Day 5 - Rio, Copacabana, Ipanema, & Jardim Botanico

Good morning Rio! What shall we do today? Well, it’s been a very busy few days – so why not have a more relaxing day – wandering through Rio’s botanical gardens. We begin our trek down the lengthy Copacabana beach – crossing over to Ipanema beach, a thinner but oddly busier beach. Gently strolling down the soft sands and warm sidewalks we decided to ‘take our first coconut’. For the small sum of R$5 (about £1 at time of writing), the vendor chops open a fresh, green, coconut with a machete, sticking in a straw for your oral enjoyment. Very refreshing, and oddly satisfying – green coconut water/juice is gently flavoured and about half as sweet as a soft drink. Lolling along the sandy causeway, sipping on coconut, you couldn’t help but feel at peace. Rio is a very clean (very little litter) but very dirty (soot/sand/?) city – I often found myself rubbing mystery particles out of my eyes – so the gentle breeze, hot sun, and clean coconut combination, alongside the crystal clear water, was a nice change.

Passing by Ipanema beach on to Leblon beach (much quieter), we grew closer to the gardens. The botanical gardens (about 8km from where we started) was immediately a place of solace from the bustle of the Rio streets. Lush, green plants from all over the world encapsulate quite a large park – playing host to hundreds of flower and bird species. We enjoyed a walk through an Orchid nursery – as well as an area flaunting dozens of cactus species of every shape and size. The highlight of the gardens was watching tiny little humming birds darting around, presumably looking for their next meal.

We finished our walk in the gardens through a section on worldly medicinal plants (all signs in Portuguese unfortunately) and began our long trek home. Stopping for dinner in a little local pub(?) eating our last Rio meal – refreshing our weary feet – we reflect on our days in Rio. We both thoroughly enjoyed Rio – though – we both expected more colour. It’s a very grey city – which just didn’t gel with our preconceptions of what Rio (and our first taste of Latin America) would be like. We must have gone in expecting 24/7 Carnivale – and although we didn’t get it, still enjoyed the city. Next on the docket – is the small colonial town of Paraty (pronounced Pa-ra-chee). Stay tuned!