Saturday, April 16, 2016

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

We're staying in Saint Teresa, a neighborhood just outside Rio, affectionately called "Santa" by locals. It's about 10 km from main Rio. We have a direct view from our two balconies where we're staying on Christ the Redeemer, the famous 38 meter statue overlooking the city of Rio. It is listed as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.

Saint Teresa has a working trolley, first installed in 1872, going down to the main city of Rio. It was a prestigious neighborhood at that time and today is home to many art studios and galleries, restaurants and bars.

The 2016 Olympics are just 4 months away and the locals are laughing as they're not ready, just like the World Cup they hosted a while back. To make matters worse, from a political standpoint, there is a vote tomorrow on possibly impeaching the current President, Rousseff, for tampering with the state budget (stealing from one account to pay for another). Inflation has been horrible since she was elected into office just 2 years ago. For Brazilians, this is a big deal.

As I am a consummate political news junkie, I couldn't be in a better place for the next 2 weeks!

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