Pedra do Arpoador
Rocky outcrop where crowds gather nightly to applaud a rare westward sunset over the Atlantic.
Location
About this audio guide
On this rock in Rio de Janeiro around 1968, a journalist named Carlos Leonam started a nightly ritual that outlived any explanation for why he began it, and this guide follows how a lone habit turned into a crowd applauding the sunset. You'll hear the geographic quirk that makes Arpoador the one place on this coastline where the sun sets over open water, plus the older, rougher story behind the outcrop's name and its earlier use by whale hunters. It closes with the rock's second life as a training ground for Brazilian surfing.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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