Pedra Bonita

This guide to Pedra Bonita in Rio de Janeiro follows a 1974 flight: a French adventurer named Stephan Dunoyer de Segonzac steps off Corcovado and glides to a landing at a horse track in Gavea, hoping to prove hang gliding could work in Brazil. From there it traces how a young Brazilian in the crowd, Luiz Claudio Mattos, talked his way into lessons and helped scout this exact cliff, and how an abandoned building project's access road became the launch site. Look out from the ramp toward Sao Conrado and Rocinha as you listen.