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Rio de Janeiro - The Sugarloaf Mountain View

Rio de Janeiro is a city of contrasts. On the one hand, it's a prosperous metropolis and on the other, sprawling with slums called Pavelas. You can walk a city block and see nothing but modern skyscrapers and be in a crime-ridden ghetto the next. Regardless of the disturbing display of wealth disparity, Brazil is a beautiful city.

This viewpoint is called the "Sugarloaf." It was coined in the 16th century by Portuguese at the height of the sugar cane trade. Sugar was made into blocks in conical molds made of clay to be shipped. The shaped looked like the mountain peak. Today, for a fee of around $70 you can take the teleferico, which is a glass-walled cable car to the summit.