Yesterday, Fabiano, Lautaro, Mike, and I headed over to the Jardim Botânico (Botanical Gardens) to spend the day photographing all sorts of different plants. Traffic getting over there was pretty bad, but Fabiano informed us that the Botanical Garden neighborhood is infamous for that. It also didn't help that our cab couldn't go over 20 km/h because it was a piece of crap.
Anyway, the gardens were beautiful and there was no shortage of things to see. There were plants from all over the world there but Fabiano made sure that he took us to see the things that grow in the Amazon. We saw these beautiful, massive water lilies (where I proceeded to take a wrong step and end up mid calf deep in mud. Not so much fun). We also saw these little monkeys that couldn't have been bigger than the size of my hand. From what I understand, these little guys are the squirrels of Rio. They'll throw half eaten fruit at you while you're walking (I know because I watched Fabiano get clocked in the head with one. He was not amused). Because traffic was so bad on our way back home, we ended up taking a short walk around the lake in the middle of the city. The view was absolutely beautiful.
When we got back, Mike and I went to a restaurant down the street to get dinner. Since neither one of us speak Portuguese, we knew this was going to be an adventure. We ended up playing a game of food roulette (point to something random on the menu and hope that it's good). Luckily, we chose correctly. Mike got a steak and I got Rabata (very similar to Ox Tail Soup). It was all good.
Today Mike and I headed over to see the most famous landmark of Rio, the Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer). The entrance is about 20 minutes on foot from where we're staying. Once we got there (about 1 o'clock) we were informed that the next avaliable tram you can take up the hill and through the jungle to the statue was going to be coming at 4:40. We were not too amused about that because it would have pretty much messed up our day if we had to wait around for close to four hours. But there were the guys standing at the bottom of the entrance selling bus tickets for about the same price. So we hopped on a bus about five minutes after we got our tickets and started on our way to the top. There were lots and lots of hairpin turns involved getting up there. It got a little exciting but we made it one piece.
We had to make a pit stop and buy our tickets on the way up. As soon as we got them, we took another bus to the base of the statue. We took the stairs up instead of waiting for the escalator because it was a super long line. Once we got to the top, it was very crowded. Despite the crowds and the haze, we managed to get some great pictures. While I was walking around the base of the statue, I noticed that there was a small chapel located in the back that looked like it could only fit 20 or so people. Then after about 30 minutes of walking around, we decided to head back.
Now we're killing time until a bloco (a carnival block party) starts in Ipanema. It should be fun. It will be my first one so I'm excited to see what's in store. I'll post more later!
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