A Little Excursion...
Basketball has always been very good to me - it gave me a close circle friends at high school, a team to support and watch every week in Newcastle (I'll always be an Eagle at heart!), coaching employment opportunities (again, Newcastle Eagles, but also Global Hoops in Leeds) and the opportunity to travel around the world with refereeing.
During some international tournaments, GB have been the host country (Paralympic World Cup, 2012 & European Championships, 2015) and there have been opportunities to go and visit places nearby that I would not normally ever choose to go to - Worcester Cathedral being one example in 2015.
However, being halfway round the world with some of the most iconic places known to man within a 'short' distance, it would have been rude not to do some exploring.
Some of my colleagues managed to venture to many places (Sugarloaf Mountain, beaches at Copacobana and Ipanema), and I hope they'll forgive me for pinching some of their photos from FaceBook, but the scheduling of my games restricted what I could and couldn't do - after all, I wasn't there to be a tourist!
The one adventure I DID go on was to 'Christ the Redeemer' - the enormous statue on top of an incredibly steep mountain, looking out over Rio from every conceivable angle.
During some international tournaments, GB have been the host country (Paralympic World Cup, 2012 & European Championships, 2015) and there have been opportunities to go and visit places nearby that I would not normally ever choose to go to - Worcester Cathedral being one example in 2015.
However, being halfway round the world with some of the most iconic places known to man within a 'short' distance, it would have been rude not to do some exploring.
Some of my colleagues managed to venture to many places (Sugarloaf Mountain, beaches at Copacobana and Ipanema), and I hope they'll forgive me for pinching some of their photos from FaceBook, but the scheduling of my games restricted what I could and couldn't do - after all, I wasn't there to be a tourist!
The one adventure I DID go on was to 'Christ the Redeemer' - the enormous statue on top of an incredibly steep mountain, looking out over Rio from every conceivable angle.
Along with 6 other referees and supervisors, we decided to brave the Brazilian public transport system and visit 'Cristo Redentor', since we had games much later in the day.
Organised tours were available from the Paralympic village, complete with guide - the costs was Br$80 and the excursion was scheduled to take roughly 3 hours, depending on traffic (remember this info for later!) All tours were fully booked until Wednesday (the day I was due to arrive home), so public transport it was!
Departing the village at 10am, armed with cameras, wallets, Brazil's version of an Oyster Card, Rio2016 ID cards and lots of excitement, we boarded a bus bound for the underground.
Problem 1: My card did not work initially at the first bus stop. Alarm bells started to ring.
Changing buses then going into the underground station, my card appeared to have sorted itself out. We sat on a virtually empty train bound for the centre of Rio.
Organised tours were available from the Paralympic village, complete with guide - the costs was Br$80 and the excursion was scheduled to take roughly 3 hours, depending on traffic (remember this info for later!) All tours were fully booked until Wednesday (the day I was due to arrive home), so public transport it was!
Departing the village at 10am, armed with cameras, wallets, Brazil's version of an Oyster Card, Rio2016 ID cards and lots of excitement, we boarded a bus bound for the underground.
Problem 1: My card did not work initially at the first bus stop. Alarm bells started to ring.
Changing buses then going into the underground station, my card appeared to have sorted itself out. We sat on a virtually empty train bound for the centre of Rio.
Problem 2: Emerging from the depths of the tube next to the official ticket office for the statue, we were blinded by sunlight and eager unofficial tour vendors trying to get us up the mountain to beat the '2 hour delay at the statue'.
Some of our group were happy to take this option, and 3 of them jumped into what was clearly somebody's personal car (not a taxi or tour vehicle) for the princely sum of Br$78 (remember the bus and train were free). Would we ever see them again!?
Others in our group (me included) were really hesitant about this option, eventually preferring to take a public bus in the direction of the Corcovado train which climbs the mountain up to the statue (after nearly getting into a similar car 'tour', like the others)...
Only my travel card didn't work on the bus and I was denied boarding. We'd been told upon arrival in Rio that these cards have us free travel across Rio, and not much more info than that. Apparently my card had expired for the day, meaning I had to pay...
Some of our group were happy to take this option, and 3 of them jumped into what was clearly somebody's personal car (not a taxi or tour vehicle) for the princely sum of Br$78 (remember the bus and train were free). Would we ever see them again!?
