I just arrived in Salvador de Bahia in the northeast of Brazil, after a 28 hours busdrive along the beautiful green coastline. It's a lot cheaper than to fly. The vegetation here is so lush and the soil so rich that you get the feeling that a piece of plywood left lying around would root and leaf within a week.

I won't have the time nor do I have the budget to go to the Amazon this time, the distances are so great, but I'm getting the taste of what it might be like.
-----

When you go to a country you haven't been to before there's always something you have to get used to, or give up a habit you had before.

I'm still getting used to the fact that in Brazil you don't great everyone with a kiss on the cheek or two, like in Argentina and Uruguay. And Chile, but to a less extent. A handshake now seems so cold and formal after I got used to all the kissing.
-----

Rio de Janeiro is a great city in beautiful surroundings and it's inhabitants, the Cariocas, are warm and welcoming. That said, the city has it's problems. Rio has approx. 7 million inhabitants and is one of the world's most densely populated areas and the gap between the rich and the poor is enormous. But the love of life and the city is strong and it shows.

The numerous beaches in the city are crammed with people, carpeted with glistening, tanned skin. Copacabana is probably the best known and I'm sure the girls from Ipamena have inspired more than Tom Jobim.

The favelas, or slums, crawl up the hills and above it all Cristo Redentor blesses the mess from the top of Corcovado.