We ended up doing a lot of the major sights towards the end of Carnaval, because the weather was so rainy when we first got to Rio (we shipped off to sunny Salvador quicksmart, we were too pasty to hang around in clouds.) The sights were busy, as nearly a million people visit Rio during Carnaval, so avoid doing this if you can, though we only really got annoyed at Christ the Redeemer.The botanical gardens are not always top of our sightseeing list, but Rio's is really worth a visit. They are big, lovely and varied, with the usual cactus and Japanese zones, but also an orchid house, medicine house (no sign of any wacky backy), a mini-lake, amazon area,
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