Rio de Janeiro is a city designed to catch your attention. Looking at Guanabara Bay view from behind the Cristo Redentor statue on Corocavado, it’s not that hard to see why.
The New York Times agrees. They list Rio first among its 46 Places to Go in 2013 — with the tagline “because the whole world will be there in 2014.” (They also lead with another stunning picture of Rio, sans Cristo.)
We don’t have to wait all the way to 2014, when the World Cup comes to Rio, or 2016, when Brazil hosts the Summer Olympics. Overlooked by the NYTimes, but not the sleuths at TJP, we’d like to point out that the world’s coming to Rio in the summer of 2013 for Magis and World Youth Day. As we’ve mentioned before (it’s safe to say that we’re a little excited about it), TJP will be there too. Young men and women from every continent (well at least 6 out of 7, we’ll have to get back to you on the Antarctic representatives) will meet up to share and experience the global multicultural nature of Catholicism, something we can easily forget in our localized, daily experiences. So even if you can’t take up this invitation to come in person — consider yourself invited to make the pilgrimage virtually by following our posts from Rio.
So if you want to beat out the soccer and sports crowds — come hang out with the Pope (talk about a cool instagram photo). Clearly Rio is shaping up as the place to be in the next few years.
