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What, I hear you ask, were you doing in Brazil? Hardly the usual destination for an American, even one as well traveled as yours truly.

Brazil

Hank Shiffman
2003-11-29 15:20:44

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Rio de Janeiro

What, I hear you ask, were you doing in Brazil? Hardly the usual destination for an American, even one as well traveled as yours truly. This time the answer wasn't business; although my firm has a subsidiary in Brazil they haven't yet seen fit to request my presence. (Do they know less than all the subsidiaries that have hosted me? Or more? Enquiring minds want to know...)

No, this was purely recreational. Combine several weeks of unused vacation time, a desire to fill in a few gaps in my geographic experience and a whole bunch of soon-to-expire American Airlines miles, allow to simmer for about a year and serve in December, just as the weather in the Bay Area turns ugly. And here, dear reader, are the results.

The first stop on my tour was Rio de Janeiro or, to be more accurate, the beach area of Copacabana. Rio's beaches are everything I'd been led to expect, with miles of white sand, blue water, bright sun, high humidity and an incredible number of beautiful dark women, many of whom favored swimwear made from dental floss. Never before has so little been worn by so many to such great effect (with apologies to Winston Churchill).

My hotel was at the southern end of Copacabana, just a couple of blocks from the eastern end of Ipanema. Even more miles of beach to explore! And to think that all of this was nearly inaccessible thanks to a range of mountains that separate the beach areas from the rest of Rio. That problem was solved in the late 1950's with the construction of a couple of miles of tunnel. So now the beach is accessible to all the beautiful people and not merely the fabulously wealthy. Not that there's anything wrong with fabulous wealth, mind. Heck, I wouldn't mind giving it a try myself. I hear it grows on you.

All the best views aren't at the beach. A mile or so inland there's ...