Church Picnic

Today we went with a group from the church for a little outing. It was on an island in the bay. We went downtown where we caught a huge ferry (2000 people) that took about an hour. The boat ride was one of the best parts of the day. It was very comfortable and there was a nice breeze the whole time and great scenery along the way. This first photo shows the Fiscal Island castle where the very last Imperial Ball was held in 1889. Isn't it gorgeous? All during the trip they sold food and we managed to eat and talk the whole time.
Upon arriving at the island (Paquetá), I was faced with a wave of heat. I hoped it was just the diesel from the engines, but no. It was desperately hot. I mean miserably hot. I mean intolerably hot. I mean HOT. As Sissy said the other day, this kind of heat is a definite object lesson for encouraging anyone not to want to go to hell. I had brought lots of cold water and my cold water mist and was glad for that.
Lunch had been prepared for us and it was delicious, although the little church where we met was like a little oven! João ended up suggesting we eat outside on the curb under a tree. Much better idea.
The island really is a paradise and quite beautiful, safe and quiet (cars are banned). We ended up taking a buggy ride around the island and found that to be a wonderful idea. It was cool in the buggy, with a nice breeze and the driver gave us a great tour of everything. I am randomly posting some of the great pictures we got. The view of the city of Rio is really great from the Island.
Because so many people from the church were there we had a great time yelling at everyone as we passed them by on our horse and buggy ride. We went with three women. When the ride finally ended we were all so hot, we asked him to take us back to the boat dock to catch the next boat home. Although we were to stay until evening and watch the sunset, a lot of us just couldn't take the heat. As we sat under a tree cooling down with our popsicles, what was our surprise but to see a ton of folks leaving early like we were.
On the boat ride back to town, most people just slept. I walked around and got some more great photos. Wish I had space for all the great shots. I particularly loved the photo to the left that shows the skyline of the city, plus Corcovado (Christ the Redeemer) on the mountain center-left and the television towers on the mountain to the right. We live just under the television towers! We passed the yachts that were out in great numbers. If you really look I think you can see how hot it was by the haze. Those were heat waves...
Perhaps my favorite sight of the day was Baobab tree on the island. It is one of the few of these African trees planted here in Brazil. It's affectionately called Fat Mary, since it is huge. Don't ask my why there is a Baobab tree there. But I loved seeing it, since they are so famous and I had never seen one. This one is only about 100 years old, but they say they live for about 300 years. So Mary will get bigger! Read up on the tree. It's a wonderful part of God's creation. I was reminded, again, today of how marvelous are the works of our Creator's hand.
Hope you enjoyed our little trip together. Come back again and visit with me again some time. You never know what you might see!