I enjoy watching the Olympics. I’m especially pleased to see the Olympics in Brazil. I was able to visit Brazil just prior to World Cup. It was a crazy, cultural and colorful experience. I witnessed strikes, mobs, gunfire and incredibly beautiful and colorful scenery. The food was amazing. I ate things I had never heard of.  I met friendly  people and heard styles of music that were filled with life and celebration. My experience in Brazil was amazing.

My friends in Brazil would not take me to the Favelas. They said it was too dangerous. They didn’t want me to get hurt, or robbed.  They didn’t want me to see the poverty, overcrowding, pollution and social problems associated with the Favelas.

Nevertheless, the problems were there. I could feel it in the city. I could feel it in the tension among people. It was present in the bus strikes, the police strikes, the metro strikes. It was seeping out of the Favelas.

We were eating lunch at a restaurant near the harbor. Suddenly the lights in the restaurant went out. The restaurant owner told us we had to leave. They were closing. The mobs were coming. The police were on strike and the mobs were looting and robbing.

We had to go.

Now, the Olympics are in Rio and the world celebrates the games. However, many Brazilians, proud of their country and culture, are excluded from the celebration. They can’t afford it.

Hopefully, these games will be a celebration of the the Olympic spirit which inspires all of us, regardless of country and culture. And, hopefully, that same spirit will help to elevate the quality of life in Brazil and shed light on problems which afflict us all, not just those in Brazil.  Perhaps these games will move an immensely complicated people to search for answers to the growing social ills that color the lives of a very colorful country.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Recife, Brazil Temple

The sun sets on a broadcast radio tower in Recife, Brazil.

A bright red leaf in Recife, Brazil.

Bright colors are a part of the Brazilian landscape, ever for graffiti taggers.

A Brazilian Voegol Airlines 737 sits in the rain while we wait for the storm to clear.

At 35,000 feet, the rising sun strikes our aircraft wing before lighting the Amazon rainforest.

Don’t miss seeing the beautiful gardens and arboretum in Curitiba, Brazil.

Even bus stops offer a bit of high-tech refuge from the elements in Curitiba, Brazil.

In downtown Sao Paulo, Brazil, classic architecture mixes with modern contemporary, even with streetlights.

Is it a warning or a reminder?

Sao Paulo high rises illustrate the modernity of contemporary Brazil.

The the phone booths in Brazil are colorful.

Surrounded by the wealth and design of Sao Paulo, Favelas represent the contrast of incredible poverty in the modern world.

Over crowded and polluted, this Sao Paulo Favela is one of the most dangerous places in Brazil.

This 19th century light house welcomes sailors to the Recife, Brazil harbor.

While beautiful, and colorful, Brazilian bays, beaches and rivers are dangerously polluted.

The setting Brazilian sun glistens on the waters of recife, harbor.

A father and son fish the waters of Recife, Brazil.

The setting sun illuminates the clouds over Atlantic Ocean near Recife, Brazil.

Colorful riverfront shops and apartments grace the shores of Recife, Brazil.

Net fisherman ply their trade in the bay of Recife, Brazil.

Recife, Brazil sunset.

Recife, Brazil sunset.

Recife, Brazil sunset.

Sao Paulo Brazil has a colorful mix of ethnicities.

This indigenous street vendor is happy to make a sale in Olinda, Brazil.

Product placement? Or just an ad for Adidas?

Brazilian boys wait for the right moment to jump in to the Beberibe River, in Recife, Brazil.

Watch out for sharks and don’t go in the water in Brazil.

Even though the beaches in Brazil are beautiful, they are extremely dangerous.

The quaint and colorful main street of Olinda, Brazil.

The marketplace of Olinda, Brazil is a quaint and colorful experience.