In which I've been to Brazil

Copocabana beach, on the day we landed.

Going to Brazil has been on Andy and my's wishlist for a long time now, for many reasons. Andy  used to live there and wanted to show me all his old places, and give meaning and images to the stories. I'd wanted to go there, even before I met Andy, for the wildlife and the beauty. And to top it all off we have a great friend living there, the best man at our wedding who we hadn't seen in nearly 4 years.

So we skipped the sadness that is February in London and went to Summer heat in Rio. We were there for 2.5 weeks, so I'm going to split it into 2 posts so your Internet connection can deal with all the pics!

When we did the same thing of taking a big trip to Japan I blogged about all the small details I noticed about Japan, that were new, that were not commonly known things. But this time, I wasn't keeping a notepad of such things. Instead we were travelling with a friend who knew lots about the local history which I half-absorbed, but I am so bad with names and dates, I just got a general impression. (sorry!)

Not covered in the pictures at all is that I went to a bunch of art galleries, saw a lot of Brazilian art, and developed a sudden interest in Latin American painters which I bought a book on and am still reading. Nor is the copius drinking of cairpirinias, the eating of fejoada and the playing lots of board games covered  - despite being key parts of what made the trip. But what I do have is so many beautiful views, and monkeys.

No trip is complete without visiting Corcovado and the statue of Christo de Redentor.

The view from Jesus' viewpoint.

This is Parque Large - an amazing mini-rainforest, right near Andy's old home.

Taking a walk into the trees

The first time I saw monkeys!

Beautiful Escada de Selaron, a long series of steps completely covered in tiles. 

We went up that cable car to the top of Sugarload Mountain.

where there were views

and art

and monkeys!!!

 WAIT FOR IT

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACE NEEDS A BREATH TO SEE

 AAAH. SO PERFECT.

So much spray it's like clouds are forming!

Then we went to a bird park right next to Iguasu falls.

Chilling in little swings.

Beautiful bromiliads

These beautiful parrots!