Rio de Janeiro.- Santa Claus who handed out gifts on Wednesday to children with cancer at Copacabana, the most famous beach in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, replaced his traditional sleigh with a jet ski. The arrival by jet ski of a Santa Claus in his typical red attire and long white beards thrilled the children cared for by the Association of Friends of Children with Cancer (Amicca), who had been taken to the sand of the iconic Copacabana beach with the pr gift omelette but they didn’t know of the surprise.
This was the fifth year in a row that Amicca partnered with the Rio de Janeiro Fire Department to distribute the gifts to the children it attends, but the first in which the firefighter disguised as Santa arrives by sea at the appointment on the famous beach of the south Rio de Janeiro.In addition to the distribution of gifts, the organizers offered various attractions to minors, such as a mechanical bull, a presentation of clowns and a demonstration of the maneuvers of the rescue operation dogs of the Corps of Firefighters.Children were able to change beds in public hospitals on Wednesday where they are cared for by a beach afternoon in a sunny and hot Rio de Janeiro a few days after the start of the southern summer.
Santa tending to the kids. Source: EFE
“There are many ways to save lives and giving hope to these children is one of them. It is an honor to be able to participate in this project,” said the commander of the Third Lifeguard Barracks of the Rio Fire Corps, Lieutenant Colonel Fernando Melo, referring to the event. Rio de Janeiro lit the lights of its traditional floating Christmas tree, the largest of its kind in the world, this weekend, with a music show and pyrotechnic games that kicked off the holidays in the “cidade maravilhosa” on Saturday.
Santa Claus. Source: EFE
The imposing 70-metre-high metal structure was illuminated in a set of multicolored lights over the Rodrigo de Freitas lagoon, one of the most iconic places in the southern part of Rio de Janeiro.The largest floating Christmas tree, one of the main attractions of the ci It first caught fire in 1996 but, after its split in two by a strong blizzard in 2015, it turned off its lights in 2016 and 2017 due to the economic crisis that then hit Rio de Janeiro, and from which it still fails to fully recover.
