Rio. I am finally here. (I have to repeat the fact to myself, since it has hardly settled in.) I am hesitant to describe it, for three day old observations are likely to be replaced in time with more accurate notions. But what the hell, most people won’t even make it here. And what the media depicts of this city, its poverty, drugs, and violent rampages, is not quite right.
Somehow Rio to me manages to be one of the most low key and at the same time electrifying places. Maybe it is the mix of Bossa Nova and Samba, or the mountains and the beaches. And people dress brightly and lightly, and smile more liberally than they did in Buenos Aires. The colors of life, the sun and the infinite shades of skin, hair, and eyes, they soak into you.
There was a moment when I stepped off the plane, waiting for Immigration to clear me into the country, when I was really scared for myself. But so far, there has been nothing but good experiences that I will soon chronicle for you.
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