Rio De Janeiro-A Cidade Maravilhosa

Our first two days in Rio de Janeiro have been incredible. I absolutely love this city; there is a reason why it has gotten the nickname “A Cidade Maravilhosa” (The Marvelous City). It truly is beautiful, and I have enjoyed getting to know it better. On my mission I never had the opportunity to serve here in the city of Rio, so it has been exciting to finally spend some time here. Yesterday we weren’t able to do too much because we got kind of a late start to the day. We flew from Manaus all night long, so we rested for a bit in the hotel once we were finally able to check in to our rooms. We saw some of the famous beaches such as Copacabana and Ipanema, both of which are breathtaking. We hiked to the top of a big rock formation overlooking Ipanema beach, which was very pretty. Today we went to a couple of museums. The first one we went to with the whole group this morning, which was an old government building. The most interesting part of the museum was the room of a former President of Brazil, Getulio Vargas. He actually committed suicide in his Presidency, and we got to see where he did it, the pajamas he was wearing when he did, and the actual gun and bullet. Later on today, we went with a smaller group to the city Niteroi. It is a city that is just across the bay from Rio de Janeiro, so we took a boat to get there. It was here that we saw a museum that I have always wanted to see, the museum of contemporary art of Niteroi. I have always seen pictures of it and wanted to go; it is a very modern looking building on the edge of a cliff by the beach that looks like a white flying saucer on top of a golf tee. We didn’t get to go in because it was closed, but I loved seeing the outside of it and taking some pictures. It was also cool to be able to see Rio de Janeiro from the opposite side, to be able to see all of it including both the Christ statue and Sugarloaf mountain. The next day we got to visit these sites in person, which are a few of the most beautiful places in the world in my opinion, and see some of the most incredible views this world has to offer. We started off this morning by visiting the Jardim Botanico (Botanic Garden). This is a garden that was made by one of the first Portuguese Kings that came to Brazil. The garden is incredible, and is known for its beauty worldwide. There are various kinds of flowers, huge rows of tall palm trees, and jungle-like conditions including waterfalls. From there we made our way to the Cristo Redentor statue. This was definitely the highlight of our stay here in Rio de Janeiro. We took a van up to the top with the rest of the group, and had to hike up a few stairs once we got up there. The view of Rio de Janeiro was like nothing I have ever seen. I have seen pictures of the view from up top, but it doesn’t compare to the real thing. The Rio de Janeiro bay next to Pao de Acucar (Sugarloaf Mountain) was unreal. The statue itself was a marvel as well. I knew it was big, but I didn’t realize how massive it actually was. I was very impressed by not only its enormous size but also how beautiful with workmanship of the piece was. From the Cristo, we took the same bus to Pao de Acucar. Here we needed to take a tram to the top. The view going up the tram was unbelievable, and once we got up to the top my breath was taken once again. From the top of Sugarloaf we were able to see the opposite view from the top of the Cristo; so we could see the Rio de Janeiro bay with the Cristo Redentor statue behind it. We stayed until the sunset, which was a sight I won’t soon forget either. All in all, the things we saw today have left a mark in my mind that will never be erased. It was our last day of our study abroad, so to celebrate we all went to one more churrascaria rodizio style. To be honest this one wasn’t quite as good as the last one we went to in Recife, but it was delicious nonetheless.

These are two pictures of me with the famous Ipanema beach behind me. 

Sitting next to the statue of the famous Brazilian author Carlos Drummond de Andrade on Copacabana Beach. I have studied a lot of his works in my Portuguese classes. 

These are pictures of the Copacabana Fortress. Included in this is the story of the 18 men who stood up against the military government in Rio de Janeiro, most of which died. 

The museum that we went to in Rio.

The pajamas that Getulio Vargas was wearing when he committed suicide in his room, as well as the gun that he used.

The former President's bedroom.

The stairs going up to his room.

One of the first Brazilian flags, with their colors but the American style. 

The names of those people who went missing during the military dictatorship.

The famous theater in downtown Rio.

The library close to the theater. 

A view of Pao de Acucar and the Cristovado (Christ statue mountain) from the boat that we were on.

The museum of contemporary art in Niteroi.

A more distant view of the museum. 

A picture I snapped of a terrorist attempting to fly the plane into the Christ statue, thankfully I alerted the authorities just in time. 

The Niteroi bridge with an oil rig next to it. 

Pictures in the Jardim Botanico (botanic garden).

Looking down on sugarloaf mountain from the top of the Christ statue.

The other side of the city from up top.

