A Bit of Greenery- Tijuca National Park

On our last full day in Rio de Janeiro, we decided to forgo the beaches in favor of a bit of greenery, and settled upon a day hike in Tijuca. Tijuca National Park is one of the largest urban forests in the world, and part of the Atlantic Rainforest, which once covered large areas of Coastal and Southern Brazil, but has now mostly disappeared in the wake of human settlement. 

Southern Rio de Janeiro - the only area most tourists ever see - includes the famous beaches: Copacabana, Ipanema, and Leblon. The city is a sort of long crescent-shaped swath of urban settlement sandwiched between the rich green of the Tijuca forest and the brilliant white and glistening blue of the sandy coastline. The backdrop of green mountains, visible from most of the city, is one of the aesthetic features that lends Rio such a vibrant air. 

In theory, Tijuca should not have been a difficult destination to reach, given how close it is to Copocabana, where we were staying. I should mention around now our overwhelmingly positive experiences with the bus system in Rio up to this point. We had taken buses all over the city with great success (including the city center (Centro) and Lapa during the festivities), after discovering early on that Rio's bus system is fairly straightforward and easy to navigate.

The buses are divided into three groups, according to where they stop. In heavily populated areas every bus stop is clearly marked 1,2, or 3, and every bus stop has a complete list of buses stopping at all of the nearly stations, including origin and destination, by station, as well as a handy map of the surrounding area with all of the nearby stations clearly marked and numbered. Furthermore, once we realized that due to the geography of Rio mentioned above, almost every bus heading South towards Copacabana, Ipanema or Leblon would pass through Copacabana, getting around by bus was really quite simple (although not always pleasant- air conditioned buses were both rare and more expensive). 

This may have been the reason why we slightly overestimated our own abilities to reach Tijuca by bus. We set out fairly early, planning on hiking a moderately challenging trail and heading home. After an hour and a half, three buses, and some well-meaning misdirection by an American ex-pat (from Dallas), we finally arrived, visibly wilting from the 35 degree heat (95 degrees Fahrenheit) and indescribable humidity, at the bottom of a narrow, winding road, wide enough to let a single car pass. Apparently this incredibly narrow, steep, tortuous road was used as a two way street by some mysterious means of communication between the guard booths at the top and bottom of the hill. As a safety (?) precaution, the drivers of the first car going up or down would lean on their horn for the duration of the path, a fact we were somewhat rudely made aware of during out own exhausting climb up the mountain. 

Attempting to navigate

Upon reaching the summit, we discovered that we had not reached the beginning of a trail, as we had expected, but rather the launchpad for paragliding and hang gliding, at the edge of a cliff. We were indeed in Tijuca park, but quite far from the area with the trails.

We took the opportunity for a much needed rest, enjoying the stunning view, and regretfully declining the extremely attractive (but still out of our budget) offers "to fly". There were two launchpads; a wooden platform for hang gliding, which made a delightful whump bump bump weeee sound when a hang glider took off, and underneath it, a dugout with benches overlooking a tarp where the paragliders assembled their parachutes and then seemed to simply step off the cliff. We sat in the dugout for quite a bit, enjoying the takeoffs, and the occasional shower of coins from the pockets of the hang gliders above during takeoff.

It was an unexpected, accidental stop, one rarely visited by travelers not planning on jumping off the cliff, but I would highly recommend it. I also learned that apparently paragliding is an Olympic sport. Who knew?

A short while and another ride later, we arrived where we had originally planned to be nearly 4 hours earlier: the entrance to Tijuca National Park. There we saw a sweet, tranquil waterfall,

some interesting insects,

and had a pleasant walk through the greenery.

However, as so often happens on great trips, the journey was somewhat more memorable than the destination.