Sugarloaf Mountain, Museum of Tomorrow & Museum de Arte de Rio, Rio de Janiero, Brazil

 

What a terrific day!

Sugarloaf Mountain is quite famous and most people who travel to Rio will visit Sugarloaf.  We had the added advantage of having a Brazilian speaker travel with us who was a wealth of information on Brazil and Rio.

We were to meet Lisa's friend Adam whom she met on a Spain/Portugal tour in 2022.  He coincidentally was visiting Rio at the exact same time as us and with his Brazilian boyfriend.  We took a cab to the base of Sugarloaf where the Cablecar tickets are purchased.  They came and found us and it was a nice reunion for Lisa and a great opportunity for us to travel with two very fun, nice people.  Tiago was a blessing to me because he loved questions and I loved asking them.  When I travel, I want to know as much about a place as I can.  Tiago is from the next state over from Rio and coincidentally received a scholarship to the University of Ottawa and is now working on his Ph.D. in Melbourne, Australia.  He loves Canada and Canadians.  We all became fast friends and have already invited them to Saskatchewan, we hope they come.

The group of 6 with Sugarloaf behind us.

The gondola takes no time to get you to the first stop.  The ride is smooth and not that scary if you don't look down.  The views are great and you stand while it moves along the cables to the first peak before Sugarloaf.  There are many things to see and do at the first stop such as stores, a restaurant and a tiny museum about the history of making the Cablecar experience.  We looked around a bit but the stupendous views stole the show.

Inside the Gondola to Sugarloaf.

Going up the Gondola

This beautiful mural motif was a constant theme.

Vines growing up the trees.

Bromeliads sprouting everywhere.

First views of Rio at the first stop.

We boarded the gondola to take us up to the second stop which is Sugarloaf Mountain and the views were even more beautiful.

Christ the Redeemer with Lisa's finger as a prop.

 

Ants are big in Brazil.

A hanging Jackfruit.

Beautiful Orchid growing on a tree.

When we came down the gondola, Tiago asked us if we would like to experience a traditional Brazilian Restaurant and we responded with a resounding YES.  We could see the restaurant called Terra Brasilis from the first stop when we de-boarded.  It is on a pretty beach which we walked around on and sunk our toes into the sand.

Terra Brasilis Restaurant is at the end of the beach in this pic.

Inside the Restaurant.

Our delicious traditional Brazilian Feijoada meal.

The meal was marvelous and the views from our window were equally so!  They also served the National drink Ciapirinha which I indulged in again.  The Feijoada that Lisa and I shared was a meal that goes way back in Brazilian history.  It was the food that the African slaves ate and it was so good that the slave owners began eating it.  It is cast off pieces of the pig stewed to delectable tenderness creating its own gravy with beans and other things added.  Cracklings and fried bananas were served with it as well because they were cheap too.  It was served over rice and now citrus is added to eat periodically because the dish is heavy and the acidity cuts through that.  A kale and lemon salad was served with it and it now and the whole thing was fantastic!

We Ubered over to the Museum of Tomorrow to feel helpless and depressed about what we have done to the Earth. Not kidding.

The Boys in front of the Museum of Tomorrow.

The Museum can be quite overwhelming at times, which I believe is on purpose to get the desired effect.  The first experience was a quick 5-minute perspective of the earth being created and we laid down on floor cushions as the screen was the entire rounded ceiling.  We then moved through this massive building and learned that we are in the Anthropocene age now, who knew? 

The Museum exhibits leave you with a good message and most of the writings were also in English. 

 I would highly recommend this Museum to anyone.  The Museum is housed in a highly futuristic architecturally pleasing building and located right on the Atlantic Ocean in a bay that is quite pretty.

Surrounding area around the Museum.

The Museum Building was completely unique.

We moved next door to the Museum de Arte de Rio and this has some interesting collections and is Modern Art, not usually my cup of tea but also well worth the price to view.

This was the coolest piece of Art at the Art Gallery.

When one came closer, you could see that it was made entirely out of nails.

Long hallway of flourescent grafitti. 

Bronze Aftican Queens.

A mock-up of the Favela in Rio.

We unfortunately had to say goodbye to Adam and Tiago.  Tiago told us not to hang around the downtown area because after dark it gets sketchy.

  

Downtown Rio is quite a juxtaposition of rich and poor.

There are beautiful old buildings downtown but grafitti is rampant.

It does look pretty sketchy. 

We peeled out of there and took a cab back to our hotel in Cococabana.  While en route I captured a beautiful picture of Christ the Redeemer (which is the first picture on my post yesterday) and we saw the Aqueduct and the Fugly new modern Catholic Church.

Fugly Catholic Church

The Aqueduct that is included in all tours if you bother to take one.

We showered up and chugged water and went and found another culinary delight in the Cococabana area.  I have only had great meals here in Rio and I have tried to eat and drink something foreign to me every time and I have loved them all.

The next day we decided to go to the Beach because it would just be wrong not to go to the beach in Rio.  Rio is primarily a beach town with a beach culture and it is so common to see shirtless men and women in bikini tops.  There are many hustlers on the beach but once they realize that you are not as dumb as you look then they all just disappear and leave you alone.

Virginia and Lisa.

Later that day we popped into a pharmacy and purchased some prescription ointment for a really bad bug bite on my ankle that swelled up and was painful.  Whatever bit me was a nasty bitch.  We also took this opportunity to purchase some Penicillinia in case we needed it in the Peruvian Rainforest.  The penicillin that we had with us while travelling in India came in very handy for me in 2011.

My ankle was not pretty.

Another fantastic day in Rio will lead to great cups of coffee tomorrow at our favourite bakery a block away.

The bakery that we frequented every morning for my coffee.