Roadtrip to Rio de Janeiro - Dec. 2004

During my last week in Brazil, my friend Valter and I took a roadtrip to Rio. The first 5 photos were taken on the highway between Sao Paolo & Rio. We arrived late at night and stayed for two days. On the first day, we took the cable car ride to the top of Sugarloaf (that big rock.) It actually takes two separate cars to get there. The photos up to 18 were taken on the first leg of the trip. Then in photo 19 you see Sugarloaf from the beginning of the second cable car ride. Then the shots up to 27 were taken from the top of Sugarloaf, followed by a few more on the way down. From 32 to 39 are some shots I took from the car as Valter showed me around Rio. In 32, 33 you can see a couple of the favellas. If you've done any reading about Rio, you know what that's all about. You can't really tell from the photos, but there is a stark contrast between the poorest and the richest people of Rio. That was a point that Valter was making to me as he showed me this - also the fact that these two groups of people live in such close proximity to each other. In one place you have high rise luxury apartments that millionaires live in and a few blocks away are the favellas in which the residents live such a violent and impoverished existence. The situation in the favellas is so out of control that all levels of government are unable to come up with a course of action to solve the problem. Photos 40 - 46 were taken from the balcony of my hotel room, followed by a few beach shots we took on the second day before heading back to Sao Paolo. Bob

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