Urban rainforests, where monkeys are like squirrels

Our second day in Rio we went on a hiking trip through SAS to the Tijuca Rainforest, a large swath of rainforest in the middle of Rio de Janeiro. Some say it's the largest urban rainforest in the world, but I'm pretty sure it's not actually the largest. One of the funniest things on this trip has been seeing how everyone everywhere insists that whatever is in their city is the biggest, oldest, first, best...superlatives everywhere!

The trip consisted of two parts: first, we would drive to a few different viewpoints to see the city from different perspectives. In the afternoon, we would take a short hike to one of the highest peaks in the forest. Our first stop was the Vista Chinesa (Chinese viewpoint), marked by a pagoda.

 From here we could see over the lush green forest to the bay and the mountains beyond. If I thought the views were good coming in, this blew them out of the water!

Can you see the Christ the Redeemer statue to the left?

There's a monkey in that tree

There were also adorable little monkeys running around the trees like squirrels. All the Brazilians were not impressed by them as they're everywhere in Rio and in some of the provinces. All us Americans were delighted though!

Our second stop was a huge waterfall where our guides stopped for a bit to give us a lecture on Brazilian history and the particular history of the rainforest we were in.

 The Tijuca rainforest was almost completely deforested in the19th century to make way for coffee and tobacco plantations. Luckily in the early 20th century they decided to replant the whole thing. It was replanted by hand a la Johnny Appleseed. If you look closely you can still see tobacco plants mixed in with the tropical vegetation. The plants smell just like cigarette smoke!

At this point we finally started our hike to the peak of Pedra Bonita, "pretty stone." We headed up through the jungle as our guides pointed out plants and animals along the way. We even saw a wild pineapple growing!

I thought this bamboo was cool until our guide told us that snakes live in it. There's no picture of me with it, obviously!

 The hike was very hot and sweaty but the view from the top was incredible. We could see in so many different directions at once. On one side we could see golf courses, beaches, and all the hang-gliders and paragliders taking off and soaring down the valley. The other side had more long stretches of beaches. Rio is really one of the prettiest cities in the world!

Coconuts and Caipinhas in Copacabana

You've already seen how beautiful Rio de Janeiro was when we arrived, but you're going to be blown away by the rest of our time in Brazil. I couldn't have guessed it at the time, but the entrance to the bay was one of the least incredible things we'd see during our 8 days in this fabulous country. 

I am lucky enough to have had a wonderful teaching assistant when I took Portuguese. Her name is Sandra, and she is from Niteroi, a smaller city right next to Rio. Being the wonderful person she is, she offered to take Jason and I around on our first day, even though we hadn't seen each other in almost eight years!

We got off the ship and quickly Sandra pulled up in her car (we traveled in style - it's been a long time since we were in a private car!!). We had made some tentative plans for the day, but the fact that is was a holiday in Rio complicated things a bit. It was also about 100 degrees, not what we're used to in late November!

Our first stop was the Parque Lage, a beautiful park right in the middle of Rio. It consists of an old mansion, lots of beautiful tropical plants, and a few monkeys here and there. We certainly don't have monkeys in the middle of the city at home! Sandra was a wonderful guide and knows a ton about plants.

Inside the old house, now a cafe and arts school

Jason and Sandra

Just like late November at home

Peacock? Or Thanksgiving turkey?

Arts school from the outside

One of my favorite things about Brazil in general was the availability of all kinds of fresh fruit. I ate some of the best pineapple of my life there, and most of you know I'm something of a fruit expert :)

They even sell pineapple out of the back of cars!

 During the afternoon we met up with two of Sandra's friends, Carla and Bruno, and they treated us to a wonderful lunch of Brazilian specialties, some delicious cake and coffee, and a great chance to talk with Brazilians. Luckily their English was perfect, as our Portuguese was a bit rough!

Christmas when it's 100 degrees out.

Monkey's paw flower. It smells much better than we did!

Later in the afternoon we headed to the famed Copacabana beach. We were heading to part of Ipanema but a nice man informed us there was a mass mugging currently happening so we decided not to go there. These happen occasionally on the Brazilian beaches - a gang of people runs down the beach taking everything from those enjoying themselves. We were repeatedly warned about the dangers of Brazil but the mass mugging time was the only time that we felt unsafe.

 

 We walked along the boardwalk for awhile checking out the old men in their tiny speedos and leathery skin, and the women of all shapes and sizes in the tiniest bikinis we'd ever seen. If one thing can be said for the Brazilians, I think it's that they have great self-esteem! And they are some of the nicest people we've ever met. We then decided to sit for coconuts and caiprinhas, a traditional Brazilian cocktail. Of course the place we decided on was a Japanese sushi place and our waitress was Argentinean. Nonetheless, like all places on Copacabana they served the things we wanted.

Reunited and it feels so good.

Cuckoo for coconuts?

I promise he has more hair in real life. The blondness of it just makes it disappear in pictures. Really, Mom, I swear.

We had an amazing day, saw a lot of Rio, and got to catch up with an old friend. I can't imagine a better introduction to Brazil!