Is this thing on?

hangliding in Rio
Originally uploaded by fake fotos

Yes, well, once you get behind in your half-assed blogging efforts the harder it is to overcome your whole-assed procrastination efforts. Or something to that effect.

What better way to get things rolling again than with a picture of yours truly soaring over one of the richest neighborhoods in Rio de Janeiro? Up against that rock formation in the background is an enormous favela. They´ve got a lovely view of the golf course. As did I.

Never actually flown with the birds before. Quite something. Highly recommended, though a bit expensive. My instructor drives up the mountain and flies down several times a day to the tune of $140 a pop. That price is quickly going up as the dollar continues its race to the bottom of the pile. Since I´ve arrived in Brazil three weeks ago the dollar has dropped 7 cents. Last July the exchange rate was 2 to 1, now it is 1.68 to 1. Good times. Apparently Warren Buffet made several more billion dollars investing in the Real. And enough of that random crap.

Hangliding over Rio! What better way to celebrate the plummeting dollar than by floating down to the beach?

The flight lasted around 15 minutes, which was the only disappointing part since the instructors were raving about the perfect conditions and the experts were soaring higher and higher on the thermals above the launchpad. Why can´t we go up like them?

Perhaps almost as exhilirating was the drive up. Our driver knew the winding road amazingly well and was doing about 100km/hour the whole way up.

There is plenty to catch up on and since I ain´t much of a linear kind of guy I will fill in the spaces in a non-chronological kind of way.