Rio de Janeiro 2005: Day 2


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Rio de Janeiro 2005: [Day 1] [Day 2] [Day 3] [Day 4] [Day 5] [Day 6]

Friday, November 25, 2005: The next morning, we woke to overcast skies. Fortunately, the cloud cover was high enough that we were still able to sightsee.
In the middle of the bay, fishermen had already begun their work for the day.
As part of our Ambassadair tour package, we had a half-day tour which took us to Sugar Loaf, called Pão de Açucar in Portuguese. It takes two cable car trips to reach Sugar Loaf. Here we are at the base, waiting for our cable car to arrive.
At the first hill, we got our first aerial views of Rio with Corcovado in the distance.
The Orchard Software mascot, Orchy, joined us for our trip as he often does.
Here's a closeup for you. Well, maybe not a true closeup -- you'll have to jump ahead to Day 6 for that.
Here's a lovely view from the first peak.
Next, we had a short wait to take the next cable car up to the main peak.
As we rode up in the passenger cable car, we solved the mystery of how large amounts of goods are transported up the mountain.
At the top, we had a terrific view of Copacabana Beach. Our hotel was near the far end of the beach.
This is the view from Sugar Loaf looking back to the lower peak. Corcovado is visible in the distance peeking out of the clouds.
Yes, we were there!
Here is the interior of the top cable car station. It was a massive concrete, steel, and wood structure.
We headed back down in the cable car ...
... then paused at the lower peak to look back at where we had been.
At the lower peak, helicoptor tours of the area departed from a helipad.
We saw these funky trees several times, called jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus).
Here is the view on the ride down from the lower peak back to the ground.
Here's a tiny model representation of the two peaks and the surrounding landscape.
Next, our tour took us past the lagoon area, where we got a fleeting glimpse of the large Christmas tree in the lagoon. It was scheduled to be lit for the first time the next evening.
Our tour continued past Ipanema Beach, then stopped at Pepino Beach, where we would be landing after our hang gliding experience two days later. On this day, the clouds were very low and there were no hang gliders out.
This beach was fairly deserted until another tour bus pulled up a few minutes later.

We spent the rest of day having a large late afternoon dinner at a restaurant called Lucas (sea bass and steak -- yum), then spent the rest of the day relaxing in our hotel room. In the misty weather at night, our favela gave off a spooky glow.

Day 3 >


Rio de Janeiro 2005: [Day 1] [Day 2] [Day 3] [Day 4] [Day 5] [Day 6]

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