Day 2: The Botanical Garden- Natural Environment

        On our second day in Brazil, we visited the Botanical Garden, or Jardim Botânico in Rio de Janeiro, which was founded on June 13, 1808. The garden is world famous, and is home to over 6,000 species of plants. The 350 acre park sits at the bottom of Corcovado Mountain, and is about an hour away from our hotel. It is one of the world's leading research centers for botany, but it started off as a way to make spices. Today it is also used as a recreational area.
 We left at 11 a.m., and arrived at noon. The taxi cost about $16, and we asked the taxi driver to drop us off at a restaurant called Bibi Sucos. They served delicious sandwiches for a cheap price. We noticed they served smoothies, so we decided we should come back and get some after we visited the garden. The food and service was great, and it was reasonably priced ($3-$11). After we ate, we walked over to the botanical garden (it only took about 5 minutes) and decided to explore. Since it was a weekend, it was very crowded with tourists from all over the world.

Imperial palm trees

The entrance to the garden is lined by 134 palm trees, called the Avenue of Royal Palms and is half a mile long. It took us ten minutes just to walk to the end of the path. We were awed by how large and majestic the palm trees were, they were way taller than any palm trees we ever saw in U.S. (especially around Florida). Just walking through them was exciting as each of us craned our necks to view the tops of the palms.

Victoria Regia

Pau Mulato Tree

      An amazing feature of  the Jardim Botanico is the Amazon Garden. We saw giant lily pads called victoria regia on a lake in this garden. They were very impressive and big enough for a person to stand on. We also saw lots of little animals like lizards and frogs lounging around on the lily pads.  The Pau Mulato trees had rubbery bark unlike any of the trees native to the United States. The lake looked so serene and natural, it was hard to believe we weren't really in the Amazon Rain forest.

The greenhouses in the botanical garden shelter beautiful plants of all kinds. Our favorite greenhouse was the orhcidarium. It was filled with orchids, which are brightly colored flowers. The orchidarium was full of so many bright colors and hundreds of flowers. The sweet smell of orchids was very strong, and smelled like perfume.

In addition to plants, the garden is also a home to wildlife such as monkeys, hawks, lizards, and toucans. Most of the animals were used to being around humans, so it was fun to observe them playing and eating. The air was filled with combined screeching of birds and monkeys. Much to our amusement, these two Capuchin monkeys started following us as we walked around . We also saw lots of exotic butterflies of all different colors.

Fountain of the Muses

The fountains, benches, and bridges were plentiful and conveniently placed. This fountain was our favorite. It is called the fountain of the Muses, and had incredible detail. We liked it because of its central location and beauty. You were in the middle of the park and the benches allowed you to take a moment and drink in the splendor of all the nature surrounding us.

Another part of the garden we liked was the Japanese garden. It was filled with Japanese cherry blossoms, bonsai, and bamboo patches. Fish like carp and koi swam in the ponds.The bridges and pathways also reflected Japanese culture, such as the bridge in the photo. It was interesting to see how they incorporated Japanese culture in the park without taking away from the natural beauty.

At the end of the day we were exhausted from walking so much, but we had all enjoyed the peaceful, natural setting of the Jardim Botanico. After spending the day in the hot sun, we walked back to Bibi Sucos and got smoothies. Our favorites were the pineapple and guava. When we finished, at about 6:00, we called a taxi to come pick us up. For the rest of the day we relaxed in our hotel room (with the exception of dinner).