Vignette 1: Guanabara Bay

One—Guanabara Bay

Many fine lines have been written, extolling the beauty of Guanabara Bay, of azure blue water, of stately Royal Palms, and of majestic mountains rising in stalwart protection of the city of Rio de Janeiro, nestling in ivory brilliance at their feet. The scene that greets a visitor from the ocean on a moonless night is especially breathtaking.

Approaching Rio from the sea at low altitude, one sees the narrow one-mile opening to Guanabara Bay softly appearing out of the darkness. Pau de Asucar looms up on the left like a loyal sentry, that none may pass who would harm the treasure within. The sun, long since depriving the city of its warmth and light, frames the towering ring of mountains like a corona; so that as the entrance is passed, the presence of a queen with a golden tiara is sensed.

Inside that entrance, a new world in a very old world welcomes the traveler into a giant eleven-mile-wide horseshoe. It invites him. It invites him to rest, to play, and to partake of all that is pleasurable to him.

There is no searing gaudy splash of light to jar the sensitive; rather there are thousands of tiny twinkling diamonds set in blue-black butterfly wings to appeal. It disarms, refreshed, and soothes. It whispers, “Wherever you are from, you are home. Here you can find your heart’s desire. . . perhaps your soul.”