Right next to that lake is where the mission home in my mission was located.

Me with one of the seven wonders of the world.

Me with the group up on top.

Right before going up to sugarloaf mountain.

The trolley that we took up to the top.

I arrived!

With the group at the top.

The sun setting on my last day in Rio from on top of Pao de Acucar.

It's a beautiful thing!

Amazon Hotel (Day Three)

I had one of the neatest experiences of my life on the third and final day of our stay in the Amazons. We had the opportunity to go and swim with dolphins. They were some of the most amazing, beautiful creatures I have ever seen. We went by boat for about an hour to a house in the river where they feed the dolphins every day, so they stay there close by. We got to get in the water and swim with them and pet them. Their skin was extremely smooth and soft, and some of them were pink dolphins. It really was such a fun thing to do, I’m grateful for the opportunity I had to do that. That afternoon we went to a rubber museum that is a little ways down the river. Rubber comes naturally from some of the trees here in the Amazons, and for a period of time it was the most important export for Brazil, and especially the Amazons. We saw how they extracted the rubber from the trees, and how they turned it into the rubber that they used to sell. On the way back to the resort, we went through some skinny branches of the Amazon River by boat. The trees and plant life surrounding the river were amazing, as well as some monkeys and beautiful birds that we ran into. To finish off the trip, we got to see one of the best sunsets I have ever seen going down behind the Amazon River. The sky was incredible to look at. I am so glad I had the opportunity to experience the beauty of the Amazon, it is yet another evidence to me of God’s life and love for us here on earth.
 

To get the dolphins to come over to us, the guy would slap the fish against the water. They were very playful creatures.

Little balls of rubber at the rubber museum.

A big ball of rubber, it bounced like a basketball.

This is how the got the rubber out of the trees. They made a cut in the tree and put a metal cup underneath for the rubber to flow down into it.

Our guide showing us the process of making it.

A few pictures along the banks of the Amazon.

Amazon Hotel (Day Two)

It was another wild day in the Amazon rain forest, and more new adventures to report. This morning we took a long boat ride to what is called the "Encontro das Aguas" (Meeting place of the waters). It is where two branches of the Amazon river, the Rio Negro and one other river, come together to form the actual Amazon river. Like I said earlier, Rio Negro is close to a black color because of the high acid concentration, and the river that met up with it (which originates from a spring in Peru) is brown because of the sediment in it. Where they come together is extremely interesting. They don't mix together immediately because of the difference in temperature and acidity, so there is a distinct line in the water where they meet. Our tour guide joked around that the fish who cross over have to show their passport to cross the border from one side to the next. After we saw this spot, we went to a floating restaurant further down the river to get some lunch. Right next to the restaurant was a huge swamp land which we explored. The coolest thing we saw was a whole family of monkeys, who got up close and personal to us when we gave them some bananas. It was incredible to watch the monkeys take the banana, and peel them with their little hands faster than I could ever imagine possible before they ate it. We also saw some enormous lily pads, which can hold up to 40 kilos and get up to 2 and a half meters in diameter. We went through some narrow channels in our boat to get back to the resort here, which felt like I was in the movie Anaconda. Tonight we had an exciting adventure as well before bed. Our guide took Nick, me and two other guys on a night hike through the jungle with nothing but our flashlights. We saw some cool wildlife like spiders and some enormous poisonous frogs on our pathway. One of the best parts was when we would stop, turn off our flashlights, and just listen to the noises of the jungle and the wildlife around us. I have never heard so many bugs and animals making such a loud noise before, it sounded like an orchestra. The whole adventure was a little scary, I felt so lost and turned around in there, but to Terry the rain forest is like a second home so I knew he would get us out in one piece.

Pulling up to where the waters meet.

In these pictures we were right on top of the line, it is really easy to see the contrast of the water of the two rivers in these pictures.

The cute little monkey right after he peeled his banana we gave him.

In the swamp lands of the Amazon river.

The biggest lily pads I have ever seen!

Some more swamp lands, our guide said that it is very possible that there are anacondas in those waters, there are definitely piranhas. 

Hanging out with the monkeys.

This was a Mommy carrying her baby on her back.

Cruisin' through the Amazon.

Smooth sailin! I think I would have made John proud with my navigational abilities.

A wicked spider that we walked past.

This is a hut that we ran into after about an hour of hiking around. You may notice how shiny my arm is, that is from the many coats of bug repellent that I put on.

On the wild trail with flashlight in hand!

The enormous poisonous frog we ran into.