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During my trip to South America in September, 2002, I stayed in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for a few days. It was definitely the wrong time of year. It was dreary and rainy the whole 4 days. I only saw the sun once on the drive to the airport for my departure. I was lucky to see anything at all from Sugarloaf Mountain and from Corcovado. On both mountains I had only a few minutes before the clouds closed in and I was in the clouds. All the beaches were completely empty throughout my stay there. But I can imagine the scenery with good weather, it must be spectacular.
I walked around Rio a lot while I was there, seeing parts of the town a little further away from the beaches. One thing that is very obvious are the homeless people. There are lots of them on the streets. Some try to make a living, like the acrobats on a intersection that moved in the middle of the street when the traffic light turned to red and gave the waiting motorists a show. Others were just lying in the streets, sleeping during the day and begging at night. I saw lots of them going through garbage cans, picking out stuff that they could use, including food!!! Another sign of poverty there are the Favelas. These are shanty towns on the flanks of the hills around Rio. Common sense (and ample warnings from the tour guide) tell you not to go into the Favelas on foot, so I don't know what the living conditions are there, but from what I could see from afar, it doesn't look good.
Walking around lets you also see some nicer aspects, in particular the bird life. There were lots of different birds around the city. The most impressive were the frigate birds. They are huge (wing spans are around two meters) and they soar. Masters of soaring, they hardly ever move their wings. They congregate in large schools wherever they find a thermal column of rising air and circle in the up drafts.
In Brazil I visited also Foz do Iguaçu (Iguazú Falls).
A lot of the pictures from Rio are very hazy. That was because of the lousy weather, not because of my camera.
All pictures are © Günther Eichhorn.
View of Botafogo bay from Sugarloaf Mountain. (139k)
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View of downtown Rio and Sugarloaf Mountain from Corcovado. (201k)
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Sugarloaf Mountain from Botafogo. (186k)
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Sugarloaf Mountain from Botafogo. (233k)
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This is how I saw Sugarloaf Mountain most of the time. (147k)
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Corcovado peeking out of the clouds as seen from Botafogo. (138k)
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Christ Statue on top of Corcovado. (85k)
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A deserted Copacabana beach on a cool, rainy early spring morning. (212k)
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Acrobats on a red traffic light trying to make some money. (231k)
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View of one of the Favelas. (240k)
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View of one of the Favelas. (277k)
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Favela over Rio. (275k)
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Homeless sleeping in the street. (197k)
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Homeless sleeping in the street. (191k)
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A strange tree with fruits growing out of the trunk. (370k)
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Bird. (197k)
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Dove, probably Plain-breasted Ground Dove (Columbina minuta). (237k)
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Bird. (211k)
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Bird. (256k)
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Frigate Birds soaring above Copacabana. (95k)
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Frigate Bird in flight. (70k)
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All pictures are © Günther Eichhorn
Rio de Janeiro at the wrong time of year on guenther-eichhorn.com
Aerobatics website