Post: #51

Thanks for the write-up Titus. "Civil war" does justice to how it feels on the ground. There is military presence. Woke up to the sound of gunfire multiple times.

Rio is not just lawless like many places, the authorities have lost serious control.

Anyone know if things will intensify around the coming elections?

Post: #52

(09-01-2018 11:24 AM)asdfk Wrote:  Anyone know if things will intensify around the coming elections?

Probably after.

The likely winner for president Jair Bolsonaro is a Captain of the Army local from Rio and his vice president is a General, he is highly politically incorrect and against any human rights for criminals.

Post: #53

(09-01-2018 10:57 AM)Titus Wrote:  And altough Colombian girls are MUCH hotter (in average) than Brazilians, it's like a thousand times easier getting make outs or ONS with random chicks in Brazil.

You mean white girls or other kinds? What is the proportion of white women in comparison to Rio?

Post: #54

I was in Rio a few months ago. There was a heavy police/military presence in the city, I saw multiple armed convoys throughout the city and actually got a photo with some GOE guys. Despite this, if you stay in the nicer areas such as Leblon you'll be fine. Even Copacabana at night was safe so long as you stay on the main roads and avoid dark alleys.

The first time I was there I took Ubers and cabs to get around but the second time I ended up getting a rental (very cheap in Brazil) and drove everywhere without problems. I also visited a flavela (a nicer one) with a local just to see it. There were serious looking cops there with rifles.

Some general situational awareness safety tips:
Be aware of how people are looking at you
Be aware of how close people get to you
Know which area you are in
If you are lucky to meet a nice girl you can have her show you around and enjoy the city with her
Be aware of being on a main road compared to a small secluded alley
You can profile a general gangbanger but I have heard of stories of dudes in full suits mugging people
Watch your back when you are in a ATM

Basically this

(09-01-2018 10:35 AM)hipster Wrote:  But if for whatever reason you want to experience the city i think you should not really be afraid, if you have common sense odds that absolutely nothing will happen to you are much much higher. However if you are in the wrong place, in the wrong time you may get murdered for no reason in any area! And seriously the city night life is boring nowadays , better for day-anything. Still a huge interesting city for those who never came, i feel less safe in London but that is just a feeling.

Post: #55

I changed plans... and canceled Rio.

Having to constantly to look over your back every second is not my cup of tea.

I'm still flying home from BA Oct 12 so I might check out Lima or La Paz first instead.

Post: #56

(09-02-2018 07:56 AM)rishboy77 Wrote:  Having to constantly to look over your back every second is not my cup of tea.

It not that bad

Post: #57

Thanks for posting that red elephants video, it answered this question I had:

(09-01-2018 03:24 AM)Enhanced Eddie Wrote:  I've heard from locals that [...] robbers more frequently kill the people they hold up, for whatever reason.

Apparently assaltantes (robbers) under age get the same penalty whether they kill the victim or not, so they just do it

Heat, 1995 Wrote:because what difference does it make? Why leave a living witness? At the drop of a hat, these guys will rock-and-roll.

Post: #58

Jesus Christ Monkey Balls.

Had one of the best sexual experiences in my life last night.

Post: #59

Situation seems to be fucked in the whole Brazil right now.

Florianopolis which has always been the Switzerland of Brazil had 180+ homicides last year. In comparison the number of homicides in 2002 was 8. Thats more than 2000% increase if you are wondering.
Also read the news of some girl violented in full daylight in the trail that takes one of the most famous beaches a couple of months ago.

Curitiba, which is praised as a miracle of urbanization and as a standard for urban planning for the rest of the world, remains one of the most violent cities on earth.

Porto Alegre has a homicide rate three times Rio.

Espirito Santo state don't even get me started...

These are all places that were considered relatively safe in the past, far from
North Brazil and more well off.

Man I love the people and the culture of Brazil but I am wondering if its still worth spending time there instead of looking for safer pastures..

Post: #60

The South used to be mostly descendants of European immigrants. The North and North East was mostly indigenous and black. Hence the discrepancy in crime rates 15 years ago. Then the Brazilian soap operas started glorifying the life in the South and how beautiful and wealthy the cities are and people from up North started migrating to the Southern States and the crime rate started skyrocketing. Sounds familiar...?

Post: #61

Today me and my girl were in Ipanema getting some sun, saw a person laying in the middle of the street bleeding to death, I assume he was stabbed by a robber, and of course there were 50 people surrounding him in a circle, doing what this generation does best -- phones out pointed toward him taking fucking photos while he lay there bleeding to death.

Post: #62

(09-02-2018 07:07 PM)wellrockthecity Wrote:  Situation seems to be fucked in the whole Brazil right now.

