Notes From Everywhere

After spending the morning at Christ the Redeemer and Parque Lage, we decided to walk back toward our hotel along Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas. It was nearly a two-hour walk, but we weren’t in a hurry. Our only plan was to enjoy the afternoon, find a beautiful place to watch the sunset, and see what we would discover along the way.

The bike path along the lake was surprisingly quiet. Every now and then a cyclist passed by, but otherwise it was just us, the lake, and the birds hiding among the reeds. Some of them looked so funny that we couldn’t help stopping to laugh and take pictures.

About halfway around the lake, we came across a colorful little restaurant with lounge chairs overlooking the water. It felt like we had wandered back onto the beach. That’s where we tried mate for the first time. It tasted somewhere between black tea, anise, and root beer—definitely not what I expected.

The restaurant felt wonderfully peaceful, with only one other couple enjoying the afternoon. Their friendly dog wandered over to say hello, and before long we were chatting as if we’d known each other much longer than a few minutes.

Since sunset was still some time away, we continued our walk. Eventually we found a small opening between the trees. Palm trees framed the lake, mountains rose in the distance, and the view was simply breathtaking. “This is it,” we said.

We ordered a smoothie from a nearby café, sat down to wait, and watched a man carefully balancing on a slackline stretched between two palm trees along the shore.

When I walked closer to the water to take a photo, we started talking. He smiled and said, “This is the best place in the city to watch the sunset.” Then he added something that surprised me. “Nobody really comes here.” Looking around, he was right. There was no one else there waiting for the sunset. Just my husband and me.

As the sky slowly turned shades of orange, we stood quietly at the water’s edge, phones in our hands. We took a few photos, then simply watched the sun disappear behind the mountains.

We lingered for a while after the sunset, watching the colors slowly fade from the sky before continuing our walk back to the hotel.

Looking back, I can’t imagine a more beautiful way to end the day. And somehow, finding that little spot on our own made it even more special.