On Tuesday morning we got up and ready for our tour to go
see Tajuca Forest, Corcovado, Lapa Steps and then Sugar Loaf.

 



Our tour guide, Carlos, was such a character! Constantly
making jokes and enjoying the local talent with us. Before heading to the forest
we made our way to Pepino beach to get our first taste of Acai (a smoothy made
from the acai berry super fruit). In the drive to the beach Carlos was chatting
about his favela and various paradoxes that surround it. On either side of the
favela are two of the most expensive areas in Rio.

 



At the beach, while enjoying acai, we were watching numerous
hang gliders and paragliders landing on the beach...this got us thinking, but
the problem is that we were leaving Rio tomorrow. After a few more spoons of
acai we decided to stay an extra day and made plans to paraglide a do a favela
tour the next day.

 



Back in the bus we made our way up to Tajuca forest and took
an easy walk through the forest up to a little waterfall. From here we made our
way to Corcovado. The reason that this area is called Corcovado is due to the
shape of the hill which is similar to a camel’s hump which is corcovar in
Portuguese and the actual statue is called Christo Redentor.

 



When climbing the stairs to the statue I was completely in
awe of how big it is and amazed that it was all locally made except for the
head and hands which were made in France. After appreciating the statue from
various angles we took to the views. Due to the height and location of the
mountain there were panoramic views in every direction that allowed us to get a
great perspective and understanding of the layout of the city (it did help that
I had walked so much of it so already did know the layout).

 



We then made our way down the mountain through Santa Tereza
and into Lapa where we stopped for lunch. Yes, we had the Picanha a Brasileira
again. It was slightly different from yesterday but just as tastey! To work off
all this food we made our way to Lapa Steps. The history behind these steps is
that a Chilean artist started tiling them and then people from all over the
world started bringing him tiles.

 



We then went to Sugar Loaf mountain to have a few more beers
and also enjoy the sunset. The only way to get to the top is to go via cable
car and stop on the first mountain and then jump into another cable car. At the
top the views are phenomenal!! You get a full view of Guanabara Bay, Niteroi,
Botafogo, Flamengo, Copacobana and also the city centre. 

After sunset we made our way down to the base station and
then back into Ipanema to an Irish pub to continue enjoying the local beers and
even a few games of pool.