12 JULY
Around 12pm, Floresta da Tijuca
Bethânia took me to Tijuca’s forest. She did this recording. I was in the background immersed in the forest and trying to locate the almost invisible birds. A caterpillar started strolling on my left leg. It tickled.
This photograph was taken a bit later when Bethânia was enthusiastically video recording some very tinny and bright yellow mushrooms.
Tijuca’s forest is one of the world’s largest urban forests and it’s hand-planted. The original forest was taken down to give place to coffee plantations creating a huge disruption in the ecosystem. In the late 1930’s it was re-forested successfully protecting Rio’s water supply.
When I overlooked Rio from the Sugar Loaf, I was really puzzled by it’s beauty. It was very hard to understand who is over-taking who in the dichotomy of jungle vs city. After living here for two months and slowly understanding more and more about Rio, I have to say it is a baffling work of design…