I visited Rio De Janeiro in 1998 for about 4 days and was not overwhelmed by this beach side city. The hotel strip and beach area that I stayed at was beautiful, but several blocks into town you could see the dire poverty and favelas (ghettos) that are such a big part of Brazil. The sex trade has a enormous presence in Rio and my friends and I were constantly approached by women on the street and solicited for “drinks”. Outside of being the victim of a scam while exchanging US Dollars at the airport my trip was relatively calm. I found the people pleasant and polite, and the beautiful bodies on the beach lived up to their reputation, but thus far have not been compelled to return to Rio.