RIO DE JANEIRO -- Man, that was rough.
I mean, it was just a landing at an airport and a taxi ride to the hotel, but I survived. I didn't contract any viruses, guzzle any contaminated water, get mugged or murdered, none of that. Of course, it's only the first day of these Games of the XXXI Olympiad, as they're formally designated, and there's still the rest of this one and 16 more to go for Brazil to fulfill the countless forecasts of being an epic disaster.
Maybe that's how it'll turn out.
My cabbie, a middle-aged and well-spoken gentleman named Walmir, took me on a whirlwind tour of the heart of Rio this morning, from Rio's infamous favelas or slums, to rusted, collapsing industrial complexes, to shiny new skyscrapers, to a couple of bridges that would be the envy of New York, to what he called "the place you don't want to go, especially when it's dark and you're alone" to "the place where everyone is happy."
And all of that rests, somewhat paradoxically, beneath the towering presence of Christ the Redeemer, which is so, so much larger than I'd imagined. Both the statue and the mountain:
A few of our Olympic hopefuls from the region. - GETTY
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