Here are (finally) some photos from my arrival. Below you can see some views from my hotel room.
Looking towards downtown:
Looking down at the street behind:
Looking across towards a nearby neighborhood:
I’m not sure what these big dirt mounds are, but they were, um, some big dirt mounds:
This photo is not from Brazil, but from JFK airport on Sunday. The flight there was a shuttle (or perhaps shuffle) flight, and we deplaned down to the tarmac. The sunset was improbably dramatic, and the sun was very big and red as it sank behind the skyline. Not surprisingly, the photo doesn’t do it justice:
collecting tokens 
yup, that’s brasil all right. you can tell by the fuscas in the top two photos. *grin*
I wrote this before, but I hope I can go to South America someday. It’s just so…different! I love all the colors on the buildings.
And the sunset is gorgeous!
Those were some big mounds of dirt. Very curious. Perhaps some ancient cultural tradition enacted as a sign of welcome?