Florianopolis which has always been the Switzerland of Brazil had 180+ homicides last year. In comparison the number of homicides in 2002 was 8. Thats more than 2000% increase if you are wondering.
Also read the news of some girl violented in full daylight in the trail that takes one of the most famous beaches a couple of months ago.

Curitiba, which is praised as a miracle of urbanization and as a standard for urban planning for the rest of the world, remains one of the most violent cities on earth.

Porto Alegre has a homicide rate three times Rio.

Espirito Santo state don't even get me started...

These are all places that were considered relatively safe in the past, far from
North Brazil and more well off.

Man I love the people and the culture of Brazil but I am wondering if its still worth spending time there instead of looking for safer pastures..

I agree with most of what you said except I don't think Curitiba is that dangerous for now at least. It has a high murder rate but it's mostly drug-traffic related violence. Something similar happens in Belo Horizonte for what I understand, you are not so likely to get shot by a robbing attempt but the statistics of violence are still very high because of the war between gangs.

Porto Alegre, on the other hand, is a complete mess where violence is out of control, the difference in safety with the neighbor gauchos of Montevideo and Buenos Aires is a testament of what Brazil has done to the south.

Sao Paulo while it has a crime problem is not really that bad and has an amazing low murder rate for South American standards. Which I found quite amazing. How do you have a city that is basically lost to crime like Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo in the same country at just a couple of hours in a flight and one remains unaffected. you can say the same comparing it to Curitiba which is actually very close to Sao Paulo. While criminals kill themselves merciless there leaving Curitiba with a 31.4 murder rate Sao Paulo chills just next door with 9,5.

There are many other places specially small cities that continue unaware of what happen in most capitals of Brazil but can that continue? In a lot of places you have cities that are falling apart while other cities keep on with their lifes like if nothing happened. Even in war-torn countries. You also have the other scenario like is happening in Mexico. Where the narco has expanded it's influence so much that half of the country lives in fear. How long can it take until Curitiba gangs decide to diversify their income by getting into other business like robbery, extortion or kidnapping? Then I guess it wouldn't be so different than Porto Alegre or Rio.

Post: #63

(09-02-2018 07:41 PM)LINUX Wrote:  Today me and my girl were in Ipanema getting some sun, saw a person laying in the middle of the street bleeding to death, I assume he was stabbed by a robber, and of course there were 50 people surrounding him in a circle, doing what this generation does best -- phones out pointed toward him taking fucking photos while he lay there bleeding to death.

Jeez, that's terrible. I wonder what actually happened, maybe he resisted a robber, though I've also seen some people get seriously injured riding motorcycles in that area with no gear and getting hit.

In any case, something like that is not a fucking spectacle, call a fucking ambulance and try to stop the bleeding, not take fucking photos to get 62 more likes.

Post: #64

On the bright side, won’t this scare tourist away?

I remember seeing videos of olympians getting robbed in broad daylight even before the games started.

Post: #65

It really comes down to what you are doing, where you are staying, and who you will be associating with. If you are staying in the nicer areas and doing regular tourist things you shouldn't have a any issues. If you are heavily drinking and using drugs in bad areas then the risk is a lot greater.

I was also in Porto Alegre a few months ago along with Floripa. Porto Alegre felt like a regular city however if you go into a favela then the risks will increase significantly. I was with my friends there and we drove around and hung out with that social circle and went to the high end clubs, restaurants, soccer games. Very safe compared to if you were to go to a low end venue and meet the more poor people.

Floripa there was almost no danger at all other than drowning while swimming out into the ocean. I had people who were extremely friendly to me and gave me recommendations on what to see and who also wanted to hangout.

If you are really worried then keep a trauma kit in your backpack.

Post: #66

Quote:If you are staying in the nicer areas and doing regular tourist things you shouldn't have a any issues.

Nonsense.

All the examples I mentioned were tourists doing touristic shit. Most of them well-traveled.

I was in a "better area" and ran into serious trouble twice. The guy that LINUX encountered was bleeding out in Ipanema, which is supposed to be one of the better hoods.

Logistics are a pain as well. The main places where you might meet people are 30 mins apart from each other by car. Girls often live further away.

Most Brazilians I spoke to downplay the poverty and violence they are surrounded with. But it is still there.

Post: #67

In most major cities in Brazil there are 2-3 “bairros” where you can live like in the West, the rest is too dangerous for a gringo to walk around. So just stay in those places, if you don’t know which are the safe areas, just avoid walking by yourself, especially at night. Also, avoid taking public transportation, this is not Europe. Uber and other services alike have cheapened a lot the cost of moving around in Brazilian cities without having to take public buses, anyway.

