Rio: Retorno, wrap-up

We had another one-and-a-half days in Rio at the end of our trip when we returned from Pantanal.

The weather was fantastic and warm and we started with a morning trip to the city's Jardim Botânico (Botanical Gardens), some of the largest and nicest in the world.

Tortugas

We saw lots of Brazilian and Amazonian species, including the pau-brasil for which the country was named, and the pau-mulato, a lovely straight tree with strong, reddish-brown wood.

Monkey's apricot (whose fruit smells like rotten meat)

French Fountain

Carnivorous plant

Brazilian Bamboo

We then headed to Tijuca forest, a national park within the city of Rio which takes up about 7% of its land area. The park was established in the 19th century to reforest the area affected by deforestation caused by sugarcane and coffee cultivation.  

We had lovely views at "The Chinese Vista," which was was built between 1902 and 1906 as a tribute to the Chinese immigrants who came to plant tea in Brazil in the nineteenth century. Brazil got its independence from colonizing Portugal in September, 1822.

While no waterfalls can compare to Iguazu, we stopped by the Cascatinha Taunay, a 35-m falls within the park. 

We decided to hike on our own on the Trilha Pedra Bonita ("beautiful rock"), within the Tijuca forest in the  São Conrado neighborhood. It leads up to a granite summit and is one of the prime locations for paraglider/hang gliders to take off. 

The hike through the forest was pleasant, and relatively cool/shaded. 

 

At the top (693m, 2,274 ft), the views over Rio, including the beaches, former Olympic sites, Christ the Redeemer, and nearby Pedra da Gávea (a longer, more challenging hike) were spectacular. 

On our last morning in Rio, we went on a walking tour of Rocinha, the largest favela in Rio (of four main ones). Favelas are lower-cost areas of the city, where many people (including many immigrants from northern Brazilian cities) live in close proximity in small rooms or houses, but are still interesting, lively neighborhoods, with amenities (basic electricity, public schools, public buses, and clinics/hospitals) and, despite open-air drug-dealing and large guns seen on the streets [so where photos were not recommended!] are still quite safe.  In other cities, favelas or their equivalents may be more segregated from the more upscale neighborhoods of the city, but that's not the case in Rio.

There were lovely wall murals and street art everywhere. We bought an exquisite canvas painting straight from the artist and shop-owner, Raquel.

bottlecap art! 

Church

A whole roast chicken in Rocinha cost ~18 real (about $4 USD)!

 

We then borrowed bikes from our hotel and rode around the central lagoon, Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas, which was an incredibly pleasant place to spend an hour or so alongside many other pedestrians, joggers and bikers in 79-degree "winter" weather and with wonderful views of the surrounding hills including Corcovado (with Christ the Redeemer in full sunshine unlike what we experienced on our first day). We saw people out on the water in paddle boats, which we didn't feel the need to do.  Apparently, the city is trying to clean the lagoa water so it will be soon safe for Cariocas (Rio natives) to swim in.

We enjoyed a refreshing coconut drink after the ride. Check out the reusable stainless steel straw I brought all the way from the US and carried on my for impromptu beverage-drinking just like this!

 

After we finished the juice, the seller split off a small part of the coconut's husk to use as a spoon, which we hadn't seen before (and was effective!)! 

 

We rode for a bit on the bike path alongside Ipanema Beach, which on a hot weekend (remember: winter!) day was crawling with beachgoers soaking up the sun, swimming, sporting, eating and drinking.

We watched a lot of people playing beach volleyball, as well as "footvolley," which is incredible (think volleyball but with no hands-- serving and bumping/hitting the ball with all body parts besides hands!).

I'm not sure there's anything that says "Brasil!" more than this "footvolley" video. 

What a wonderful nine days we spent in the delightful country of Brazil-- it's surely been one of the best vacations I've ever had!  We had lots of flights, including some domestic with connections, but had no lost luggage and wonderful weather throughout.  I hope we have a chance to return some day (maybe with older kids) to see a samba show and see the Brazilian Amazon-- there are definitely things to look forward to. Vamos sentir a vossa falta, Brasil!