Blog from Brazil #1

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Picture New York City up against wide sandy beaches and warm ocean. Or a city that seems so much both Latin America and Europe at the same time that you can forget which continent you are on. Or, along the shore at Copacabana, picture Southern California at summertime on steroids.

Rio, judging from my first two days here, lives up to its reputation.

I am here for two weeks, in land of Samba, Lula, the world´s second largest Jesus (Cochabamba still comes in #1 by several inches), and a really strange all-you-can-eat pizza place that has so many varieties that they include chocolate and banana! I am doing a case study of how Brazilians are organizing to bring democracy to the mysterious world of the public budget.

Stay tuned.