Breakfast at the hostel was pretty basic: bread, guava jam, cheese, ham, and a few other small things. Afterwards we took a taxi out to Tijuca National Park, which is a little ways away from Rio. I was asleep for most of the ride, but the taxi driver drove us a good bit into the forest. When we got off, we weren't exactly sure where we were (which was a general theme for me at least...). We soon found a posted map and started our walking for the day.
In general I had no idea where we were going, but it was definitely an adventure running around the place. We saw quite a few things, including some very nice waterfalls and lots of fruit trees. The park was very heavily forested, so it was pretty hard to get good views of Rio.
What most of the forest looked like... (Click to Enlarge)
One of the few views of the city from a clearing (Click to Enlarge)
An attempt at a long-exposure while standing on some rocks in a stream (Click to Enlarge)
Another attempt on a larger waterfall (Click to Enlarge)
We ended up walking for most of the entire day, and although we did find the little restaurant on the way down (which was so expensive we didn't eat there), we did not eat during the day. After making our way out of the park, we eventually caught a taxi back to Ipanema and went to the beach. Ipanema beach happens to be a very popular gay beach (and there was definitely some kind of official gathering that day), and there were even advertisements tailored for the gay community (I'd never seen so many men in speedos in one place).
View from Ipanema beach (Click to Enlarge)
Afterwards, we went to Nectar, a nearby restauarnt. There, we met a nice Brazilian girl named Diana who had recently returned to Rio after living in the states for a while. She introduced us to Guaraná, which is a very popular soft drink in Brazil (tasted like ginger ale with a slight apple/berry flavor). She also helped us out a little bit since apparently it can be very difficult to get your check after you're done eating (so lots of waving hoping that someone will get you your check). After dinner we returned to Harmonia for an early night, as our plane left Rio at 8:15AM.
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