Tag: Safety

10 Tips to Survive Rio de Janeiro
Last week my family and I were waiting in the citizens service area of the US Consulate in Rio de Janeiro, and I overhead a young man pouring out a pretty tragic story to the consulate staff standing opposite the bullet proof glass. He’d been robbed and had lost every single form of id, all his credit cards, and all his cash. He was left with no proof of identity whatsoever.

My husband and I cringed at the guy’s story. As a woman, I know we shouldn’t blame the victim. A person should be able to walk down any street with his house deed and gold bullion spilling out of his pockets without the threat of violence. But dude! You walked around Rio with all of your documents in your pockets? Come on!

Because I have been a recently arrived foreigner in Rio without a word of Portuguese other than Obrigada and with the Rio Olympics opening in less than week, I’ve written down some tips to help visitors ~~survive~~ enjoy their time in Rio. The tips are gathered from my own experience in Rio and the advice my Carioca (native of Rio de Janeiro) husband gave me when I first arrived.
1. Leave Your Passport in the Hotel Safe Do not walk around Rio with your passport in your back pocket. Take a driver’s license, or even better a student id, just something with a picture and name so that your body could be identified. (I’m not saying you’ll be shot. Even though Rio does have an incredibly high violent crime rate, you’re much more likely to die in a car accident or crushed by a hastily constructed bikeway.)
2. Carry Cash Only or 1 Credit Card at Most Every touristy area in the world has pickpockets and canceling stolen cards is a major pain. Save yourself the worry. Also, withdraw a bunch of cash at the airport (Don’t carry it all at once or in the same pocket), so you can leave your ATM card back at the hotel too.
3. Speaking of Cash…Always Have Small Bills Many taxi drivers will tell you they cannot break a fifty. They will swear to it on their mother’s life, and then demand you pay them with what you have. Unless you enjoy arguing in Portuguese, always have 10s and 20s on you. Small bills are also more convenient for food vendors and stalls in the markets.
4. Carry a Purse/Backpack But Don’t Put Your Cards or Phone In It This advice I got from my husband my first day in Rio. Many women in Rio carry dummy purses with an old wallet that has some cash. Their credit card and id are in a back pocket.
5. Don’t Wear A Lot of Jewelry I know. We should all be able to wear whatever we want whenever we want, but maybe while on vacation in a foreign country it’s best to accept reality as is and save showy displays of wealth for your home turf. Wearing your gold necklaces and diamond rings will not in anyway improve your trip. Leave them at home. Besides Cariocas are generally a casual beach people. If you want to blend in, you should be going around in shorts and flip flops anyway.
6. And if you want to Blend in…Sunscreen! The surest way to find the tourists strolling through Ipanema is to look for the pinkest people. Even though it’s winter in Brazil, last week was 80 in Rio, and the sun was intense. I know. We had to walk around downtown in direct sun with an impatient preschooler. Pack sunscreen (It will be crazy expensive in Rio) and use it.
7. What You Bring to the Beach: Towel, Flip Flops, and Cash Tucked in Your Bathing Suit That’s it people. You leave the hotel already in your bathing suit & cover up and carry nothing other than your towel. You can rent chairs and buy snacks on the beach. This was a huge cultural adaptation for me. I come from Atlanta, and my family’s summer trips to the beach involved a cooler, a half dozen canvas totes, and a wheelbarrow. True statement.
8. The Ocean is For Admiring Not Swimming At this point most people have heard about Rio’s toxic bay and surrounding waters. I do feel a bit like I’m beating a dead horse that died from a super bacteria picked up after drinking out of Guanabara Bay, and I have taken lots of pictures of children playing happily in the water at Ipanema and Leblon beaches. But those local kids have immunity that visitors don’t. If you want to take the very real risk of spending your vacation hydrating on a bathroom floor, then by all means, dive in.
9. Deet I recommend insect repellent with the highest level of deet that doesn’t immediately give you cancer. Mosquitoes are a problem in Rio. Any exploration around the bay or into the forests around Rio absolutely demands bug spray. You do not want dengue! Sorry…what about zika? Oh sure, zika is terrible if contracted while pregnant for its potential to pass on devastating birth defects. Dengue can straight up kill you. It did kill 843 people in Brazil last year, and this years there’s been about 9 times more dengue cases than zika. Either way, dengue or zika, you’re gonna want to use repellent.
10. Be Alert Don’t be the idiot that’s so focused on getting the perfect selfie you’ve failed to realize you’re group of obvious tourists is alone on the street. My husband looks over both shoulders every few seconds when walking through Rio out of habit. He’s confirmed this level of vigilance is every bit as exhausting you’d imagine, but he developed the habit after being robbed twice. Just pick a designated driver for your group. Someone who can be in charge of risk management while everyone else has a good time.
This is the most depressing list of travel advice. I realize that. But before angry Cariocas start posting in the comment stream about the foreigner who doesn’t appreciate their magnificent city, I’m going to do a second post on all the great experiences in Rio. Now that everyone knows how to stay safe, I can recommend awesome things to do with the free time not being used up with emergency trips to the consulate or hospital. Come back on Wednesday for 10 Tips to Enjoy Rio.

