Almost all of my life I have known about the city of Rio de Janeiro. I knew Ipanema, Copacabana, Christ the Redeemer, and carnival. Oh, and crime and violence too. Finally, after almost two years of coming to Brasil, I got to see it for myself.
It has the most natural beauty of any city I have ever seen and the beaches live up to the hype. It is a stunningly beautiful place, even though it was overcast most of the time I was there. It looks like god threw a handful of mountain size rocks down along the coast. The picture does not do it justice. Go to google images and search Rio and you will see. I loved it. I loved the sand, the cool water, the cheap food and drinks, the people watching, and the relaxed atmosphere.
It was also great that I can speak Portuguese well enough to manage most things. I didn't feel like I was a complete tourist. In fact, there were a few times that I only spoke Portuguese and Patrícia only spoke English because she wanted people to think she was an oblivious American. I felt very comfortable the whole time in Rio. Cariocas, people of Rio, are a friendly lot in general.
Patrícia was in Rio on business and I went down to meet her for the weekend. It was only two and a half short days and I left wanting much much more. We managed to see Christ the Redeemer just before we left, but the sun went behind the clouds just before we got to the top. It was still a breathtaking view.
As for the violence and danger...
There are many favelas, or slums, right beside the richest areas. The favelas are not places the police can go lightly because they are controlled by drug traffickers with serious weaponry. Normally they have to fight their way into the mountainside slums in huge gun battles. I, of course, love a little danger, but I am not stupid and I stayed far away.
I desperately wanted to go hang gliding over the city, however, the visibility was not great and I decided to wait for Eric to come and then we can go together. It is very safe, I am told.
The beaches and tourist areas are very safe if you use some common sense. There are a lot of tourist police and the drug traffickers know that tourism is important for people to earn enough money to buy drugs, so they try not to scare too many people away. Although, there are many oblivious tourists who are asking to be robbed and the poor people take the opportunity.
The most dangerous part of the visit was where I least expected. My safety was genuinely in danger. I have got to go now. Check my next post for details.
