that stupid T-shirt...
...From the peak of Sugar Loaf (which is 1,299 feet high) you can see all of Rio, as well as the neighboring peak of Corcovado, the famous mountain with the huge statue at its peak of Christ the Redeemer (Cristo Redentor) with his arms stretched out like he's welcoming you home after a lifetime of really screwing up big time. The statue is visible from pretty much everywhere in Rio. Corcovado inspired Jobim to write the song of the same name (called "Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars" in English), which even today endures as one of the finest...
...look at Cristo Redentor I think of Catedral de Sao Sebastiao and then all those Afro-Brazilian worshipers thinking about their own gods during Christian ceremonies. I wonder if it's possible, just possible, to come to Rock in Rio, to worship at the temple of the Gods of Pop, and really be praying to wilder, more radical spirits. Or if this whole Rock in Rio thing is just another big piece of unredeemable commercial crapola and we are all going to hell anyway...
...Papa Roach fan and didn't like my sarcasm. I suddenly realize that I'm standing on top of a mountain in a thunderstorm and my only transportation down is in a steel cable car held up by steel cables. I try to keep my eyes on Cristo Redentor the whole way down...