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August 1, 2016
Turkey & Tanks: Happy Thanksgiving from Rio!

One week ago today, I was sitting at the end of a beautifully laid table surrounded by good friends and equally good food. On my plate was a second helping of turkey and on the tv were images of tanks rolling through streets. Happy Thanksgiving from Rio de Janeiro!

Most people, even in the US, have at this point heard that Rio was the scene of a violent showdown between drug gangs and police last week. Fortunately, the city has calmed since last Sunday when police and military invaded and secured one of the most violent slums in the city, Complexo Alemão.

Despite questions and comments from friends in the US, I haven’t written about it because I don’t really understand my own reaction. My rational brain failing to sway my gut reaction. What finally prompted me to write something even if its contradictory and lacks a conclusion, was a facebook post by a family friend and Georgia state legislator that linked to coverage of the violence and asked “How did Rio get the Olympics?”

Well, I can’t answer how Rio secured the Olympics although I suspect it has something to do with its fabulous location, vibrant sports-crazy population, huge federal support, and the fact South America was long overdue to host the Games. What I can say for certain is that no one needs to be afraid to come to Rio for the Games. Last week was the most violent week in recent Rio history and, to be perfectly honest, I never felt afraid.

It was fluke that my husband and I were even in Rio when the violence broke out. We flew from Vitoria specifically to celebrate Thanksgiving with good friends. By the time we arrived in the city Wednesday afternoon gangs had been burning cars and buses around Rio for a couple of days.

My husband and I spent Wednesday afternoon running errands, buying Christmas presents and visiting my in-laws. For dinner everyone, including my 1 year-old nephew, walked to the mall for pizza. The next morning someone came to look at our apartment, more errands and packing. It wasn’t until my husband and I went to the mall for lunch that I realized how bad things were.

The tv in the food court was showing tanks in the streets of Rio. I had heard that gangs were burning buses and causing huge traffic jams but I never thought it was bad enough to call the military. From what I saw around me everyone was going about their day as usual. When my husband mentioned the bus burnings I asked, “Did they let the people off the bus before they burned it?” He told me they did and I promptly forgot about it. My only concern was getting caught in one of the resulting traffic jams.

Should I have been afraid? I’ve been asking myself that question. I don’t think so. In a metropolitan area of over 10 million people the odds my husband and I would be in the car selected for burning were minuscule, made even smaller by the area of the city live in.

In our neighborhood the streets were busy. The coconut water vendor was on the corner and the weekly vegetable market was set up like any Thursday. Taxis were lined up outside the mall and we grabbed one to head to our friend’s apartment for Thanksgiving dinner.

Throughout the afternoon while prepping for dinner, our host had the tv on. Globo news replayed images of more than a hundred drug dealers fleeing through the bushes into another slum as the police moved in. Our host, a native of Rio, had a very clear opinion on how to deal with the gangs; bring in the helicopters and launch some missiles. In his opinion, the gangs were armed militias and they were waging war against the government.

I was sitting next to him watching the same reports but I couldn’t muster the same anger. I saw a group of armed (yes, heavily) but often shirtless and shoeless young men and teenagers running from one neglected part of the city to another. The news was running shots of gang members burning tires. While my host called for missile strikes a voice in my head cried “Oh God, shirtless teenagers are burning tires! Quick call the marines!”

I know those teens had guns. I know they were actively using them. Many people in Rio were justifiably afraid for their lives. Just not any of the people in the neighborhood where I was.

I didn’t understand the ferocity and panic that some of the other dinner guests had. Their day had not ben impacted in any way by the violence. As for the chance of this “war” spreading to other areas…To my eyes the “war” was over before the second bus finished burning.

The gangs had pistols and some automatic rifles. The police had bullet proof vests, pistols, rifles, scopes, years of training, overwhelming numbers, helicopters and did I mention the army was called in? This was the most one sided war in the history of military engagements.

