Climbing Corcovado

One of my housemates, Gerhard, and I decided to hike Corcovado yesterday. Corcovado is probably better known for its monument: "Cristo Redentor," the 40-meter statue of Jesus Christ that can be seen from just about anywhere in Rio. 

We started at the Parque Lage, the park that surrounds city's School of Visual Arts (both pictures below.) I had discovered the park and school accidentally one day while walking back from a Carnaval street party, but I hadn't known then about the nearby trail to Corcovado. 
 

After admiring the park, the school building, and watching the adorable monkeys that refused to stay still long enough for me to take their pictures, Gerhard and I embarked on the trail to Corcovado. The trail starts at the edge of the park and winds through the Atlantic Forest. The beginning of the trail is easy, but it soon becomes more interesting. Not only did we contend with steep slopes, but we also had to climb a few rocks and watch out for mud (and snakes) along the way. 

Every so often, we caught glimpses of Cristo Redentor, so we could judge how far along the trail we were and how much further we had to go. When we were at the halfway point, we came upon a "road," which turned out to be the tracks for the train that takes tourists up the mountain to Cristo Redentor. (Not everyone is crazy enough to hike it.)

We crossed over the tracks, after stopping to take each other's photos, and continued along the trail.   

We soon learned that we should have just followed the tracks. We did arrive at [behind] Cristo Redentor by following the trail, but when we tried to buy tickets to enter the monument grounds, we were told we couldn't buy tickets at the monument. Okay ... where were the tickets sold? Back down the mountain, of course. What?! Grumbling over the money-making scheme of not selling tickets at the monument (and thus forcing visitors to pay for transportation, which is "included" in the price of the ticket), we took a minivan a third of the way down the mountain, passing parts of the hiking trail along the way. We then waited in line for about 20 minutes for tickets. Once we had our tickets, we took one look at the line of 300+ people waiting for minivans that would take them back up the mountain, and decided it would be a better use of our time to follow the train tracks by foot.   

About ten minutes into our hike along the tracks, we came upon a group of Brazilian teenagers. They apparently had hiked the track once before, and so they knew they could get to the monument by following the tracks on foot. It was a steep climb, but certain.  We stopped once for a break and eventually arrived at Cristo Redentor 30 minutes later. We were all elated to finally see the famous statue, and this time, we were allowed to enter.

Conseguimos! Success!

At Cristo Redentor, we spent about half an hour being typical tourists: taking photos, reading informational plaques, and enjoying the view of the city. I'm still in awe of the size of the statue. What exactly inspires someone to build a statue 40 meters tall that overlooks an entire city? On the one hand, it's a symbolic monument, so there's plenty of inspiration involved, but on the other hand, just think of the construction logistics! I'm sure they didn't haul all that concrete and soapstone up the hiking trail!

Eventually we left Cristo Redentor and began hiking down the mountain. We passed several groups on our way down and were glad we left when we did. We had started our day at 8:00am and by this time, it was 1:30pm. Even though the sky was cloudy and the sun was not as intense as it could have been, it was certainly humid. Technically, we were hiking through the Atlantic Forest, but it felt more like an equatorial rainforest at times.

About 2/3 of the way down, a colorful creature caught my eye. It was a caterpillar, but not one I had ever seen before. This one had a thick, black body with neon yellow rings and bright red at either end. According to this site, the caterpillar would probably later turn into the Frangipani Hawkmoth. 

The bright colors warned me to stay away--it might be poisonous--but later I learned that it "just" bites. 
After the caterpillar, we only had about 20 minutes of trail left. All along the way, we had seen trees like the one below, which have flexible, almost rope-like, branches. I had been using the branches along the way for balance, but by the end, I was ready for a break ... a tree-swing break, that is.

All in all, I had a great time hiking Corcovado and visiting Cristo Redentor. The hike was a little steeper than I had expected, but I enjoyed the challenge. I can now cross another place off of my "must-do-in-Rio" sightseeing list!

First day at UFRJ

Today was my first day at the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). I'll admit, I've been a bit nervous because none of the previous students from my program in Pittsburgh attended UFRJ; they all did their research rotations at either the Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP) or at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC). Although UNICAMP is located among the sugarcane fields, making data collection for my sugarcane research super simple, and PUC is literally down the street from where I'm living, UFRJ offers the perfect combination of energy-based engineering and life cycle assessment research for my needs. 

The only less-than-optimal UFRJ issue is transportation.

Every time I've told a Brazilian that I am a university student. They ask me: "Oh where? At PUC?" After I tell them, "No, at UFRJ," their next question, without fail, is: "Oh, where do you live?" Rio de Janeiro is divided into two "zones": the North Zone (Zona Norte) and the South Zone (Zona Sul). UFRJ is in the North Zone, about as far north as you can go, since it's on the island of Ilha do Fundão (marked as "Ilha do Governador" on the linked map at the top of this page). Gávea, where I live, is way in the South Zone. It's not as far south as you can go, but it's pretty close. So, why am I living in the South Zone if I'm going to school in the North Zone? Well, as the bus ride confirmed for me today, I wouldn't feel safe living far enough north in the North Zone to make the commute significantly shorter. Parts of the North Zone are perfectly fine, but past a certain point, favelas (shanty towns run by drug lords) dominate the landscape and crime becomes a serious issue. Therefore, it is not uncommon for people at UFRJ to live 30+ minutes by bus from the university. This morning's bus ride, including a transfer, took me an hour and a half from Gávea. (I've heard that there may be a shorter route and am trying to find the details.) 

