Rio de Janeiro, more wonderful than violent

Rio de Janeiro continues to be beautiful, Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso sang in the famous song Aquele Abraço </ em>. And it is true, Rio is still a wonderful city, despite the violence that falls from its morros-favela, despite the endemic social inequalities, Rio remains faithful to its own myth, the sum total of all that is and was Brazil , immense city built on the shores of Guanabara Bay, on the most beautiful piece of geography in the world.

Cristo Redentor

photo by nicholasbittencourt - CC 2.0 by-sa

Rio throughout its history was the capital of Brazil's empire, capital of the Brazilian republic, and now only the state capital that bears his name. It has lost too much over the years: the status of capital at the hands of Brasilia in 1960, the status of the country's main city at the hands of São Paulo, which in 50 years of vertiginous growth gradually degraded it to satellite status, of economic and even cultural periphery.

Playas Leme y Copacabana desde el Pan de Azucar

photo by nicholasbittencourt - CC 2.0 by-sa

But between so much loss, on Friday, October 2, Rio de Janeiro once again felt the first and only when the envelope that named it Olympic city for the year 2016 was opened; That day, the almost paulista Lula da Silva, cried of emotion for Brazil, but also for Rio and for his return to the top, after so much fall.

Playa de Botafogo y pan de azucar

photo by philliecasablanca - CC 2.0 by

I can not be objective when I talk about Rio de Janeiro, it was the first mythical city I met, I was very young the first time I visited it and maybe that has perpetuated the sensation. I have traveled and known then other mythical cities: Rome, Paris, London, however in none of those cities, I have felt the presence of a city as happened to me with Rio. There is something in Rio de Janeiro that imposes the feeling of being there, a feeling difficult to explain that can not be transmitted through journalistic articles, videos, photos, movies or songs.

Laguna Rodrigo de Freitas y Morro dois Irmãos

photo by Rodrigo Soldon - CC 2.0 by-nc-sa

When you walk through Rio de Janeiro you feel the place in every way; the place exceeds the look, they could blindfold me and teleport me to the Atlântica </ em> avenue of Copacabana </ em>, and I would know perfectly well that I am there. Maybe it's that humid Rio heat that can be smelled, that unique rumor of the city, that samba </ em> that springs from all the movements and all the noise, the invisible presence of so much sea and so much mountain , and of so much apogee and past splendor in its buildings.

Laguna Rodrigo de Freitas

photo by philliecasablanca - CC 2.0 by

I like to stay in that final part of Copacabana </ em> which is confused with Ipanema </ em>, that neutral territory between the two most famous beaches of Rio and perhaps of Brazil, there I learned that magically from any corner walking a block ahead and another one to the right you always arrive at the beach of Ipanema </ em>.

I like to sit in that sand on the beach where Tom Jobim and Vinicius dreamed a lot of what later João Gilberto's guitar transformed into Bossa Nova </ em>; and see that incredible sunset over the sea right next to the Morro dois Irmãos </ em>, that impressive mountain with two Siamese heads, that emerges vertically next to the ocean in the part of Ipanema </ em> which is called Leblón </ em>.

I like to leave the tunnel towards São Corrado, and after the darkness see one of the most impressive landscapes that this land has to offer. I like to take a caipiroska in front of the lagoon Rodrigo de Freitas </ em> while the city happens around, I like to cross the bay by the Rio-Niteroi bridge, see its famous hills and also its dangerous noses; and the redeemer always there embracing everything, although every day more veiled smog.

I still like Rio despite everything, as violently sweet, as Cortázar's Nicaragua.

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