The Ayrton Senna School (Government-Run) for the Rocinha favela (the largest favela in the country, which we toured).

Claudia on the pool deck of our hotel, Le Meridien, overlooking Copacabana Beach. Note the palm trees off of Claudia's right shoulder. Just in front of them, at the shoreline, is where Claudia (probably) broke a potential mugger's nose (with her shoes), while John prevented his three accomplices from getting anything from their attempted mugging. Regardless of what the Police insinuated, the attacker's weren't children--they had wiskers.

Claudia on Corcovado, looking up at the statue of Christ the Redeemer (Cristo Redentor). We also circled this in a helicopter, but courageous John was too afraid he'd drop the camera to get any pictures from the helicopter.

Claudia, obviously trying to look very mysterious, at the restaurant "Arab," listening to very good Jazz Fusion on the shore of Rio's lagoon.

Claudia in the VIP Lounge at the Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport (you have to love a city that names an airport after a musician).

Claudia, in front of a statue of some guy, late on our first night in Rio, after dinner in Copacabana.

Claudia, on Sugarloaf (Pao de Acucar). The cable-car lift is behind her.

Everything and everyone moves at just the right speed in Rio. I think that's why Brazil has produced so many great Formula One drivers.

Claudia, with our driver, who didn't speak ANY English, but showed us a great time in Rio. We knew enough Spanish to decipher some of his Portugese. As our friend Ron MacArtney told us, English will get you nowhere in Rio, but a little Spanish goes a long way.

Sao Paulo, from the airplane, on the way home.

View from our hotel room window (facing West). Notice the favela on the hillside to the right.

Another view from our hotel room window (facing West). The tall building on the other side of the hill (through the tunnel), is the Rio Sul shopping center, where John couldn't find underwear big enough for his fat ass. The largest size we could find was "GG" ("Grande Grande" or "Large Large"). The worked, but Big Butt really needed XL.

View from our hotel room window (facing West). The mountain in the backround is Corcovado, so we were able to see Cristo Redentor all of the time, day and night, from our hotel room. Cristo Redentor is lighted all night.

The Girl from Ipanema Restaurant, originally Bar Veloso, where Tom Jobim and Vinicius wrote "The Girl from Ipanema," as seem from our car as we sped away from the Vinicious Piano Bar, where we saw outstanding perfomances by Toni Barreto and Claudette Soares, and our driver arranged for the bar to set up a table in front of the stage for us.

Claudia, at the Botanical Gardens (a place we wouldn't have visisted unless our driver insisted, and we're glad he did), next to the monument to Tom Jobim.

The Jockey Club, from Corcovado

According to our favela tour guide, this road was part of the Rio de Janeiro Formula One Grand Prix circuit. The guide had a photograph of Fangio* driving a Formula One car through what is now the Rocinha favela, when it was part of the Formula One circuit. (The picture she had of Fangio driving through Rocinha looked like the Casino Hairpin in Monte Carlo.)

This is one of the old cable cars on Sugarloaf. I took pictures of this for our friend Ron MacArtney, who remembers riding in this when he was a child, with his mother.

The inside of the old car, with it's wooden floor. Ron says he remembers there being benches in it.

Mr. Sugarloaf Lizard's head peaking over the ledge in the middle of the picture.

A bad picture of a marmoset on Sugarloaf. John has been wanting one of these for a pet for a few years, but Claudia won't stand for it, because it would terrorize her cats, Taz and Murray. Taz's reign of terror over our household must end.

An abstract statue of a Carioca on Sugarloaf.