Post: #68

(09-02-2018 10:35 PM)asdfk Wrote:  Logistics are a pain as well. The main places where you might meet people are 30 mins apart from each other by car. Girls often live further away

If you are having to drive 30 minutes to meet girls, you are either not staying at a nicely located neighborhood, or you are meeting girls at the suburbs. Make them come to you instead.

Post: #69

I can only speak to my experiences. The only thing that pissed me off were the taxi drivers in Rio, I felt like all of them were trying to rip me off. When in Rio I was in Leblon, Ipanema, Copacabana, Lagoa, Gavea, Botafogo, Lapa, and Centro. I walked around during the day and at night but mostly drove or took a Uber to get around. I ran into no problems.

I read all the RVF data sheets on Brazil and on the cities I would be travelling to specifically. One way to put it was before coming, I was expecting the country to be a lot more dangerous however after being on the ground, the city did not feel as dangerous as the forum made it out to be.

I actually loved Rio so much that I plan to start making money online and then moving down there because it was such a beautiful city. Of course there is a war between the gangs and the police going on right now and people do get hit by stray bullets. Like any other 3rd world country you should be situationally aware and realize that shit can happen. Next time I go I'll have a trauma kit in my backpack and if something bad happens then I would be caught with my dick in my hand.

I expect that if Jair Bolsonaro does get elected that there will be hard crackdown on gangs in Rio and this could lead to greater bloodshed.

Put another way, if I was going to Paris, France I would adopt the same situational awareness posture.

Post: #70

How the Brazilians in this forum like Floripa for game and as a less stressfull alternative to Rio?

I was there once and I remember a lot of talent on the beach but you had to drive everywhere, not like Rio where you can just walk from Leblon to Ipanema to Copacabana, take a quick metro ride to Botafogo etc.

I didnt chase tail as I was there only 2 days but always wanted to go back for a longer period of time at some point.

Post: #71

Bolsonaro is reading the forum, he said it on TV today:

"[...] I said two years ago that without security there is no economy, they laughed at me. [...] I am here in Copacabana right now, does anybody want to enjoy tourism here in Copcabana? No, nobody wants because there is large leniency and complacency for those who commit crimes."

Post: #72

(09-02-2018 07:19 PM)Enhanced Eddie Wrote:  The South used to be mostly descendants of European immigrants. The North and North East was mostly indigenous and black. Hence the discrepancy in crime rates 15 years ago. Then the Brazilian soap operas started glorifying the life in the South and how beautiful and wealthy the cities are and people from up North started migrating to the Southern States and the crime rate started skyrocketing. Sounds familiar...?

Sure does: economic inequality. Crime doesn't in a vacuum.

Post: #73

(03-18-2018 12:37 AM)Bain Wrote:  Last year the violence in Rio was at one of its highest. The president called for the military to take over - but some claim the president did that bc elections are coming up. Only a few days ago a black female political councilor - Marielle Franco was assassinated after giving a talk - and she has been quite vocal against police harassment and the military occupation. This has lead to many protests in Rio and other cities.

Did you find any security problems. As per the news its seems to be quite volatile there right now.

She's not black.

Post: #74

Marielle is black, her case is nothing out of the ordinary and mostly fake news.

Facts are:

1 - Nobody knew who the hell Marielle was before she was killed, completely unknown person.
2 - It is proven that she was personally involved with criminals, and it is public that she defended the interest of criminals politically.
3 - It was just one more murder out of tens that happen per day in the city for whatever reason.
4 - Politically motivated murders do not exist in Brazil.
5 - Typically murders are not even published in the media.
6 - The big media in Brazil is leftist so is in most of the the world. They took the opportunity of her death to promote extreme left wing and United Nations interests by sanctifying her and her political views.

Post: #75

(09-01-2018 12:15 PM)hipster Wrote:  

(09-01-2018 10:57 AM)Titus Wrote:  And altough Colombian girls are MUCH hotter (in average) than Brazilians, it's like a thousand times easier getting make outs or ONS with random chicks in Brazil.

You mean white girls or other kinds? What is the proportion of white women in comparison to Rio?

What do you mean by “white girls”? Do you mean simply skin color or European descendant with Caucasian traces?

If it´s regarding the color of skin, Colombia in general is “whiter” than Brazil. You hardly see any blacks in Medellin or Bogotá, it´s common only in some parts of the country, like the Caribbean coast. But if you mean white Caucasian girls, than Brazil seems to have higher presence in its population.

From my experience, the average Colombian has the “true” Latina stereotype: Light brown skin, dark long hair, mix of European and indigenous traces. And they´re better material (in average) if compared to the Brazilian girl: More cute faces, more feminine, wear more make-up, healthier diet, healthier routine and more slim.

The major problem is that they´re much harder to bang than the Brazilian (considering a short trip, no pipelining).