Hi everyone! I have a few minutes free and decided to put up a quick update from Brazil:

I´m safe and having a really amazing time here. For the past five days I´ve been living in Ipanema in Rio (one block from the beach), which is considered to be one of the more beautiful, safer sections of the city. I´ve been keeping my schedule busy--I explored the outdoor markets of downtown Rio, saw Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf, went hang gliding, took an old trolley through the Bohemian section of town, and even visited a favela, which, specifically, was an especially memorable experience. Last night Rio hosted one of the Live Earth concerts on Copacabana beach (there were something like eight of these concerts held around the world to promote awareness of global warming and other environmental concerns). There I saw Pharrell, Macy Gray, Lenny Kravitz, and several Brazilian musicians play to an audience of about 750,000. It was really interesting to see the diversity of the crowd--many people living in the favelas came down, as did many residents of the affluent neighborhoods (and a good number of foreigners were there, although very, very few were from the US).

I´m really having a great time. I decided to travel Brazil alone, but I´ve met lots of very, very nice and interesting people from all over the world. Rio really draws a diverse crowd. And my interest in learning Portuguese has grown since my arrival here, although I´ve had no problems at all getting around on Spanish and English alone.

I hope you´re all doing well! When I return to Montevideo I´ll post pictures of some of these experiences. I´m especially looking forward to posting photos of the favela and the sunset from Pão de Açucar (Sugarloaf).

I´m wishing you all the best!