Friday, March 1st: like yesterday, today is hot (30C), but we have two brief periods of slight rain. First objective of the day is the Corcovado mountain - the location of the Christ the Redeemer statue, which is reached by a 20-minute ride on a cog railway.

The railway line climbs up through the forest of the Tijuca National Park to the mountain's summit at 2,329 feet above sea level where we find the iconic statue hidden by cloud

The summit is very crowded as people wait patiently for the cloud to clear - we are at the summit for about 15-minutes and are eventually rewarded with superb close-up views of the statue, but the clouds prevent us benefiting from what should be panoramic views of Rio and its mountains and beaches

After the cog railway returns us to Cosme Velho (above and left) we are bussed to the modern Cathedral of St. Sebastian of Rio de Janeiro. The cathedral's style is based on the architecture of  Mayan pyramids and was built between 1964 and 1979. The conical shaped building has a 315 feet internal diameter and has four rectilinear stained glass windows that soar 210 feet from floor to ceiling. Statues in and near the cathedral include St Francis of Assisi and Mother Teresa. Another statue, of a person sleeping on a bench, seems to reflect the large number of homeless we see from the bus