I’ve read back over this post and I’m aware of how bizarrely pro-drug dealer it sounds. Let me assure you, I think everyone of them should be arrested, sent to trial and then to jail on what is probably overwhelming evidence. They have broken the law, disrupted the entire city and started a gun battle that hurt many and even killed some. And yet…

Images are powerful things. The image I remember most vividly from all of the news reports that Thursday was not the scene of a hundred armed men running from the police. It was of a group of armed and uniformed police officers dragging a shirtless, handcuffed teenager (he was 19 at the most) in front of reporters. One of the officers grabbed the teen’s chin and jerked his face up so all the cameras could see. The police displayed their human trophy and it made my stomach turn.

I was the only one who saw that scene. We were having dinner but from my chair at the end of the table I could still see the tv. My reaction was physical. My stomach clenched and could feel my face flush. The crawl along the screen told me this was a captured drug dealer but all I saw was a half-naked kid being treated like a prized animal pelt by forces infinitely more powerful than he had ever been or could hope to be. It broke my heart.

Of course I want the police to be able to defend themselves from people perfectly willing to use violence, but I expect the people society allows to carry weapons and use them to have respect for every human being. That is why they are the “good guys.” The good guys know that human life has value simply by being human. If you can treat someone like an animal without a second thought, in my book, you’re a bad guy.

I don’t think that young drug dealer was born evil. His government failed him at every turn, health care, education, even basic sanitation. It’s certainly not an excuse given the thousands of people living in the slums who don’t turn to crime, but so many legitimate options were closed to him because of where he was born.

It’s funny. I’ve been reading comment streams and blog posts about the violence. The majority seem to agree with my host. Kill the drug dealers. They’re the bad guys. I’m truly amazed by the fact I haven’t jumped on that band wagon. I’m no pacifist. I do moral outrage and righteous indignation really well.

I’m sure it all it would take is for me to have a gun put in my face. It’s not been tested, but my compassion is probably only around when the weather is fair. I finally decided to stop trying to convince myself to hate them. A few people reminding everyone that even drug dealers are people who deserve a trial before being convicted is not a bad thing. Why would I want to talk myself into hating and fearing people anyway? If I can be aware of the situation and go on about my day, then yay for me.

And you can go about your day in Rio too! That was the point of this entire post. The world doesn’t need to fear coming to Rio for the Olympics. I was in Rio during a week of violence and I still got all my Christmas shopping done. The chances of you being assaulted are minimal. You’re far more likely to get run over by a bus.

So buy your tickets early! Beach volleyball is going to be right on Copacabana!

December 2, 2010
Hostage Taking Leads to Flight Cancelation

My brother and his girlfriend spent the last week with me here in Rio. Saturday night, I dropped them off at the airport and went back to my apartment. Sunday morning, I got a call from my Dad. “Did you know your brother and Lauren are still in Rio?”

“What do you mean they’re still in Rio?!”

“Their flight was canceled. All they were told was that the flight crew was in no condition to fly. Apparently something happened at the hotel where the crew was staying.”

The “something” that happened was a mass evacuation after gang members got into a firefight with police and then invaded the lobby of the Hotel Intercontinental and took 30 hostages to the hotel kitchen. The flight crew was staying at the Hotel Intercontinental. Thus, my brother and his girlfriend got an extra night in Rio courtesy of US Airways and the Amigos dos Amigos gang.

Officials at every level have been made frantic by the invasion. Rio’s mayor and governor could not get to a microphone fast enough to reassure the world that Rio will be safe for the World Cup and the Olympics.

For me, Saturday’s hostage taking only highlights how very fragile Rio’s stability is. Everything in the city is at or exceeding capacity, the airport, the roads, the public hospitals. The government is notoriously corrupt. The city is among mountains making access points between neighborhoods limited and an event that blocks a single road has the potential to tie up traffic throughout the city. The situation at the Hotel Intercontinental is a good example.

Saturday’s invasion occurred just in front of a tunnel connecting the city’s social center to its huge suburbs. Residents were basically cut off from the city for the morning. Thank God the gangs and police manage to avoid each other during rush hour. The event also showed the trickle down effects of one outbreak of violence. A hotel is invaded and the airport, located on the other side of the city, is having to cancel flights.

I have my doubts about Rio’s ability to host the Olympics. I agree with the need to diversify host cities and have the games in South America. I just feel so much in this city is already at the breaking point, that a major event is going to break it.

This month, Smithsonian magazine has a cover article on Rio and the challenges it is facing in preparation for the World Cup and Olympics. It’s an honest assessment by an author who clearly loves Rio.

Of course, the Olympics could be the stimulus for real change and improvement in infrastructure but Rio’s past problems with corruption and inefficiency make me skeptical. In the four years I have been here, I’ve seen the very slow pace at which things get done. I know Cariocas pride themselves on a laid back attitude but the city is going to have to pick up the pace because there is a lot of work to be done.

August 25, 2010