Lately, from the ground far below, Rio’s famed Christ the Redeemer statue appears to be cupping tiny people in its mighty hand. It’s no miracle, unless you consider the restoration of the iconic monument more than 2,000 feet above the city a miracle. And it kind of is. As a boy growing up in Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro’s sister city, on the opposite side of Guanabara Bay, Alexsandro Brauna looked out over the water and gawked at the statue, on its perch atop Corcovado mountain, arms spread to embrace all…