Others in our group (me included) were really hesitant about this option, eventually preferring to take a public bus in the direction of the Corcovado train which climbs the mountain up to the statue (after nearly getting into a similar car 'tour', like the others)...
Only my travel card didn't work on the bus and I was denied boarding. We'd been told upon arrival in Rio that these cards have us free travel across Rio, and not much more info than that. Apparently my card had expired for the day, meaning I had to pay...
Once at the Corcovado station, to board the next train with available seats would mean a 2 hour wait, time which we did not have the luxury of since it was now nearly 1pm. At the station however was an official minibus tour company who would ferry us up the mountain for Br$25 each. Result!
Problem 3: There was a long queue for tickets and then a long queue to board the bus. But we had LOADS of time....
Once we boarded the minibus, it took us on one of the most spectacular winding cobbled roads you could imagine, with views literally to die for (the barriers didn't look like they could hold their shape, let alone a vehicle going over the edge!)
'Ooohs' and 'Aaahs' came from everyone on the bus, but as we ascended further and further up the mountain, our ears began to crackle and pop as the views became more and more stunning.
Eventually we reached the drop-off point at the Visitor Centre, not yet quite at the top. Knowing we had to buy tickets for the final part of the ascent, we were about to go into the visitor centre to buy when a man with a wodge (a technical term used too infrequently in my opinion) of summit tickets approached us.
He explained that there was at least a 2 hour wait for entry to the summit (since tickets were time stamped to restrict flow of visitors) but his wodge of tickets were valid for use now. The only catch? We'd have to pay Br$50 instead of Br$38. (Roughly £15 instead of £12). No problem we thought, since he was wearing what appeared to be genuine accreditation.
Quickly arriving at the access point, we showed our tickets half expecting to be turned away and the vendor to have legged it down the mountain. To our complete and utter amazement, we were welcomed through the entrance to a cleverly hidden queue for the official buses which would take us up the final part of the mountain to the welcoming, outstretched arms of Cristo Redentor.
45 minutes later, we were on another minibus, complete with air conditioning efficient enough to freeze water. After waiting in 35 degree heat on and off for nearly 3 hours, it was a welcome sensation.
Disembarking in a busy minibus park, my group and I started to climb the steps which would take us to the top.
Here is my first view of the statue:
Problem 3: There was a long queue for tickets and then a long queue to board the bus. But we had LOADS of time....
Once we boarded the minibus, it took us on one of the most spectacular winding cobbled roads you could imagine, with views literally to die for (the barriers didn't look like they could hold their shape, let alone a vehicle going over the edge!)
'Ooohs' and 'Aaahs' came from everyone on the bus, but as we ascended further and further up the mountain, our ears began to crackle and pop as the views became more and more stunning.
Eventually we reached the drop-off point at the Visitor Centre, not yet quite at the top. Knowing we had to buy tickets for the final part of the ascent, we were about to go into the visitor centre to buy when a man with a wodge (a technical term used too infrequently in my opinion) of summit tickets approached us.
He explained that there was at least a 2 hour wait for entry to the summit (since tickets were time stamped to restrict flow of visitors) but his wodge of tickets were valid for use now. The only catch? We'd have to pay Br$50 instead of Br$38. (Roughly £15 instead of £12). No problem we thought, since he was wearing what appeared to be genuine accreditation.
Quickly arriving at the access point, we showed our tickets half expecting to be turned away and the vendor to have legged it down the mountain. To our complete and utter amazement, we were welcomed through the entrance to a cleverly hidden queue for the official buses which would take us up the final part of the mountain to the welcoming, outstretched arms of Cristo Redentor.
45 minutes later, we were on another minibus, complete with air conditioning efficient enough to freeze water. After waiting in 35 degree heat on and off for nearly 3 hours, it was a welcome sensation.
Disembarking in a busy minibus park, my group and I started to climb the steps which would take us to the top.
Here is my first view of the statue:
I was speechless at the size of the monument, but also at the quality of the views on offer. Clear blue sky, scattered with the occasional bit of cloud made for perfect viewing conditions. We had to laugh because one of the referee supervisors attempted Sugarloaf Mountain the previous day to be given a view of the inside of a cloud!
