Leaving for Rio

Wednesday, Mar. 2

It is autumn here. The air has turned cooler. And when I went to the botanical gardens today, leaves were beginning to turn golden on some of the trees and the flower beds had been planted with autumn flowers in gold, orange, and yellow colors.

I went to the bus station first to get my ticket for Rio for tomorrow night. It was $40 U.S. I am thinking that next year I may just buy a supplemental air ticket to get me from São Paulo to Buenos Aires and back. There is nothing I will really want to see between the two places, and an air ticket probably won´t cost that much more than buss and boat tickets (which totaled about $135 U.S. one-way this year), especially when you figure in the cost of hotels along the way, too. I think I read that the new low-cost Brazilian airline GOL is now flying to Buenos Aires. I´ll see about taking it next year, but I also will see what Varig add-on segments cost.

The botantical gardens are on the edge of town about 4 km further than the bus station, so I decided to continue to there. Like yesterday, however, my map proved to be useless. I went slightly off direction, but I eventually found my way by guessing where to go and finding a highway sign that showed I had gone too far and needed to turn back toward town.

There is not a lot to the gardens, but it is a peaceful place to be. Their centerpiece is a glass house (which probably is not needed with the weather here) and formal French-style gardens in front of it. My favorite part was a trail through a densely wooded (jungle) area. After exploring, I sat on a bench and read in the new novel I have started, True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey.

It was late afternoon when I got back to town. I bought some snacks and returned to the hotel for the evening.

Walking: 19.24 km (11.5 miles)