Saturday in the Botanical Gardens

Saturday was a fun day. In the morning I worked again :( in my hotel room while some of the students went shopping on the beach. I heard that some of the students were to tired to do anything, what is wrong with kids now days? We met up at about 2:00 with Helaine and we decided to go to the botanical gardens over by the big lagoon in the south side of the city (see my pictures from Corcovado for an aerial view). We spent a couple of hours walking through the gardens. There was a free concert of Brazilian music in the Botanical Gardens at 5:00 which Helaine and the students listened to. I missed the concert because I took Vanessa back to the airport since she had to return to the U.S to work Monday morning. We met up at our hotel at 9:00. We then went to an arts and crafts flea market near the beach and bought some more souvenirs (I got some paintings). We ended the day on the beach after midnight watching the larger than normal waves crashing in.

Friday afternoon hang gliding in Rio de Janeiro

Friday afternoon in Rio was a lot of fun. I told the students weeks ago that one of the best things I did in Rio on my last trip back in February was to go parasailing. To do this you contract with a professional outfit that does both hang gliding and parasailing (see http://www.skycenter.com.br/). They take you into a national park, up a very steep road to the top of Pedra Bonita mountain. Then you launch off the mountain, fly over the national park, the city, the ocean, and finally land on the beach. A lot of fun and a very picturesque view (photos of me parasailing back in February are on my Facebook page for my Friends). *One* of the students wanted to go hang gliding on our current trip and *one* student thought that maybe he would want to do this. So, we took two cabs down to the Pepino beach in the Sao Conrado neighborhood and talked to the Sky Center manager. While we were talking we watched people hang gliding down from the mountain and out over the ocean and landing on the beach. Suddenly *three* students wanted to go hang gliding and *two* students thought that maybe they wanted to do it. After watching the first two students launch and float gently down to the beach I suddenly had *five* students who wanted to hang glide. A very exhilarating and fun thing to do.

Friday morning in Rio de Janeiro

Friday was another fun day. After breakfast I went to my room to work (boring!) while the students went walking around Copacabana looking for souvenirs. We met at noon on the roof of the hotel. There is a very small but nice pool there along with some chairs and tables. Some students took advantage of the situation and tried to get some sun (some are turning a bit red - I guess they aren't applying the sun block very well!). My professor friend Helaine from the University of Sao Paulo in Piracicaba flew up to join us for the weekend. She met us at the hotel at 1:00. Here are some photos of the view from the roof of the hotel, you can see the Christ the Redeemer statue and the beach. Notice how even though there are tall buildings all around that there are still trees planted along some of the roads. Very nice.