Number 21 - Praça Mauá and Museu do Amanhã

The project to revitalize the port area of Rio de Janeiro, Porto Maravilha, reached a new milestone in September 2015 when the old square Praça Mauá was re-inaugurated after 4 years of rebuilding. In December 2015 the new museum, Museu do Amanhã - The Museum of Tomorrow - was opened, and a new public space was created, right in the middle of downtown Rio de Janeiro.

I came walking from Cais do Valongo along Avenida Venezuela, and when I arrived at the square it was love at first sight! The square was full of people, old and young, tourists, families, children playing, all of them enjoying the sunny afternoon and the beautiful and incredible scenery.

Lots of children (and some that were not children) had made the letters spelling #Olympic City into a playground. And the letters turned out to be even more beautiful from the back:

Praça Mauá has now got green grass and palm trees, and lots of open space to run, to ride a bike, to roller-blade and benches where you can just sit and watch life go by - as the Brazilians love to say.

There is even an area with food trucks and vending booths, where you can buy souvenirs.
But, the Museum of Tomorrow, the strange building (is it a shark? Is it a whale? Is it a boat?) built on the pier, completely dominates the scene.

I had come with the idea to visit the museum, but the long lines put the idea out of my mind, it will have to be next time!

I decided to just enjoy the afternoon and take some more pictures, and the strange building revealed that it has lots of crazy angles.

The incredible architecture puts on a show, but the incredible landscape certainly helps. Praça Mauá now opens up to the Guanabara Bay, and the view of the bridge from Rio to Niteroi is amazing.

The plan is to open a promenade along the bay, from Praça Mauá to Praça XV, a great idea! Cariocas already begin to get new views of their city, and they are enjoying it.

I sat for a while, watching the light change, feeling the sun on my face, and feeling happy, already looking forward to visiting the Museum of Tomorrow on my next visit. It is great to see that the eternal country of the future is is changing, creating new spaces and finding its own way towards tomorrow.

Number 20 - Cais do Valongo

Only a block from Jardim Suspenso do Valongo is the newly discovered Cais do Valongo - Valongo Quays. Built in 1811 in order to disembark slaves, it was rediscovered in 2010, when workers installing a new drainage system, as part of the revitalization of the area, came upon hundreds of personal objects belonging to former African slaves.

The city of Rio has made it part of its Historical Circuit of African Heritage.

The site is well preserved, and there are information boards telling the story of the quays. The African heritage is a part of Brazilian history that is not often mentioned, let alone given great importance. It is believed that about one million slaves arrived at the Cais do Valongo. The new circuit has shred a greater light on the lives of these slaves, and has been the reason for numerous debates on the issues of class and race division in Brazil.

As I walked around quietly taking my pictures, I became aware of a small group discussing exactly these issues. It made me think about how important it is to preserve such sites, in order to help children from the African- descended community construct an identity. I realize, though, that it is even more important that all Brazilians rethink the idea of Brazil as a perfect melting pot. There is still a long way to go before we get to a society where it is self-evident that all men are created equal and have the same rights. Having a history is part of that. I finish off with a quote by Hundertwasser: "If we do not honor our past we lose our future. If we destroy our roots we cannot grow."

Number 19 - Jardim Suspenso do Valongo

After days of rain, yesterday, the sun finally decided to show up. The sky cleared and we got a glorious afternoon, with clear air and a blue, blue sky, not typical of summer at all - wonderful!
I decided it was time to head downtown. As you must have noticed by now, downtown Rio is one of my favorite areas to explore, especially on the weekends when it is quiet and very empty.

And so, I headed for Rua Camerino and the Jardim Suspenso do Valongo or The Hanging Garden of Valongo. This little park was created in 1905 by the mayor Pereira Passos. The entrance is from Rua Camerino, up some very steep steps as the garden is located 7 meters above street level. It was built as part of a retaining wall, and was imagined as a romantic garden, for the rich to stroll.

Here is the Rua Camerino, on a quiet Saturday afternoon.

And here is the first glimpse I got of the garden after climbing the first steps.

Here are steps, seen from above the garden. It really is quite a climb!

For many years, the garden was completely abandoned, and the four statues of Roman gods that originally guarded the park had been vandalized and removed. It was restored, as part of the restoration project of the Rio Port, Porto Maravilha, and reopened in 2012.

