final conference day about to get underway in Rio de Janeiro

Life is good in Rio. You might find some Pacific islands more beautiful than this, but there can’t be another major city this beautiful. (Someone nominated Naples as a contender, but somehow I’ve still never been to Naples after so many trips to Europe.)

I’ve taken to hitting the beach each morning during the brief window between sunrise and the emergence of the sun over the mountaintops. Once that happens, it’s too bright and glaring. But for an hour or so the sky is light but the sin isn’t yet in your face. It’s too rough to swim these days in Copacabana, but you can wade out waist-deep and let the waves crash into you and sometimes knock you down.

Those who live here are blessed, as long as they are able to avoid poverty. Otherwise, it seems to be a nearly perfect climate. I was here for a week in June 2000, shortly before moving to Egypt. I’d been to Europe enough times in graduate school to get a couple of frequent flyer tickets, and used one in 1998 to go to Alaska (highly recommended as well) and the other to Rio de Janeiro.

Siegrfried Zielinski (a wonderfully warm person) has gone off to São Paulo for a number of activities but will rejoin us in Salvador a few days from now. Otherwise, the group remains intact for this final day of the conference.