Honeymoon in Rio de Janeiro: Botanical Garden

Moving on with the Rio de Janeiro posts (it’s been awhile)…

On the third morning of our trip, Jorge and I spent about an hour trying to figure out which was the correct bus to get to the Botanical Garden. After getting several different answers from several different people while trying to find out which one-way street was correct, we were finally on our way!

We passed through Ipanema and the uber-fabulous neighborhood of Leblon. I knew we’d arrived at the Botanical Garden when I saw several lines of the tallest palm trees I’ve ever seen just off to my left. (Palm trees don’t get that tall here in Cancun, aka Hurrican Territory!)

Here are the pictures! It only cost a few dollars per person, and it was a great way to spend a few hours:

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My New Orchid

I was excited to walk out the door this morning to see that my new orchid plant finally has its first bloom! I’ve always been a bit of a “black thumb”, so it’s nice to know I didn’t screw this plant up.

We put it in the planter in our front patio because that spot gets some sun during the day.

Would anyone judge me if I said I really want a pair of heels in this print?

The leaves might be my favorite part! We’ve discovered that they open during the day (as you see in the photos) and fold perfectly in half when it gets dark. Very cool.

The leaves are a little lighter than they should be, which has me worried. Maybe if I lift it up a bit with some string so the sun hits it better?

In this shot, you can see that the plant has tons of buds on it... can't wait to see what it looks like in a few days!

We got it from a local plant shop that some guy runs out of his house (gotta love Mexico!). He had several huge versions of this plant in his front yard, and I fell in love!

If anyone can help me identify this plant, I’d really appreciate it! Right now, the only descriptive words I have are “orchid” and “pretty”.