The garden is not very big, and it really is hanging, planted in terraces up a high wall. Replicas of the original statues have been placed in the garden, and there are benches and paths to walk, or climb.

The yellow house is called Casa da Guarda, and was the house of the municipal guard and also where garden tools were kept.

I walked along the wall, high above Rua Camerino, and decided to follow the street behind the park, to get a view from the top.

The Garden is a quiet little corner of downtown Rio, well-kept and green, and on this Saturday afternoon only a few tourists had found it and were busy taking pictures, like myself.

Number 18 - making a Vision Board

So far it has been a very different January in Rio de Janeiro, it has been cool and wet. For the first time in many, many years I have slept without turning on the air conditioning in the middle of summer! As this is the summer holiday for many, most people in Rio are not that happy with the weather. But I am! Temperatures around 25 degrees are perfect! But what do you do in Rio on a rainy day? I confess that I get a little bit lazy, even heading out for a museum seems almost too much of an effort...

Well, I have been doing some of my favorite things; reading and cooking, and dreaming about my next holiday, which will hopefully be around the time I reach fifty. But, the project must go on, and I decided to try something I have never done before: to make a vision board.

Now what is a vision board ? It kept popping up in the New Year astrological predictions (yes, I still read them, even now, when I am going on fifty!), but I really had no idea what it really was. Until I finally found an explication in an article in The Huffington Post - appropriately named: WTF is a Vision Board, And how do you make one? You can read it here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/what-is-a-vision-board-how-to-make-one_568be29ce4b014efe0dbaac3?utm_hp_ref=healthy-living

It sounded easy enough; get some newspapers and magazines, scissors, glue and a poster board. Cut out whatever quotes and images you like and put them in a big pile, ok, I can do that!:

And then the hard part, you organize what you have in your pile according to intuition. Then you glue it on the poster board, and hang it where you can see it every day. Well, this is what my vision board ended up looking like:

I was actually quite surprised and quite proud of the result! I ended up with quotes in the three languages I speak, and with images that make me feel good. Looking at my vision board I realized that an old dream had sneaked in, right on top of the board. Ever since I was a teenager I have dreamed about going to Machu Picchu. As I looked at the picture I decided that even if this might not be possible this year, and even if I am going on fifty, it is important to have dreams.
I also found that the vision board is a reflection of what I want for my life: contact with nature, with friends and family, with art, good food and drink, and of course time to be creative. The vision board is now on my bedroom wall, so that I can see it every day, and believe it or not: it has made me happier!

Number 17- Pista Claudio Coutinho, Urca

Happy New Year to all!
I decided to start the new year doing something I have been meaning to do for a long time, to go to the borough of Urca and walk along the Sugar Loaf. I have known for a long time that there is a nice trail, called Pista Claudio Coutinho there. It is located at the left of the Praia Vermelha beach, as you stand looking out on the ocean. The trail is well-kept and open every day between 06:00 and 18:00. It is the starting point of hikes up the Sugar Loaf, so all backpackers that come to Rio de Janeiro come by the place, but for me it was a new adventure.
Sticking to the resolution of a new and greener life I went by public transport, from my house that meant taking the metro to Botafogo and from there an express bus. It was fast and simple. The bus stopped closed by Praia Vermelha, and it was a short walk over to where the trail started.

It was still quite early in the morning but it is summer in Rio and the beach was already crowded.

I just wanted some peace and quiet and to breathe some fresh air, and it turned out I had come to the right place!

The trail is mostly shaded by trees and vegetation, but opens up at intervals so you can get a glimpse of the sea. Here is Praia Vermelha seen from the trail.

Along the trail there are signs with information about trees and animals, one informed about the marmosets:

I didn't think I would actually see one, but there were many! They were obviously used to humans, but it was still not so easy to get a good picture...

I trotted along at my own pace, happy with the green and the sound of the ocean hitting the rocks below the trail...

But lots of people were there for the hikes up to the sugar loaf, some following paths in the woods, some literally climbing the mountain:

Can you see the climbers? There are two of them!

Could one ask for more on a Saturday morning? Is there anywhere as beautiful as Rio de Janeiro?

As I passed by the shrine of the virgin I stopped to give thanks, and to promise myself to come back often. I returned to Praia Vermelha feeling renewed and happy, and before I headed home I went to dip my feet in the ocean, hoping, praying that 2016 will be a good year, a very good year.