Brasil!

Well, time for some quick travel blogging. I will get pics up there later, but for now just some description on what I am up to at the moment. I flew into Sâo Paulo early this morning and explored it for awhile before deciding on heading to Rio a night early.
Sao Paulo is a massive city of around 18 million inhabitants, and it looks it. There is not a whole lot there for the tourist, but it does offer a look at the staggering disparity between the rich and poor in Brazil. There are homeless people in literally every doorway and arch in the center of town, in numbers that I had never seen the like of. I thought that Lima was fairly impoverished, but it holds no candles to the staggering amount of homelessness in just the small part I saw of Sao Paulo. I also had a fun episode with a dude high on something who came up to me and tried to see how close to my face he could swing without actually hitting me. After three haymakers he discovered that he was not going to get any reaction out of me except for a blank stare and wandered off in search of god knows what...
After my charming first encounter with Sao Paulo, I decided not to waste any more time there and took a day bus to Rio de Janeiro, arriving in the evening. I went down to the famous Copacabana beach and watched the sun sink beneath the waves. Since I am not capable of doing everything right at once, I of course forgot to change out my camera batteries and will not be having pictures of that, although I will do more beach wandering and get up to the famous Sugar Loaf mountain tomorrow before heading to Iguazu falls. I will put up more Rio commentary the next time I post, but suffice it to say that it is a beautiful city and one that I should have probably planned more time with. I will not miss the staggering heat, though, so I probably planned just right...