update from rio de janeiro

greetings from Rio. happy early new year!
its been an interesting couple of days.

finally got to see some familiar faces. it is great to have friends in town. we have been out two nights in a row. first night was in ipanema/leblon, and the second night was in leblon/botafogo/lapa. its crowded here. big weekend celebration or something. anyway, some highlights:

• if a place as described as "seedy" then you might want to pass on it.
• do not expect a cab driver to know, or even have heard of, a street. many of them are from the somewhere else and dont know rio at all. this can be frustrating. it helps to write down cross streets, and also bring a map. (the cabbies usually dont have maps, either).
• went to a huge street party in Lapa. very local, very busy. but not as crowded as usual because a lot of people have been staying off the buses. it was very cool. we had a friend of a friend as a guide. though brazilian, his name is doug. and he looks like Fred Couples.
• the speedo or "poser pants'" (as the english call them) are acceptable in almost any situation during the day. jason remarked that you see guys walking around in the speedo several miles from the beach, just because.
• boardshorts are also popular here. theres so many tourists in town for the weekend that theres no way to get a feel for how rio is on a regular day. advantage: we dont stick out as much. disadvantage: you dont get a true feel for the place.
• rio food so far has been okay. its hard to find places to eat since you dont always know what you are ordering. the buffet is my friend.
• at the beach, its cool to put your chair/umbrella adjacent to or on top of someone elses chair/umbrella. we got a picture yesterday of ipanema beach and you couldnt see any sand. just umbrellas. at first it feels awkward, but then you embrace it. the beaches are packed with people. it gets to be a bit much. you cant even play a game of catch, never mind a game of touch rugby.

big night tonight w all the nye blah blah. we'll take some pictures.

next update will be more interesting. and funny.

love you,

-c-