Glen Kittelson

Culture shock slammed Greg Anderson hard and fast when the Los Angeles ad man arrived in Rio de Janeiro not knowing a word of Portuguese, but having to take orders from Brazilian executives. With Bossa Nova and "Girls from Ipanema" in near bare-all bikinis dancing in his head, he had believed the job offer from the largest and most innovative advertising agency in South America to be a creative man's dream of paradise. That illusion faded fast when coworkers resented his workaholic dedication, and perceived his presence intrusive. The sweltering heat in offices without air conditioning seemed insufferable. The food was strange and, for him, not appetizing. Even the seasons were turned around; Christmas was in summer. On top of that, he had naively accepted being paid in the value-crashing Brazilian cruzeiro. A few months after his arrival a revolution erupted and, in a death-wish moment, he sought what was the center of action and maybe a part of history. That rash decision brought him within a trigger squeeze of death while staring down the barrel of an erratic soldier's rifle. But then life changed when he met a "Girl from Ipanema". That was when the dream of paradise turned to a nightmare of insanity...