Rio

Well, I´m in Argentina now, just having crossed the border this afternoon. Rio was excellent, one of three cities I would most like to live in at some point along with Barcelona and Miami. Unfortunately, two of them suffer from oppressive heat, so it looks like Barcelona will always stay ahead.
I will have to get back to Rio at some point, though, if only to relax on its beaches and get some photos. My camera batteries (freshly changed) crapped out at the top of Sugar Loaf, the iconic ridge with the James Bond cable cars. The only known use for Panasonic batteries is putting them in a sock and beating a Panasonic executive about the face with it. I´ll just have to get some generic online ones and throw them up to let y´all know what the view was like... because it was spectacular. The green mountains pretty much just tumble into the ocean, with a few peaks masquerading as islands further out. Rio is built up and around these hundreds of peaks, which is why the favelas (super-ghettos) are in such close proximity to the nicer areas. Favelas are built up the mountain sides and the businesses and nicer residences are built in the flat parts surrounding them, ironically giving the poor the better view, perhaps the only place in the world that can say that.
Where the mountains meet the ocean there is invariably a beach, including the famous Copacabana and Ipanema beaches along with dozens of others. Across the harbor Niteroi could be clearly seen, and most famous of all the giant Chris statue on Corvocado peak stretches its arms over the entire city. It was quite a view and bears much more exploring, which I¨ll hopefully have time for in the future...