It's Getting Hot in "H-io": Photos 21 to 27

You can easily tell that "H-io" (as the locals pronounce Rio) is a beach town. Even if you're not strolling across the miles of beach-side promenade in neighborhoods like Copacabana and Ipanema that are nearly synonymous with exotic locale, people take their time making it from point A to B, and there is a hint of sea air across the city. In general, the city's vibe can be summed up as "why rush, why worry?"

Rio was actually a pleasant surprise for me in many ways. I'd been told that the city was dirty and extremely unsafe, and movies like City of G-d had fed into that preconception. Although we were mostly in touristy areas, the city appeared very clean and actually quite safe. We did drive by many favelas, the Brazilian slums, and they are integrated into more upscale areas of the city, but even the poor areas didn't look all that destitute compared to what I'd seen in other countries.

Another surprise was the beach in Brazil. It's ferocious! Every day we were there, the waves were huge - to the point of being unsafe. When I ventured out a bit too far, I could feel a

Full Text Entry: It's Getting Hot in "H-io"

Looks like a lot of fun!!

Looks like a lot of fun!!