Day 2 - Sand in their shoes

The second morning came much too quickly for most of us. We managed to roust most of the boys out of bed and sat down to a continental breakfast and strong coffee, which was very welcome. We then headed to a small elementary school to sing for a school assembly. There were about 150 young children, mostly girls, who attended. This was a public school, but funded for children who otherwise wouldn't be able to attend, from some of the poorest neighborhoods in Rio. They were enthusiastic from beginning to end. The girls clapped and laughed especially during "“If you can walk, you can sing"”. After the concert they surrounded the boys and asked for autographs and pictures with them.

During lunch we again saw the street vendors, but this time they had a license plate with Dorothy Paige-Turner's name on it. There were also street acrobats doing back flips over each other in the middle of the street, and in between speeding cars and trucks. The boys were shocked and amazed at their skill and daring. After our meal of Brazilian Pizza, we headed to the beach. This for many of the boys was the highlight of the trip. The waves were crashing onto the shore and they enjoyed swimming and diving into the surf. On the sand, many of the boys also played ultimate Frisbee or sunned themselves. The favorite sport though, appeared to be girl watching. Some of the boys were even bold enough to ask some of the girls to pose with them for photographs. Though there is no nudity allowed, there seems to be a contest to see how little material you can make a bikini from. We also got to witness futevolley, which is a kind of volleyball, except that you can only use the chest, head and feet to hit it over the net. All in all, the fresh ocean air and exercise was a welcome break from hotels and airplanes.

Then we went to Corcovado, (hunchback in Portuguese) upon which is the Christ the Redeemer statue. He was meant to watch over Rio and his likeness towers over the valley. At night, it is a beacon on the mountaintop as it is lit by dozens of floodlights. The mountain is 2400 feet high and the sheer size cannot be appreciated until you ride the tram to the top. The Brazilians constructed the feet and body, but hired a French sculptor to make the arms and head of the almost 600 ft high sculpture. The sculpture has stairs and an observation deck in the head (like the Statue of Liberty), but it has been closed for many years due to numerous leaps from the top of the statue. We spent lots of time oohing and aahing at the panorama of the city of Rio, the Bay and the ocean. Hopefully soon we can post some of the pictures for you. I hope that the boys will remember singing at the base of the statue as one of their unique experiences from Brazil. As we all gathered to wait for the downhill tram, we happened onto a very acoustically pleasing area, and since the tram was late, the boys sang several songs, both old and new. The other tourists enjoyed the boys and asked if they were a professional group from the USA. We, of course, said we were world famous.

The people of Brazil are an amalgam of races. The first traders and voyages were Spanish and Portuguese. They were called the cariocas, which means '“house of the white man"”. They then brought slaves along with explorers from other European countries who mixed with the local Indian and aboriginal tribes to create many beautiful shades of people we see today. About 60% are white and Catholic, 8% are of African origin, 12% are mulatto and 20% are a mixture of all of the above.

The day concluded with a dinner at a Churroscoeria with large amounts of meat on metal spits, which they brought around to our table and sliced of a piece of whatever we wanted. They also had a wide assortment of salads and veggies and a sushi bar. Easily, this was the best and most fun meal we ate..so far.

Larry Prabhakar