Blogs from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, South America - page 2

Most of you folks are aware Sheila suffered a stroke at the Falcon's game on 20 November. Yes, this has not been a pleasant experience, but this stout Bird continues to make progress through her hard work. She now walks with the aid of Bella (her name for the purple cane) in secure places or with a rollator (and, of course, Bird demands we supply the rollators name, which is Rosie) in locations with many people. About a year ago we made plans for a trip down south. After the stroke we anticipated cancellation would be required. However, every neurologist (four of them) indicate she is perfectly capable of taking the trip and, in fact, should go. Yes, of course, we are making significant modifications. We will not independently access the various sights. Rather, we are ... read more

Sugar loaf mountain Sugar Loaf, Portuguese Pão de Açúcar, landmark peak overlooking Rio de Janeiro Named for its shape, the conical, granitic peak (1,296 feet ) lies at the end of a short range between Rio de Janeiro and the Atlantic Ocean. At its base is the fortress of São João. The name Sugarloaf was coined in the 16th century by the Portuguese during the heyday of sugarcane of trade in Brazil. According to historians blocks of sugar were placed in conical molds made of clay to be transported on ships. The form of the peak reminded them of the well-known resulting”sugarloaf” shape, and the nickname has since been extended to be a general descriptor for formations of this kind We took the cable car runs to its summit from the adjacent Urca Hill with a ... read more

http://www.heygo.com 2nd May - Botanical Gardens Rio de Janeiro It was founded in 1808 by John, prince regent of the United Kingdom of Brazil and Portugal (later King John VI, for introducing and acclimatizing economically beneficial plants brought from other tropical regions of the world. Originally intended for the acclimatization of spices like nutmeg,pepper and cinnamon imported from the West Indies. The garden was opened to the public in 1822. The park itself consists of the Botanical Garden, research centers, museum collections, cultural centres. The diversity of plants is extraordinary and is mostly made up of vegetation from the Atlantic forest yet approximately 40% is cultivated on site. This unique setup is home to 140 species of birds including the channel-billed toucan and the white-necked hawk. It also boasts wild monkeys and which ... read more

Little Red Riding Hood goes girl power - and a lot more All photos in this blog entry is of street art. First of all we want to point out that we make a difference between street art and graffiti. Street art is often, not always but often, permitted and sometimes even commissioned. Street art is created with the main purpose of transforming a dull wall into something more interesting. Graffiti, on the other hand, is mostly rubbish and vandalism and not something we condone. Some of the best street art totally rivals high quality art in major art galleries. What we also like about street art is that it is free of charge to enjoy and that we can look at it while we are doing other sightseeing. Also looking for street art might involve ... read more

There is a chunk of Finland hidden in Rio De Janeiro State Over Christmas and New Year we went to Brazil for two weeks. Brazil is a huge country so we only had time to roam around a little bit in Rio de Janeiro State. Here we are going to write about what we saw during those days of this trip when we rented a car and drove around the state. Arraial do Cabo We started this trip in Arraial do Cabo, a coastal town a few hours drive east of Rio de Janeiro. It is a typical bathing resort town where most everything revolves around the beach and the marina. The marina sees action because the various boat tours leave from there. We went to Arraial do Cabo mainly to celebrate Christmas with some relatives. ... read more