RIO DE JANEIRO — Your average media work room does not feature views of thickly forested hills, sloping down to sun-dappled expanses of water.
For the last year, you've probably heard everything that's wrong with Rio as an Olympic host — crime, Zika, traffic, sewage-filled water. But this is also a gorgeous city.
Several times in the two days I've been here, I've gone around a bend in the road and been gobsmacked by a sudden vista of hills (or are they mountains?) and ocean.
On Wednesday evening, we ate dinner at Aprazivel, a sort of open-air treehouse on a hill overlooking the expanse of Rio. I've rarely dined against a more captivating backdrop. The hearts of palm and the slow-cooked lamb were pretty captivating as well.
Also, mosquitoes — some of the chief villains of these Olympics because of their propensity to carry Zika — have been mercifully scarce as Brazil experiences its version of winter (temperatures in the 70s).
None of these observations are meant to dismiss the very real troubles around these games. There are plenty of reminders of those — from the police hefting machine guns outside the athletes' village to the endless traffic jams to the unfinished construction projects on the edges of the Olympic center in Barra.
But this city also boasts some profound charms that remind you why it was selected to host the Games in the first place.