Rio de Janeiro for Tourists

Yup, that's me. The tourist.

Here's the rundown of the sights I was taken around to on the hostel's tour. By small van. Some good, some blaaaaah:

1. Pedra Bonita viewpoint. The drive up and the scenery made me realize how tropical, lush, and full of green vegetation Rio is! It's a ginormous city, but a few miles can take you to wonderful nature! Mountains and beaches. Would looooove to live here sometime!!!

Anyways, Pedra Bonita is not only a viewpoint, it's also the stepping-off point for hang gliders.How awesome is that!!!!!

I am definitely banging my head on the table right now for not having joined in the jump. Arghhhhh.

2. Tijuca National Park. OK, so this wasn't all that interesting for me. Walked around a bit in the semi rainforest, towards the somewhat mediocre waterfall and butterflies.But to reiterate my earlier point, having a national park within the city makes Rio one of the most beautiful major cities in the world.

3. Corcovado. Also known as the Christ the Redeemer statue. Probably THE symbolic landmark of Rio. I think there's a funicular train up to the statue, but we just got dropped off at the parking lot and walked up.

Man, was is crowded up there! Everyone taking a picture with the big Christ from every angle possible. With many odd-posing tourists, it proved to be a challenge to get a nice, clean shot.I don't exactly know why, but it was such a joy to see the statue. Felt that Christ was actually watching over me… hopefully : )

Because it's located waaaay up on top of a hill, you can get a great view of the city, especially towards Sugar Loaf (keep reading).Had a quick bite of cheese bread and chicken pastries at one of the vendors. Yum.

4. Favela. Basically, these are the "slums" around Rio and throughout Brazil. Notorious for poverty and crimes, I think they can offer some interesting insight into how the not-so-priveleged locals live. Many companies offer tours into some of the favelas (as going on your own can be quite dangerous), but I didn't join. I just drove by and made a photo stop.

5. Escadaria Selaron. Very colorful steps donated from throughout the world. Initially, the steps were decorated using rubbish tiles picked up locally or designed by the project founder (Jorge Selaron). However, as the steps gained popularity, visitors started to ship over and donate tiles from their own country. There's an explanation tile on site.

On a side note, the stairs are located in the Lapa neighborhood of Rio - where all the bars and nightlife are. Great for some samba, I hear.

6. Pao de Acucar. More commonly known as Sugar Loaf Mountain, in English.

For some reason, my tour didn't include this, even though it's probably the 2nd most visited site in Rio behind Christ. But, we did have an option of either getting dropped off here, or back at the hostel. With the exception of 2 travelers, we all chose Sugar.

After searching for an ATM (some girl didn't have enough cash for the entrance), we all boarded the cable car up the mountain.The sunset is the thing to see up here. Since it was still a bit early, we decided to chill at the top with a cup of beer (coffee in my case) in hand. And I took to avidly observing the planes take off and land from the domestic airport. Hehe.

Well, the view was absolutely stunning! With Christ far off in the distance, and a vast expanse of green hills, blue ocean, and tall buildings. Prettyyyyyyy!!!