Latin America

Today, I will travel to Latin America! I will be visiting two sites located in Rio de Janeiro (Rio), Brazil. Rio is the second most populated city in Brazil and is the home to nearly 6.75 million people.

Site 1 – Our first stop was Parque Lage Park located in Rio de Janeiro. It is a public park that is nestled at the base of the Corcovado in the Jardim Botanico region. Although it is a quiet park for most tourists, it is known to be featured in music videos for many famous artists such as Snoop Dogg and the Black-Eyed Peas. Parque Lage was once owned by an industrialist named Enrique Lage and his wife, who was a famous singer at the time. Located on the property was a mansion that was remodeled in the 1920’s by Mario Vodrel, an Italian architect. During the 1960’s, the land was transformed into a public park and trails were made through the subtropical forests of Tijuca National Park that surround the mansion. At the park, we saw an aquarium, a cave, old stables, and a tower that resembled a castle. The mansion is now an art school where we saw many different forms of art created by students. We also dined at the courtyard café located on the park property. Lastly, we walked the trails where we saw a few monkeys in the trees along with a couple of waterfalls.  

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Site 2 – Our second stop was Corcovado – Christ the Redeemer. The statue resembles Jesus Christ and overlooks the city of Rio de Janeiro. The statue of Christ the Redeemer symbolizes “protector of people.” It is 30 meters high and is mounted on an 8-meter pedestal. The statue was planned in 1921 and was developed by an engineer named Heitor da Silva Costa. The statue was built from 1925 to 1931 and was made from reinforced concrete and soapstone. The Christ the Redeemer statue was elected one of the Seven Wonders of the World in 2007 by Swiss Institution New 7 Wonders Foundation. You can visit the statue by van, car, or train. To get into the monument, we took a 20-minute train ride that crossed the Mata Atlantica. We then climbed 220 steps that led us to the statue's feet. Once we reached the feet of the statue, we had an excellent view of Rio.  

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