When I arrived at UFRJ's engineering institute, COPPE (pictured below), any doubts I had about the university were immediately put to rest. After being welcomed by one of my advisors--she was running out of the office to teach her first class--I was given a space to work, complete with a computer and two wonderfully helpful office mates, who are also PhD students in the department. 

Discussion quickly developed in the office. The topic? Life cycle assessment, Design for Environment, industrial symbiosis, and sustainability systems. I breathed a sigh of relief as a wide smile spread across my face. I'd ended up in the right place after all. Life cycle assessment is the bread and butter of my research and the other topics are major areas of the broader sustainable engineering discipline. 

We talked for at least an hour and then I went with another student to the graduate student orientation. Most of the session focused on administrative issues, such as the number and type of course credits required for each degree -- pretty typical stuff. The discussion of dissertation issues was more interesting, and two details in particular. First, PhD students are required to propose their thesis topic within six months of passing their qualifying exam (the exam that allows the Masters student to continue onto the PhD). This seems like a reasonable rule. What I like about it is the deadline of six months; without the deadline, the proposal can be delayed, which then delays the dissertation defense. As they say, time is money. Second, all of the incoming graduate students are required to sign a consent form to formally allow the university to publish any work they do for any of their classes and to publish their theses. The students also sign a form acknowledging copyright law, i.e. promising they won't plagiarize anything, and that they will acknowledge the university and university funding in any presentations and publications. Some of these points are givens at most U.S. universities, but it made quite the impression to see that consent form on the very first day.  

After the orientation sessions, the day was already half over. In the afternoon, I was given a schedule of classes so that I could choose one for the semester. The class schedule listed the titles of about 15 classes--some graduate and some undergraduate--with no times, no room numbers, and no descriptions. Apparently you're supposed to be able to fill in the missing information on your own. I think I will take the class, "Renewable Energy Sources." (It's a PhD-level class, but you'd never know from the title. Perhaps the syllabus will be more enlightening.) It will be interesting to see how much Portuguese I actually understand in a native Portuguese-speaking classroom. I also wonder what the test format will be and if the professor will be at all understanding about my lack of language ability. We'll see.

As I was leaving UFRJ this afternoon, I was walking through the atrium and stopped in my tracks when I saw the barrel in the picture below. 

They're collecting used vegetable oil for biodiesel! I know that there is a biofuel lab on campus, but I think the collection may be a student- or administration-run effort. I definitely plan to learn more about it and will post here when I do.

After my biofuel-barrel discovery, I took the buses back to Gávea. Before collapsing in bed from an exhausting first day, I happened to look out the window. In the distance was a rainbow -- just barely there, but unmistakable. I thought to myself, "What a perfect ending to the day." What a perfect beginning to the semester. 

Carnaval Roundup

I wrote about the big Carnaval parade at the Sambódromo here. Below are descriptions of two neighborhood "bloco" parades.  

Banda de Ipanema (February 26, 2011)

You may remember me writing about Banda de Ipanema before. They held their parade two weeks after the band's rehearsal. Both events attracted a crowd.

There were plenty of street vendors at the parade, usually carrying small wooden display trays, like the one pictured below. The front of this one was decorated with the message: "Jesus Halls," or maybe that's supposed to be "Jesus ♥ Halls." I'm not quite sure.

No Carnaval parade would be complete without a drag queen or two. This couple let me take their picture. I couldn't even get close to most of the queens and other performers that day; they were all surrounded by tourists and television reporters, too. 

I heard that the parade of Banda de Ipanema went late into the night. This was one of the few parades where there were simply too many people for my liking. The beach was only a block away, so after a couple hours, I said good-bye to the parade and hello to the ocean. I love living on the coast!

Dois pra lá, Dois pra cá (March 5, 2011)

Dois pra lá, dois pra cá can be roughly translated as "two steps up, two steps back." This "bloco" was founded in 1991 by the dance company, Carlinhos de Jesus. The parade started in front of the Casa de Dança (House of Dance) of Carlinhos de Jesus in Botafogo and marched toward Copacabana Beach. While I'm not very familiar with Copacabana or Botafogo yet, I had a rough idea of the geographical locations. What I didn't realize, is that there is a tunnel that connects Botafogo to Copacabana. Surely they wouldn't send a crowd of boisterous, half-drunk people through the tunnel, and surely not one that was still open to traffic ... ? 

