As we stand in the slowly diminishing queue for the cable car, I can't help but notice a huge wooden reel of steel cable in the maintenance yard; it's the same cable the gondolas are suspended from. I can't make up my mind if it has been left over from the initial installation — it being cheaper and easier just to leave it here — or they are holding onto it just in case it's needed for repairs.
At 40.4m (including its pedestal) Cristo de la Concordia is the third tallest statue in the southern hemisphere, and deliberately constructed a few centimetres taller than Cristo Redentor in Rio de Janeiro (upon which the Cochabamba version is modelled), but it doesn't have anything like the same wow factor of Corcovado. And there are no sugarloaf mountains here, only San Pedro Hill, where the colossus Christ stands, open armed and watchful of his Cochabamban flock.
Having said that the panoramic view is impressive - the city laid out beneath, looking quite prosperous from this vantage point, and encircled by the hills and mountains, which are the foothills of the Andes.
Unlike Cristo Redentor, the Cochabamba Cristo is of a hollow construction, allowing visitors (for a small charge), to climb up inside (though only on Sundays).
A series of rickety spiral metal staircases link the concrete floors, from where it is possible to gaze out from open porthole-esque apertures, though not with much success.
Unfortunately, the graffiti and the smell of urine may be off putting to some, and a disappointment to the Godly, perhaps seeking some white-light communion by being inside the Christ statue.
The stairs only go so high, where I was disappointed to find that it is not possible (because of the crisscross of metal beams forming the armature), to walk along the arms and look out from the large holes in the sleeves below the hands.
And so, even though Cristo may not in my heart, I can now say that I have been to the heart of Cristo, (even if it was a bit smelly).
Watchful Cristo may well be, and a potent symbol of hope to many, but when I see so many people who could do with a little help here, his open armed gesture might as well read, "Okay guys, so just what do you expect me to do about it?"
No comments:
Post a Comment