Sugar Loaf Mountain

After breakfast Kyle, Brandon, Camilla and I get on a local bus for Pao de Acucar, known in english as Sugarloaf mountain. It's only a 20 minute ride. We start hiking up a wide paved trail up the mountain. It's the weekend and busy with people running and walking. Surprisingly for all this human traffic, I spot a pair or marmosets in the trees beside the path. Marmosets are small primates and I never thought I would see them here. They are very low in the tree and aren't bothered by anything. I get some great pics and then  see why they hang around. They happily and easily accept a banana from a local. We have to leave the paved trail and hike up through forest to the top of the first peak of Sugarloaf. It's possible to take a cable car to here and then to the top but we all wanted to hike to the first peak. The view is great from here. It's a clear day and we can even see Corcavado, where we were yesterday. Why couldn't it have been this clear yesterday?
    It's busy up here. There are lots of cafes and souvenir shops. We get the cable car to the peak of Sugarloaf mountain, around 400m high. The peak is occasionally surrounded with clouds but it clears for a while. We hang out on top of the mountain for a while and walk some short trails in the forest. After a while the clouds have come in and aren't showing any signs of leaving. I'm at least glad it was clear for a while.
      Back in Copacabana I relax at the hostel for a while. I buy the largest mango I've ever seen at the supermarket across the street. It also has the largest passionfruits I've ever seen. The mango is tasty but it's not as good as the mangoes I had in Asia, escpecially Vietnam.
     Brandon, Kyle, Camilla and I go out for dinner across the street from a beach. It rained heavily earlier but is only sprinkling now. It starts to pour on our way and we are wet by the time we reach the open air restaurant. The rain gets more intense. Lightning strikes right nears us and scares the shit out of everyone. A couple of firetrucks pull up and go into the building across the street. We try and wait for a break in the rain to go back to the hostel but it's not happening. We make a break for it, running in spurts from one overhang to the next. I'm really soaked now and chilled. I make it back to the hostel and change and set my clothes out to dry. This is my last night in Rio. I will be happy to leave the hostel and have my own room. I liked Rio more than I thought I would but I'm ready to move on.