Beleza Não

I'm sitting in Atlanta, listening to CNN (in English) as I write this. The air conditioning isn't on, people are carrying winter jackets, and there are no shortage of camouflaged soldiers in boots wandering around.

It's strange to be back, although I suppose I haven't really arrived yet. It's time to move on, I suppose, but I miss Rio, and I miss Raj. But, I don't really have the emotional or mental energy to write about my feelings on that, so I'll gloss over it for now. In brief summary - Appa came to visit for my last few days. It was nice, although I was a bit sad the whole time, which perhaps got in the way of my fun. But, we went to a samba school, went to a few fairs, and Appa had his fill of Ritz-recommended tours, so hopefully he got a nice taste of Rio.

The journey has been okay so far. We got to the airport via bus, and check-in and security were relatively easy. Brazilians are notoriously friendly, and it was especially evident at the airport. The entire check-in, security, customs process is fairly easy - at security, you don't even have to take out your laptop, much less bag your liquids or take off your shoes. They do do a bag inspection as you're about to board, but they have about 15 (friendly) people working and are fairly quick and efficient. And, there's no worry about missing your flight, as you've already handed them your ticket.

Atlanta is kind of a shock in comparison. Upon arrival I had to pick up and recheck my baggage, which is a complete waste of resources since really all I did was get my bags off the belt, put them on a cart, hand a guy my customs form (declaring $27 worth of purchases), and then go hand them to someone else to put them back on a different belt headed for my plane. No x-raying, no inspection, at least that I witnessed. But, apparently we're at a code orange (thank you for the announcements, Hartsfield-Jackson) so clearly this is making a difference. Security was equally awful and pointless, perhaps worse because it was before 7 a.m. and the workers were grumpy. This is the difference between a country that fights terror and a country that doesn't, I suppose.

Now CNN is telling me how to tell if my moles are cancerous (because Laura Bush's skin cancer is worth reporting every 30 minutes), and there's a report about the safety issues associated with small cars (with no mention of the fact that this isn't the case in most countries where people don't insist on driving SUVs everywhere, regardless of passenger or towing needs).

I'm hoping the Bay Area will be more sensible.