Rio, Day 3
We set out at the crack of 10:30 after another fine Mama Shelter breakfast to head downtown for a trip to the summit of the Sugarloaf. Thinking there might be a more formal name for this iconic mountain I looked it up and learned that it’s called Pão de Açúcar in Portuguese, and that that’s pronounced [ˈpɐ̃w̃ d͡ʒi aˈsukaʁ]. Thanks, Wikipedia!
I honestly wasn’t all that jazzed about another heart stopping trip up a very steep hill to look at views, but there’s a reason this is such an insanely popular thing to do. First, the cable car is totally unalarming when you’re on it (however death defying it looks when you’re watching it inch toward the summit from across the water at Christ the Redeemer). The ride is smooth, solid and most important, quick. The first level has an artful stone-paved plaza with shops (including one where you could by a life-sized statue of an eagle made of gems and then, what, carry it home on the cable car?), places to eat and a dazzling view of the city. We were entranced by the planes descending below us (you heard me) and landing at a tiny airport at the water’s edge. We eventually tore ourselves away and hopped the cable car to the very top of the mountain. From here, the view includes good old Christ the Redeemer as well as an even more hypnotic view of the airport -- we realized we would be flying out of it the next day and developed an almost proprietary pride it the efficiency and grace of the planes coming and going on exactly the same line each time. And of course we found a bar up there and hey! It’s noon! Well past time for a beer. There was also an amazing stone path through a carefully curated and maintained botanical garden where great pains were being taken to prevent the several invasive species (plant and animal) plaguing Rio from taking hold. We saw our first blue morpho butterfly.
We meandered back down, taking a few minutes to admire the cable car mechanism, which is on display and reassuringly sturdy, and then nabbed another Uber for what turned out to be a refreshingly dull drive to the Jardim Botanico. We managed to enter through a somewhat obscure gate and so ended up walking through a fair bit of the arboretum before finding the visitors center. It’s hard to believe you’re in the center of Rio while wandering through this immense, spectacular forest (which I would have been even more awed by had I not been experiencing an increasingly frantic need to pee). The garden was founded by the King of Portugal in 1808 and it definitely gives off that Royal Society/imperialist Colonizer vibe, but in a good way.
A magnificent cactus garden adjoins the visitor center so after a pee and a quick refreshment, we meandered through an amazingly varied and colorful collection of cacti and succulents. The bromeliad collection (in a lovely greenhouse) was ridiculously beautiful, though the orchid house was a bit of a let down as few of the plants were in bloom. I spotted a marmoset in a truly massive stand of bamboo and went to try and get a picture. As I crept in among the lush greenery, focused on my one little marmoset, I spotted a second little red-eyed fellow, staring back at me. And a third. And then I realized they were everywhere and I got right the fuck out of that bamboo. The Amazonian garden gave us a little sense of what that part of Brazil must be like -- almost claustrophobic in the intensity of the vegetation. You feel like you’re being weirdly suffocated by all the oxygen being created.
Most of the group had hopped an Uber back to Mama Shelter, but Dave and I wanted to check out the downtown a bit so we left the park and walked along the high street for a mile or so enjoying the energy of the school kids heading home (the school day ends later in Brazil) and the people doing their shopping and gathering for happy hour.
We re-joined the crew and strolled through Santa Teresa to Espirito Santo for a late dinner on their slightly toasty patio. We were a bit worn out at this point, and this was not a tourist restaurant by any stretch (despite it’s exceptionally thorough website), so communication was a little sketchy. But Holly and Mary between them managed to convey drink orders and after that, our boisterous group of six got along with the bemused staff very nicely. Dinner highlights included shrimp and banana wrapped in a collard leaf and steamed, outrageous duck egg rolls, and plantains turned into something so decadent they had to be terrible for you.
