Botanical Garden and Praia Vermelha

Today is the official start of World Youth Day--- the Pope arrived to Rio yesterday and as I am writing this the opening ceremony is starting on Copacabana beach. I wasn't brave enough to venture out tonight, it rained the whole day today and for the first time since I've been in Rio I am actually COLD!! Can you believe it? So, instead of being out there with the thousands of poncho-ed pilgrims I am going to update my blog and watch a cheesy Globo novela to work on my Portuguese listening skills :P

Last Thursday after class I went with two Cal friends to the Botanical Garden, a gorgeous park that is just a short walk away from PUC. The garden was founded way back in 1808 by the Portuguese king D. João IV and is supposed  to contain more than 8,000 species of flora. The garden is within the city limits of Rio, right next to the busy Avenida Jardim Botanico along which I take the bus to school everyday, yet it feels miles away. The park is huge, quiet, clean and most of all beautiful! There are fountains, waterfalls, and themed spaces (Japanese, Amazon, etc.) scattered throughout the park. Most impressive however are the rows of imperial palm trees that line the main entrance. My pictures do not do these palm trees justice...the trees were the tallest, skinniest, palm trees I've ever seen...they make Stanford's Palm Drive trees look like stumpy little dwarves!!

Not the best pictures, but hopefully you get an idea of the palm trees I was talking about...notice Corcovado/Christ the Redeemer in the back!

On Sunday, I went to a small beach in Rio called Praia Vermelha. I was originally going to hike up to Christ the Redeemer, but decided against it at the last minute because I realized there would be hundreds if not thousands of pilgrims from World Youth Day there. I ended up going to Praia Vermelha because it is one of the only beaches within walking distance of my homestay in the Humaita neighborhood of Rio. The other beach close to where I am is Botafogo beach, but that beach is quite dirty and not recommended for swimming.

Praia Vermelha, much smaller than the famous beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema, is a tiny gem of a beach. With a backdrop of Sugar Loaf mountain and mostly Brazilian families with young kids as beach-goers, the beach felt like an escape from the touristy hustle and bustle of the city. The beach was not all Brazilians though...these past few days it has been nearly impossible to go anywhere without seeing groups of World Youth Day pilgrims clogging up sidewalks and buses with their country flags displayed proudly and their bright blue/yellow/green backpacks. At Praia Vermelha, I saw pilgrims from El Salvador and Spain, and at a hot-dog stand  next to the beach where my friend bought a cachorro quente (Brazilian hot-dog), I helped some friendly boyscouts from Paris order drinks. Also, there were nuns at the beach! It was such a strange sight seeing them in their nun habits and closed toed shoes sitting on benches by the sand and enjoying the hot sun. And, that's not even the best part---get this---one of the nuns was playing beach volleyball with a group of pilgrims!!

World Youth Day, when even the nuns come out to play!

OK Y'all! I gotta get back to work! I have one more day of school tomorrow and then there is a city-wide holiday (woohoo!) Thursday through Monday during which all schools will be closed. The city will be pretty much at a standstill in the next few days due to all the World Youth Day activities, and since it will be impossible to get anywhere the government thought they might as well make a holiday so that people would not have to get to work in the chaos. I myself will be escaping the Rio crowds on Thursday for a field trip to the nearby mountain city of Petropolis.

And now I leave you with a picture I took on Sunday at Botafogo beach on my way back from Praia Vermelha. Tchau for now meus amigos!!