I was wrong. You can see the tunnel above. Half the tunnel was open to traffic and the other half was closed for the parade. I can only think of one other time I've been inside a tunnel and not in a car (Critical Mass bike ride Pittsburgh) and that tunnel was a whole lot shorter than this one! This time, I seemed to be the only person concerned, though. "It's only a tunnel." "Yes, a dark one with fast cars very, very close ..." In any case, people sang all the way through. (Turn your sound down before listening to the video below.)

The parade ended shortly after we exited the tunnel and even though we were wet and half-deaf from the blaring sound system, we still all had a fabulous time. 

Carnaval at the Sambódromo!

 

Last night I went to the Carnaval parades at the Sambódromo with my friend Dani and a bunch of her friends. I hadn't originally planned on going to the Sambódromo because it's usually extraordinarily expensive, but now I'm so glad I did. Thank you to Dani and everyone else who did the legwork to get us tickets!

Before last night, I had been to two street parades. The parades were great, but none of them could compare in grandeur to the parades in the Sambódromo. The extravagant costumes and stadium seating create a completely different atmosphere. While some people complain that the Sambódromo is too "commercial," the experience is still worth every penny.  

To the left is a photo of last night's cohort. The first thing you may notice is that everyone is wearing ponchos. It rained for most of the night and into the wee hours Sunday morning, but that didn't stop anyone from having a good time. 

The second thing you may notice is that one person is reading a book, which I think is actually the program booklet. Had I known about the long pauses between each of the samba school parades, and had it not been raining, I probably would have brought a book to pass the time since the parades are such a "hurry-up-and-wait" kind of affair.

Each samba school has approximately 50 minutes to perform, during which time the crowd goes wild cheering, singing, and dancing along. After each school finishes, there's another period of at least 30 minutes before the next school begins. During the breaks, people talk in the stands, get food from the vendors, and watch the occasional firework display.

Our seats were directly in front of the judges' boxes, so we had the opportunity to see some of the best performances as the schools tried to impress the judges. Each school tells a story with its performance and the first school was one of my favorites. While I don't actually know the details (my program booklet was ruined in the rain), it clearly focused on an Afro-Brazilian theme and incorporated elements of Amazon culture. 

After watching about five of the parades with topics such as "water", "love", and the ever-popular "1960s," we eventually left the Sambódromo shortly before 1am. We were probably some of the first people to leave; the celebration continued until 7 this morning. One of my last views of the Sambódromo was the sky as shown below: no stars, all glitter.

The last sound? Everyone in the stands singing along to Rio's official Carnaval song: "Explode coração" - hearts bursting with love for this city. It's contagious. 

Explode coração / Explodes the heart
Land of the samba, the mulatto, and soccer
I will be living the day-to-day
Encased in this magic
Of Rio's carnival

Heart explodes
In the greatest happiness
It's my beautiful Salgueiro
Infectious, rocking the city ...

Moving right along.

It's taking some effort to adjust to life here in Rio, but all in all, things are going well. One thing I've had no problem adjusting to is the 30-minute walk to the beach! I took the photo below when I was in Leblon last week and a storm began to roll in. It never did rain that day, but ever since, we've had little storms every afternoon.

Carnival starts today, and while I don't think I'll be doing anything special tonight, tomorrow will be a marathon. My friend Dani and I plan to go to one of the street parades in the morning, have lunch afterwards, go home and nap for the afternoon, so that we can go out again at night for the big fancy parade in the Sambódromo. The "big fancy parade" is where the samba schools (escolas de samba) finally get to perform what they've been rehearsing all year. The parade, which starts around 8 or 9 pm, supposedly doesn't end until dawn, and knowing what I know about Brazil so far, I do not doubt this one bit!

I hope to get some good pictures of both events on Saturday, so check back here on Sunday or Monday to learn more about the phenomenon that is Carnival in Rio de Janeiro.

Bikers, Cars, & Critical Mass

Driver aggression toward bicyclists is nothing new.  However, what happened on Monday in Porto Alegre, Brazil was absolutely unreal.  (Porto Alegre is about 1,000 miles southwest of Rio de Janeiro, for those of you wondering.)

A driver--supposedly enraged by the fact that bicyclists were "blocking" the street--plowed through the entire group of people who were riding with Porto Alegre's Critical Mass. Luckily, nobody was killed, though eight people were hospitalized with injuries.

Critical Mass is a community bike ride that happens all over the world on the last Friday of every month. One of CM's major goals is to demonstrate that bikers don't obstruct traffic; they ARE traffic. Having ridden in several Critical Mass rides in Pittsburgh and knowing fellow bikers a little too well, I will be the first to admit that some bikers can do some really stupid things (like riding against traffic in Pittsburgh's bus lanes, for example). However, there is absolutely no excuse for what happened on Monday; it was road rage, pure and simple.

Yesterday morning, the Brazilian news source O Globo, reported that the suspect had been arrested by police and is being charged with attempted murder. Considering that police usually side with drivers in cases of driver-cyclist aggression and rarely does anyone ever press criminal charges (when warranted), this charge of attempted murder is quite unusual.  

If you want to see a video of the incident, click here. Fair warning, though, the video is brutal and not for everyone.