Corcovado & the Christ Statue

Today we visited one of the most recognizable sights that identifies Rio - the Christ the Redeemer Statue on Corcovado. After 3 days of rain and fog we decided to take advantage of the clear weather and get some views of the city - it stands at 2300 feet. The statue itself is about 100 feet tall.

This pic proves that yes, we were really there - not just some postcard pic we ripped off :)

This is Ipanema from the back facing the Atlantic. To the right is Leblon - where you see the race tracks of the Jockey Club (horses, I'm guessing). The Lagoa (lake) sits behind Ipanema - it isn't clean enough for swimming, but people do recreational activities, like canoe, etc.

The pic below is the rival tourist sight to Corcovado - Pao de Acucar or "Sugar Loaf" - named by the Portuguese because it looked like the conical loaf in which refined sugar was sold(?). Apparently it also sounded similar to the indigenous Tupi people's name for it - "pau-nh-acugua" - which stands for high pointed peak. We'll probably take the trams to the top of this some other day.

Corcovado is in the Tijuca National Forest - an urban rainforest that was a reforestation project on what used to be coffee plantations. The spider below was enough to freak me out - the body was probably 3 -4 inches in length with legs just as long - have no idea what kind it is, but I'm just glad I haven't found any in our apartment!

A lot of beautiful butterflies twirled around us as we walked around the park - this one stayed still long enough for a picture - the wings were actually yellowish - the flash kind of washed it out.

These were the highlight of our walk. According to a website they are a kind of monkey called "marmosets" and are supposedly friendly, but these ones were too busy eating and chasing to be our friends. It was totally worth our long walk just to see these guys!

And lastly, Joe spotted this creature in the wild "urban" jungle - a classic Mercury - they were having some type of "50's" dance at a restaurant down the street and this seemed to be part of the festivities.

We have had a good time here so far - despite a few rainy days - and are starting to feel more like "cariocas" (locals) every day. Boa Noite!