We spent possibly 30 minutes at the top, taking all sorts of pictures and trying to be really careful not to stand on people lying down on their backs, taking photos from really low angles like this one, but taken with a selfie stick instead:
Quite possibly my favourite memory of the whole trip to Brazil happened at the summit. As we were preparing to leave and find the mini buses once more, I saw a sign for free WiFi! With it being highly unlikely that I would ever return here again, I grabbed my phone and called my family on FaceTime, sharing with them where I was and taking the opportunity to chat with my eldest son, who had played in his first ever football game for our local kids team. Seeing their faces, talking to them and sharing that moment with them is one that is really special for me - technology is awesome!
The descent was relatively uneventful, if you ignore the fact we got a really close look at those barriers I mentioned before, and we boarded another public bus to take us back to the underground. Except NONE of our travel cards would work! Trying to explain the situation to anyone was as much good as those road barriers up the mountain. Thankfully, a couple of helpful young Brazilian girls from São Paulo who spoke English offered to help us out. In return, we agreed that we would explain to them the way to the Paralympic venues, since that's where they were headed and were slightly lost.
In retrospect, we shouldn't have given the girls the directions so quickly, because as soon as we got to the underground, they disappeared through the ticket barriers leaving us stranded with useless travel cards and no interpreter!
The simplest way to explain the next set of events is as follows:
We did our best at the ticket counter to say we needed to get from A (centre of Rio) to B (Paralympic village) using the underground and buses and each had to pay for a travel card. We duly paid up and got onto the underground, grateful for the air conditioning once more.
At the travel interchange, where we swapped underground for bus, our newly purchased travel cards did not work! As it transpires, we'd been sold underground cards, and not complete travel cards.
Back to yet another ticket counter, with blood pressure rising, we purchased new bus cards and finally got onto the bus. Sardines in a tin have more room to move than we did on that bus, and to top it all off, someone pinched my Oakley sunglasses off the top of my hat whilst on the bus! Grrrrr.......
Half-expecting to pay once more when we changed buses, we were relieved and grateful when we arrived back at the Paralympic village, 8 hours after having left. Each of us paid approximately Br$100 each for the experience, which granted is more than the tour but I'm sure you'll agree we had a much better adventure.
And what about the three that left us in that random car when we first arrived into Rio? They got back to the village at 4.30pm ready for their game at 5.30pm, having paid only Br$78 as first discussed!
Our game was at 9.00pm and went without a hitch (Canada vs Japan men - see earlier post), but what an adventure that day was!
The descent was relatively uneventful, if you ignore the fact we got a really close look at those barriers I mentioned before, and we boarded another public bus to take us back to the underground. Except NONE of our travel cards would work! Trying to explain the situation to anyone was as much good as those road barriers up the mountain. Thankfully, a couple of helpful young Brazilian girls from São Paulo who spoke English offered to help us out. In return, we agreed that we would explain to them the way to the Paralympic venues, since that's where they were headed and were slightly lost.
In retrospect, we shouldn't have given the girls the directions so quickly, because as soon as we got to the underground, they disappeared through the ticket barriers leaving us stranded with useless travel cards and no interpreter!
The simplest way to explain the next set of events is as follows:
We did our best at the ticket counter to say we needed to get from A (centre of Rio) to B (Paralympic village) using the underground and buses and each had to pay for a travel card. We duly paid up and got onto the underground, grateful for the air conditioning once more.
At the travel interchange, where we swapped underground for bus, our newly purchased travel cards did not work! As it transpires, we'd been sold underground cards, and not complete travel cards.
Back to yet another ticket counter, with blood pressure rising, we purchased new bus cards and finally got onto the bus. Sardines in a tin have more room to move than we did on that bus, and to top it all off, someone pinched my Oakley sunglasses off the top of my hat whilst on the bus! Grrrrr.......
Half-expecting to pay once more when we changed buses, we were relieved and grateful when we arrived back at the Paralympic village, 8 hours after having left. Each of us paid approximately Br$100 each for the experience, which granted is more than the tour but I'm sure you'll agree we had a much better adventure.
And what about the three that left us in that random car when we first arrived into Rio? They got back to the village at 4.30pm ready for their game at 5.30pm, having paid only Br$78 as first discussed!
Our game was at 9.00pm and went without a hitch (Canada vs Japan men - see earlier post), but what an adventure that day was!