Brazil (EDIT!)

I promised to talk about Brazil a little, but I'm a bit lazy right now (well, actually, I have a lot of work to do and I should probably stop blogging), so I'll summarize in bullet points:

1. Brazilians are REALLY friendly. And they love to flirt.
2. It is impossible to be a vegetarian in Brazil. They're obsessed with meat.
3. The samba scene is great. Well, the music scene generally is great.
4. Portuguese is such a sexy language.
5. The scenery is really beautiful.
6. The weather isn't too hot, or too humid. Although my hair would disagree (would you believe I was unable to straighten it? Even after being blow-dried, expensive products applied, straightened with my $200 iron? And it STILL was a mass of frizz?)
7. People don't like to add sugar to their drinks. Even when the fruit they use isn't ripe and is rather flavorless. Not even in lemonade (well, limeade really). How can you have limeade without sugar? I cannot understand this concept!
8. Splenda/Equal/sugar substitutes are not advertised like in the US - in the US, sugar substitutes are promoted as great for weight loss, cutting calories, etc. In Brazil, they're advertised for people with diabetes and other such health concerns. It's even on the freakin' sugar packet - "For Diabetics". Obviously they don't care so much about calories.
9. Remember the song "The Girl From Ipanema"? Well, we passed the bar where it was written. How cool is that?
10. EDIT: People are not fat. Well, there are chubby people, but I certainly did not see a single obese person, like you see in the US. And they have no fat-people sizes. To give you an example, I'm a pant size 12 (yes, I'm not proud of it - I'm losing the weight, okay?!), and my size over there is GG (that's XXL). Yes, XXL. An American size 12 (considered Large in the US), ladies and gentlemen, is an XXL over there. XXL! And as far as tops go, I'm a Medium. Guess what fit me over there? XXL. Yeah. Simply put, I felt gigantically fat over there.
11. EDIT: People LUV dogs over there. Really, they do. The Ex was complaining at the sheer amount of tiny toy dogs everywhere (he hates dogs). And guess what I saw? Two pugs! Pugs! Brazilians love pugs too! A little happy tear rolled down my eye (okay, maybe not. But I did scream to my Ex, "PUGS! PUGS! PUGS!")

Finally, I'm leaving you with a couple pictures. The first is one of the many views from the top of Pao de Acucar (Sugar Loaf), the second is the statute of Cristo Redentor, and the third is a picture of one of the beaches in Buzios (a beach town 2 hours from Rio de Janeiro).