Half A World Away

Dauber's World is in Rio de Janeiro with former official roommate "Eric" exploring what this great city has to offer (post-Carnival).  Having been here almost two full days Dauber's World would like to jump to some conclusions (oh, ok, give some early impressions) of this city.

-Unclear if the Coriolis effect is true – the toilets here all flush to quickly to accurately determine whether the water truly is going clockwise (the water is sucked out of the bowl, it doesn't really swirl).
-The rest room situation has been quite pleasant so far – almost every toilet is equipped with toilet seat covers.
-It is yet-to-be determined if McDonald's is able to serve the same hamburger in Rio that it serves in China, Africa, Europe and the US (but Dauber's World is committed to finding out).
-Diner isn't consumed after 9pm here.  Easy to get in to restaurants before that.
-Hotels here are in the "Europe class".  Despite the fact that Brazil is home to many a tall individual the showers/beds do not accommodate anyone over 6 feet tall in any remotely comfortable fashion. 
-TV stations in the hotels have plenty of American movies with Portuguese subtitles, which partially makes up for the small beds.
-Air conditions is in every taxi and every restaurant which is important considering the humidity/temperature.
-Everyone here is really good at soccer.  Dauber's World saw four guys playing volleyball, but without their hands!  Dauber's World feared that even if he and Eric had full use of their hands they would still lose. 

Easily the most bizarre and annoying thing about Rio is the head that every bartender/waiter insists on putting in beer.  At first Dauber's World thought that perhaps this was merely an accident based on too small a sample size.  However after sitting at a microbrew for 30 minutes Dauber's World realized that this was in fact being done on purpose!  Why someone would want lots of head in the beer is inexplicable.  Luckily, despite virtually no language skills to speak of Dauber's World was able to order a beer head-free. 

Overall Rio is a very pretty city with abrupt rock formations throughout resulting in some gorgeous views of the city.  The locals have been extremely friendly despite the language gap (which certainly isn't their fault) and at no point have Dauber's World or "Eric" felt that they were in any danger whatsoever.  Dauber's World will continue to give updates as the week progresses.  Stay tuned…