Flight: American Airlines from NY to GIG with a stop in Sao Paulo - $990 (It is now about $730 for the same flight, the lowest it has been in a long time). We were delayed 90 minutes on the way there because one of the crew members was late in arriving. AA does get you where you're going, but there service has really dropped in recent years. If you get a smile, consider yourself lucky.

Accommodations: 5 nights at the Mango Tree Hostel in Ipanema. For the first three nights I was in a 6 person dorm (45 reais) and the last two nights in a private room (160 reais). The staff is extremely friendly and helpful, especially Pamela and Tracey, and the location, just a block from the beach, is unbeatable. There's a bar, TV room and free internet. But you do pay for the location. If you want nightlife, everyone goes to hang out in Lapa on Friday night. Then they have a trip to a samba school on Saturday and the favela funk party on Sunday.

2 nights at the Rayer Land Pousada in Arraial do Cabo. I was walking around looking for the hostel, but didn't find it and happened to pass by this place, so I gave it a try. 135 reais for a decent room with A/C, frig and cable. They don't speak a word of English, but are extremely friendly. And there's a pool out front.

1 night at the Varzea Palace hotel. Again, there is a hostel, but it's up on a hill far from the center. 60 reais for a big, semi-clean room with cable and free internet. Very cheap and very friendly.

2 nights at the Imperial Hotel in Catete (in Rio). 125 reais for a very clean, A/C room, with a pool and small gym on the roof. Again, very friendly. A bellboy named Marcelo carried my bag up to my room and then refused a tip. Never experienced that before.

Language: Learning some Portuguese before you go would be a great idea, since English speakers are few and far between.

Safety: This comes up quite a lot on here and I'll admit that my impression of Rio was a place where people were afraid to walk around at night, never wore watches or carried wallets, went through red lights at night to avoid carjacking, etc... Now I can say that it is nothing like that at all. I walked all over the city, through Ipanema, Copacabana, Botafogo, Flamengo, Catete, Centro, Lapa and the Zona Norte. And I walked all over Ipanema until around midnight and there are plenty of people around all the time. I don't doubt that crime is a problem in Rio, but I never felt threatened or saw anything that made me uncomfortable. The only incidents I heard about were people who brought expensive watches and cameras to Lapa and had them stolen, and one British guy who said yes to an offer to buy cocaine and had his watch stolen instead. If you don't do anything stupid, you'd probably have to simply be in the wrong place at the wrong time to have any trouble. Don't let it stop you from going.

Highlights:
1. The Maracana - I have to disagree with the report below on this one. I went with a hostel tour to the same Botafogo-Flamengo game and we all loved it. The game itself is not the main attraction, it is the whole experience. We sat in the locals section with the Flamengo fans and the samba bands, the huge flags and the smoke bombs. Certainly very different from a baseball game in the US. This is one of those things that you won't experience anywhere else in the world and it should not be missed.
2. Favela Tour - I went with Be A Local for 65 reais. We went by motorcycle to the top of Rochina and then walked down to the bottom. The guide was certainly not from the Favela, but she seemed to know all the locals and pointed out all the drug dealers to us. It certainly gives you a different perspective of Rio, away from the fancy restaurants and chiseled bodies of Ipanema.
3. Ipanema Beach - It's not just a beach, but a whole way of life. You can rent chairs and umbrellas, buy beach clothes, sunglasses, tanning lotion and eat everything from shrimp kabobs, empadas, acai with granola, fresh squeezed juices, chicken sandwiches and more. Don't miss the chorros filled with chocolate. On one day, the beach was absolutely filthy and you could see the garbage washing up in the waves. The rest of the time it was great. The water is rough though, so be careful.
4. Arraial do Cabo - This is a weekend and summer vacation spot for Brazilians, but if you go at other times, it is pretty empty. It's a great place to see small town Brazil, with great beaches, fishing boats in the harbor, houses built on the hillsides, and kids playing soccer on the beach.
5. Food - Eating is great fun. Breakfast is included at every hotel and varies in quality. You can buy good and cheap fried stuff all over the place. And there are bakeries everywhere. The par kilo places are a great option, where you get good value and don't have to worry too much about language problems.
6. Flamengo Beach - I wound up here by accident after a very long walk to the Carmen Miranda museum. The beach is too dirty for swimming, but it has a great view of Pao de Acucar and it's a great place to just sit for a while and watch the joggers, the foot-volley players (which is amazing to watch) and the weightlifters.
7. Brazilian Men - They are beautiful. And they love to walk around in their tanktops and without their shirts. The guys from my hostel seemed to like the women as well, but that is beyond my area of expertise.

Negatives:
1. The weather: Cloudy most of time. Rio is meant to be seen in the sunshine, so it loses something when it's cloudy. When it was finally sunny, I went up to Pao de Acucar, but the clouds were replaced by haze. There was a huge storm on my last afternoon there that flooded the whole city and it took two hours to get to the airport. Thanks to a great cab driver, I just barely made my flight.
2. Pollution on Ipanema Beach. It varies depending on the day, but some extra garbage pails there would be a great idea.
3. Some less than honest cab drivers. One told me the train to Corcovado was closed and that he'd have to drive me up and of course make some extra money. It wasn't closed. Another gave me less than the correct change. A few at Corcovado and Pao de Acucar tried to charge flat rates, which were double the real prices. Just get out and find an honest driver if that happens. And in one case, the meter was going up extremely quickly - it clicked up four times within one block. After I said something, it suddenly started working properly. But most drivers are perfectly honest and helpful.

In the end, I didn't quite get to see everything I wanted in Rio, mostly because the beach was too addicting. But I think I've seen what I needed to. I'd like to go back to Brazil but to the north this time.

Next trip:
El Salvador - January '09