Corcovado

One morning we took the pilgrims up to Corcovado. This prominent, peaked mound, has a tall statue of Christ with outstretched arms. We took a small train through the forest, and then climbed easy winding to the base of the statue. This base is not very large and it is impossible to get a complete picture of the Christ so I concentrated on sections. The early Portuguese conquistadors called this hill the "Hill of Temptation". According to history when they first came the Portuguese were not really interested in any of the riches of Brazil, they had their eye on the Andes. What did attract them to the area were the women. Apparently the Indian women were quite beautiful and....cooperative. To me this spirit lingers in the air. It is very seductive, the natural beauty. The hill eventually got renamed Corcovado which means hunchback ... and the Christ was put up there. The church to this day has a hard time wrestling the spirit of the land. Carnival grew out of the need of the local people to get their ya yas out before Lent.

Tara's Cave

Our first Saturday morning in Rio (the day after most of us arrived) we drove about an hour south to an estate owned by another Vera. (Not Maria's mother) The grounds were a jumble of forest and manicured gardens, punctuated with small chalets all of different architectural design. We went to attend a Tara Puja led by a Tibetan Kagyu Lama in the Tara Cave, a large and very well developed expression of Vera's devotion to Tara. The statue of Tara that is installed in the cave has an interesting story.

There is a steep sweep of cliff, mostly forest covered, in front of Vera's estate. One day she had a vision of a woman, radiant with light, offering her protection and blessings. She was so overcome with the power of the vision she fainted. Some time after she was walking down a street in Paris when she found her feet planted to an area of the sidewalk. She literally could not move forward. When she turned away from the street she saw before her in a shop window a large, bronze statue of Tara. She recognized the woman of her vision and had the statue shipped home to Brazil. Lama Zopa painted the statue this part of the story I have yet to get the details. Stay tuned)

Vera's daughter, a Lama in the Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism donated a parcel of land next to her family estate to the Karmapa. There is now a lovely gompa and several Lamas in residence. One of the Lamas came to Tara's Cave to conduct a short Tara Puja in our honor. After the puja we danced an invocation to Tara and promised to come back in April to offer the full Mandala Dance of Tara.

Then we walked through the gardens to Vera's home and had a fantastic swim in her swimming pool. Her house is enchanted, her taste in design shows a marvelous artistic spirit. Under the house was a large room she offered us to do workshops in. From that room there is a big window that allows you to see into the pool, so we can watch the mermaids doing tricks under the water. There is a complex of small rooms, a sauna, a massage room and a hot tub. It is lovely. Vera would like to make her estate available to Tara Dhatu. She has a number of residences, so when we have time we will explore this possibility.

Inside the cave you can see Anahata and Maria hugging before a circular window. Prayer flags are above a little stream that forms a fountain.

Surfer Beach

From Vera's we went to a local beach to have lunch. It is known as Surfer's Beach because the waves are perfect for surfing. We sat on a cliff above the beach eating delicious local cuisine and getting to know each other. Jorge took this opportunity to give Lucilia a big kiss and Aimee looked adorable framed by the palm leaves.

Pedro, Maria's Big Son

For the first few days of our stay I wrestled without luck with our email program. Jorge was a software manager and he did everything he could think of. Nothing worked. Very few in the city knew anything about Macs. We were all frustrated with the problems. And then.... I was sent to Maria's big son. A lovely man, graphic designer, had a Mac and was able to set me up so that I could go online through a local server. Ta Da. He is here immortalized with a picture of his son, Miguel, on his computer screen. He is a very proud dad.

Prema and Anahata

To view all the photos that accompany this story go to http://photo.epson.com
on the left side you will find on option listed as View Albums
Enter this email identifier travelinglight21@yahoo.com

2. Corcavado & Sitio