Hover over some of the pictures to enlarge them.
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Statue of Christ the Redeemer looks down on the city of Rio de Janeiro
and the rock called Sugar Loaf.
Rio de Janeiro means river of January, named by the explorer who discovered the area. It turned out to be a bay, not a river, so there is no river of January. |
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A closer view of Sugar Loaf. We took a guided tour that included the cable car ride to the top of Sugar Loaf. |
| Blazo at the halfway point. Sugar Loaf looks like granite, as if someone stole a chunk of Half Dome from Yosemite and dropped it at the edge of the Atlantic Ocean in Brazil. Even the tropical vegetation cannot get roots into the rock. |
| Mary at the top of Sugar Loaf. The city has taken every
buildable square foot for housing, parks and recreation,
and is even filling in the bay (as people did to San Francisco
bay in the past).
You can see the boats in this part of the bay. This beach is used for land sports and fishing, since the water is polluted with oil and not good for swimming. |
| The view coming down in the cable car. |
| Sailing away to our next port of call, Montevideo, Uruguay. |
Page last changed 24 Jan 07