Bicycle Tour

Wednesday December 1st.

Today I rented a bicycle and rode around the neighbourhoods of Ipanema, Leblon and Copacabana. After renting the bike I rode around Logoa Rodrigo De Freitas, which is an inland lake behind Ipanema Beach. It's about 10 km and I rode it twice. En route I watched a man waterskiing on a sit down slalom ski, probably because he was handicapped. Then I stumbled across a motorcycle riding course being given in a parking area. Interesting to watch. The picture above of the Christ in the clouds is taken from the ride around the lake. It was hidden in clouds most of the day, glad I didn't go up there today!

Then I decided to visit Floresta Da Tijuca, which is the world's largest urban natural forest. Left my bike with the entrance guard and walked around. Found an interesting cave with stallectites and bats. Then I ran into a young New Yorker, Kevin, who was living and studying in Rio. We had a great talk for an hour and he told me a lot about Rio. While we were walking around, we saw a family of monkeys feeding on fruit on a tree. I got a few pictures, but none really good. One actually jumped over my head from one tree to another!

Then I walked with Kevin to the Jardin Botanico, the Botanical Gardens, then he went his way. The gardens are beautiful and very different from the forest in that they are all planted and organized the way man wants, not nature as the forest is.

Then I rode to Leblon Beach and rode the bike path to Ipanema. When I got to the hostel, I left the bike there, had a quick lunch at at local snack place, and then went for a swim in the Atlantic for a bit.

Back to get the bike and continue riding along the beaches, from Leblon to Ipanema, around the point to Copacabana. Hung around there for a bit and then rode all the way, about 20km, back to the rental place to return the bike.

This evening I went down to the beach to have a beer at one of the kiosks and watch people play footvolley again. Really interesting game.