July 11: Sao Bento Monastery

After Sugar Loaf Mountain we went to Sao Bento Monastery. Monasteries in general are really cool but this one was amazing. It didn't make you think of stone walls and old guys dressed up in sackcloth robes. It was so bright and colorful. Jack said it made him feel, "like becoming a monk, but I would be one of those ninja monks." There are some really amazing works of art and sculptures. Some of them might be solid gold. They sure look like it! The Monastery was built in 1950 because the local townspeople wanted to have a monastery. There are all sorts of benefits to having a monastery like better educations, medical help, and general service to the community. Here are some pictures of the Sao Bento Monastery:
  

July 11: Sugar Loaf Mountain

Today was quite a breathtaking day. We didn't even eat breakfast at the hotel, we went straight to Sugar Loaf Mountain located at the mouth of Guanabara Bay. The ride to the top in the cable cars was amazing and Ryan even tried to play 007 from the movie MoonRaker but of course was nothing like him. When we were at the top we had a bite to eat and took lots of pictures. The mountain has a lot of interesting facts about it like how the "Sugarloaf" part came because of the sugar cane trade in Brazil. The mountain is also available for rock climbing but we had no experience whatsoever in the sport so we decided to pass. The original cable cars for the mountain were created in 1912 and lifted people for about 60 years. Sugarloaf mountain is 394 meters high. The name comes from the mountain’s resemblance to a concentrated sugarloaf, so familiar in the city during its sugar cane hey-day.