First Impressions, Rio de Janeiro

I'll begin by noting that these aren't properly my first impressions of Rio. I've been to this city twice before. The first time, I felt very afraid of the city. (For interested readers, I was sufficiently narcissistic to post my first impressions, long ago, here.) The second time, Bethany and I stayed in this same apartment and I attended a congress of regulators down in São Conrado.

So instead, a distillation of the first four days in Rio:

Centro has less activity on the weekends than I remember. The Middle Eastern restaurant now closes on Saturday and Sunday. However, the crowds at the beach have grown larger; for the last two days, running down Praia do Flamengo, I had to weave to avoid people multiple times.

Barring a trip to São Paulo, this is the most cosmopolitan city I'll visit, for the entire trip. Therefore, it would behoove me to eat Japanese cuisine and visit art galleries while I can. Beyond these borders, it's rice-beans-meat for a long, long while.

The exchange rate hurts. However, I cannot recommend the Capital One credit card enough. Whereas my HSBC card charges me 3% for ATM withdrawals, and the B--- o- A------ (too disgusted to say it; it's the bank that helped rebuild San Francisco after 1906) card would charge me 5%, the Capital One card converts the currency and charges no additional fees. (Thanks go to my lovely and helpful girlfriend for securing the card for me.) The only drawback so far has been a rejection at the Sendas supermarket, and the fact that the Lojas Americanas clerk wouldn't swipe it because I didn't have ID. It's odd that I'm rarely asked for ID in the States.

My roommate is great; he's been in Brazil for more time than I have, but we have complimentary knowledge about the country. He knows the city's history and all about football, and I have stupid anecdotes about recent politics.

Research starts in earnest this week. I plan to go to Eletrobras's headquarters and leaf through the proprietary studies on restructuring the Brazilian energy industry that they have.

I think Faustão is trying to lose weight. I saw the show tonight, and he looked thinner, or slender enough to be wearing jeans.

Finally, because every good post needs pictures, here are some shots of the running route (of Praia do Flamengo in general) that I stole from someone named Fabio Barros. Apologies Fabio!