Things Brazilians really like:

1. Chris Brown's "With You." It plays everywhere; I hear it at least twice a day. Ultimately I think it will be the song that reminds me of Rio. Not samba, not favela funk, Chris Brown.

2. Key-making places. There's at least one kiosk and one store on every block.

3. Salgados, aka really cheap, really fatty snacks sold at every restaurant and every Lanchonette, usually in a deal with a pop for R$2. The salgados themselves are about .60-1.00 and are usually some combination of fatty breading/pastry, meat (hot dogs, sometimes chicken or ham), and melted cheese. I don't understand how everybody's not 300 pounds if all they're eating all the time are these snacks.

Mostly I just wanted to complain about "With You," which I heard about three separate times while shopping for a few hours today. I went to the craziest mall, Rio Sul, which is about eight stories of mostly upscale boutiques that are just beyond my price range all selling clothes that look similar, "going out" blouses and dresses, etc. It's extremely confusing because every store display looks the same, and they have no maps of the mall. I got lost about four times (a girl from my house got so lost last week when shopping with three others that she just took a taxi home alone). For the most part Brazilian fashion is just fine, but some garments I saw today were HIDEOUS -- there was a shirt like that sassy woman's "ethnic dress" on PR last week with what looked like fins on the side, and they're really into elaborate crossing bits of fabric that need to be tied. Anyway, I bought a pair of jeans (which are the one thing I desperately needed) and a bottled water. BIG SPENDER.