The Small Things

We have a room with a view. Rain or shine, Pedra da Gavea towers impressively above the lush foliage of the canopy just beyond our road. If you follow the winding road uphill, passed the lovely mansions is Tijuca Forest, a man-made urban tropical forest that spans a large part of the city, even reaching as far as Corcovado Mountain, upon which is Christ Redeemer.

After a long rainfall, you can see large streams of water running down Pedra. It's usually after a big rainfall when the small waterfall about ten minutes up Pedra is at its best, and someone from the house will head up to get their next Facebook profile picture. I think everyone in the house has climbed to the summit of Pedra da Gavea at least once, it's almost a tradition in the house. Once you pass the gate, the trail leading uphill is steep, and all around you are Jackfruit trees full of fruit.  Once in a while, we walk to the waterfall, hoping to see wildlife. The tall fruit trees attract monkeys, and you can see them in the trees above you, grabbing fruit out of a large pod, jumping from branch to branch, and curiously looking at you.

Occasionally, we see small monkeys, called Marmosets within the trees of our front yard. Most of the time, they're looking for a free meal. It's so tempting to feed them! They'll even eat out of your hands, hanging down low to snatch a piece of banana from you, but if you do, they come back, being so bold as to come into the kitchen and steal food. That's why we're not supposed to!

Living near the forest is a beautiful thing. It makes my day to look up into the trees on a nice, sunny morning and see a toucan eating fruit from a tree, as we walk to the grocery store. The small things. The avocado tree in the front yard is plump with fruit and everyday for the past ten days, I've collect fruit in the mornings. Sometimes though, the birds and monkeys get to them first. The other day, the fallen fruit in the yard brought in some brightly coloured birds, ones that were a striking blue and green in colour. I sat there having a cup of coffee, watching them darting back and forth between trees, and dipping their beaks into the fleshy, green fruit. It's all about the small things.