Today we hiked up the trail that goes to Christ redeemer. Towards the top we were basically climbing on rocks and using our hands. At the top we ate snacks and admired the amazing view that we worked so hard for. We were able to see almost all of Rio from the view and we are definitely going to miss being surrounded by both the mountains and beautiful ocean. The hike took us about 3 hours and we hiked 8 km and by the bottom we all felt accomplished! The monkeys here were a different species than we saw at the Amazon. They seemed super comfortable with humans and didn’t flinch as we got up to like 1 foot away! After the hike we had class where we learned about invasive and exotic species and practiced sketching people. Cecilia also gave a lecture on the history of Brazil, landscape architecture, and her business. It was really interesting learning about what she does for a living and the pictures of some of her designs.
The tour guide we were talking to on the hike said that Rio is the most complete city. It has beaches, mountains, and forests all within the city (he said the only thing it doesn’t have is snow). The people in Brazil spend time going on hikes, being in parks, or going to the beach. Enjoying and interacting with nature is a part of Brazilian culture. Rio is unlike many other cities and experiencing this culture for the past 2 weeks has been surreal.
