Rio de Janeiro March 18

Our first outing was to see the Christ the Redeemer statue. First our tour was moved from 7:30a.m.

to 12:30. We didn't know why but it turns out that someone had a heart attack and died the day before on the steps going up to the statue. So they were doing an investigation all morning to see how they could make it safer or get the ambulance quicker...the park was closed, thus the delay. We started out in a huge bus and drove around town. Then we stopped at a park to get on a smaller bus because the big bus could not drive up the winding road to the statue park.(30 min. delay). Once got to the entrance, we had to get on a smaller bus to get to the escalator or final 200 steps to the statue. (1 hour delay) We finally got to the statue and it was mobbed with people. All of the other people who had morning tickets were there also. They usually have 20,000 people a day, but there were 40,000 this day(afternoon) By the time we got back to our big bus it was 5:00 and we went straight back to the ship before it got dark. Thus we missed Empenema and Copacabana Beaches. What a day!! I felt so bad for our tour guide.