Nov 19 2007 - Rio de Janeiro - Santa Teresa

Rio de Janeiro (pronounced locally as Hee-yo Gee Jah-nay-row) is a huge
city of extremes. It's both decrepit and lovely, corrupt and generous, crass and refined, antiquated and visionery.

I've had the good fortune
to move to nice home in a hilltop district called Santa Teresa (thanks Margarete!), in a small gated
community of Rio de Janeiro. Occasionally, new guards have given me a hard time about
getting in while the home owner wasn't there, because perhaps I've been
missing from the list... nothing a cell phone call couldn't solve. I
also got into trouble by a particularly gruff train driver, for wandering
around the hill taking pictures. Of course, my host Vicente vowed to
raise a stink over the long time grumpy worker's behavior... but
considering the driver has been around and just as grumpy since HE was
a kid, I don't expect much to come of it.

The slideshow has some beach shots from a particularly grey and drizzly day in Ipanema, made fun by the good company of my new friend Margarete, plus image from the gated community I'm staying in.

The Santa Teresa house incorporates the
side of a mountain, as you can see from the rock wall along the
interior stairs. The architect who designed it, must have gotten a real thrill from the project, and even incorporated a trickling water feature downstairs. Some mornings I turn it on for a couple of minutes and marvel, after visiting the nearby toilet... not a bad way to start the day!