Rio de Janeiro - more

Ola gente,
sorry that I´m writing so little, but its kinda difficult to get a straight half hour that we actually want to sacrifice at an internet cafe, when there is so much to do and see outside.
so here am I in Recife, taking this time to write about 11th - 13th august, when we were in Rio.

the whole area is very nice seen from above, as there are many small and large beaches, very wide with white sand, and clear waters (we got pictures, but cannot yet upload them here; next week probably). As we were on top of the "sugar loaf", and also at the Christ, there was a dense mist just above the ground, covering the whole city and beyond. we asked a couple of taxi drivers, who disagreed on the question whether it was pollution or not. it seems it depends on the time of the day, and day in the month. it makes everything further than a few km a bit fuzzy and white.
From up there, you can look in every direction, but the large hills all around Rio block the view in some places. The Favela da Rocinha, the biggest urban "slum" in the world, is visible from pretty much any high point of the city.
Rio de Janeiro was named like that because the bay was discovered in January (Janeiro), and the sailors thought they had found a large river (Rio). There is one, but it´s not so big ;)
We haven`t seen any of the supposedly-omnipresent violence. but we haven´t taken too many risks either.
Taxis are cheap and many areas are crowded with tourists even at this time of the year.

more on the city later, as we`ll be back there on august, 29th.

Cheers,

Jean