Hiking (and Sight-Seeing) II

 We continued sight-seeing in our own town - and I totally think people mistook me for a Japanese tourist! A tourist because I had my camera always ready, shooting pics of every little thing, and it's a huge cam! Whilst everybody's is small and as thin as a pinky, mine resembles the cams of yore! And Japanese because... well, first cause the stereotype dictates Japanese tourists to be seen holding huge cameras at all times, and second cause many people actually think I'm of Japanese descent. These people are evidently blind. 

Moving on: to my great surprise, I found out there's a H. Stern store there. A jewelry store. At Sugar Loaf. Well, I see their point, jewels are, indeed, first priority products. Oh, wait.

The new food court is simply adorable!  And you can eat while appreciating the amazing view - and coming soon, a bar/restaurant/cachaçaria. For those of you who do not know what cachaça is, suffice to say it's better and stronger than rye! A cachaçaria, hence, is a place devoted to this wonderful-but-better-not-abuse-it drink. I do not see how this can end well... Hope the clients don't go hiking or climbing afterwards!

But basically, we walked around, D., me and my camera; we're a couple of amazingly pale people, specially according to Brazilian standards - even more so considering we live within walking distance from the beach! But next to the foreigners, we were feeling quite suntanned! I should go there more often... Now, this is the food court, and besides the tables and chairs, there are also many big benches and chaise longs! I just didn't wanna leave that place, it was so comfy!

From there, I had an even more amazing view of almost the entire Guanabara Bay and a good part of the city - which included the whole of my neighborhood! And if I could not see my building, it was  due to the many huge trees in front of it. Not complaining though! Trees are always welcome! 

So this, right here, is Urca, lovely, small and kinda hidden from everything else. Urca-dwellers are considered snobs by everyone else in Rio - but how could they (errr... we, I guess) not be so? I mean, look at where we live! Better than anywhere else in town, I'll tell you that... Besides, these people are just jealous! =P And if you take a good look at the picture, you'll see a great yellow fortress on the superior right corner. It's beautiful, and it's got a great, extremely clean, exclusive beach! Really, the military has it good...

I could also see one of the campuses of my college, UFRJ. It's a once-beautiful-now-completely-falling-apart-and-hell-is-it-hot-in-there building with a neocolonial design. And it's a freakin' maze! I got lost in there all the time!...

 By the time we decided to leave it was already 7:30 pm, when it starts getting dark here in the summer. I won't lie to ya: hiking our way down in the dark had a total The Blair Witch Project feel to it! I was just happy we didn't have a video camera... And not only was the way almost completely dark, but also wet and slippery, due to recent rains... D. was, of course, hoping afraid I'd fall on my butt, as the good friend he is. Thing is: I grew up in the countryside of Rio, right next to what I now understand to be the remains of a tropical forest. I got used to hiking before I was 9 - quite different from my city-boy fella... So for his huge disappointment and my great amusement, I was perfectly holding my own up there, while he was having quite the hard time... In fact, I was moving with such ease that I stopped to take a couple of pics! And this last one creeps the hell out of me...

Well, that was a fun day alright! The only trouble is, were days like that more common, they'd lose all of that which makes them unique. We've got the sad ability of getting used to pretty much everything, haven't we? Anyway: we, who live here in Rio, complain a lot about this city. An awful lot. And not without reason, there are shitloads of downsides to it. But you know what? It's just a damn beautiful place. And sometimes, that alone makes up for all the rest.