SolaceSoul

Wow. I say this with all seriousness. Seek help.

I remember a few years ago when The Waldorf Astoria and other swanky five-star hotels in New York City had a bed bug infestation problem. https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/bedbugs-reported-nyc-swankiest-hotels-article-1.2524895?outputType=amp

Like I said in a previous thread, I may understand the viewing audience a little better than you. Very few here are interested in analyzing, dissecting and digesting the results of a peer-reviewed research dissertation from the Journal of Probability and Statistics. Tone down the pseudo-intellectual rhetoric a bit. You’re blinding us with science, Ms. Sakomoto!

I have to use my decoder ring, but you’re basically saying here (in your own purposefully muddled and pretentious way) the very same thing that the travel blogger that @badboy posted said here, but in simple English: https://www.fluentin3months.com/theft/ Most, but not all, incidents of travelers’ crime and crimes of opportunity could be prevented by the targeted victims with some extra planning, precaution and awareness on the targeted victim’s part. Almost every one of these crimes can be traced back to victim error. They ain’t called “crimes of opportunity” for nothin’!

I just finished reading this article. He offers some excellent insight and advice on how to avoid being a victim of travelers’ crimes, or just crimes of opportunity in general. I agree with much of what he says — especially where he notes that almost every incident of travelers’ crime can be traced back to mistakes or errors that the victim or target made or could have prevented with some extra planning, precaution or awareness. Thanks for posting, @badboy! Here are some of the truisms he noted in the article that are absolutely correct — but are sure to piss off some of the posters here, because they hit too close to home:

Broken ribs or black eye > hurt feelings.

As the saying goes: “play stupid games, win stupid prizes.”

We may or may not be referring to the same garoto robbery. The one I’m referring to occurred in May, and was on Candido Mendes. This garoto is particularly flashy and I believe he does have a motorcycle, so he probably was on his way to the bike when it occurred. Either way, you reveal that at least 3 garoto robberies occurred upon leaving 117 this year — and thanks for this info. And yes, this very well could and probably does happen at 202 (which practically sits at the bottom of a favela), and the other saunas. Yes, quite a few area locals know that cash money is flowing in and out of the saunas. I will add that although, yes, there are plenty of things one can do to reduce his or her risk of being a target for or a victim of crime —- the percentage of risk will never be zero, and sometimes shit just happens. And face it, some people just have bigger targets on their backs in certain areas. An older white man shaped like the Pillsbury Doughboy dressed in an Izod shirt and plaid shorts with Ray-Ban shades and a backback in Copacabana is going to be a much bigger, much easier target than a youthful looking brown-skinned black man built like a running back, even if that black man has a decent watch and a smartphone! Conversely, in the American South or Midwest, that very same black man would most likely be stopped by the police or reported by a suspicious white resident as a crime suspect, and his life and liberty could be in danger.

You are right. No one questioned that the incident happened to sydneyboy. No one here even said that he did something to invite it or deserve it. My chief complaints are (1) his constant referral to an incident that occurred fourteen years ago is no longer timely and not very relevant to today, and (2) he says or does nothing to instruct others on how to prevent what happened to him happening to others in the future (and when others point out to him how the incident possibly could have been averted, he gets salty).

This advice may be better suited for those of you who prefer twinks or barely legal guys who prefer older daddies or bears — but it doesn’t seem appropriate for those of us who actually like our men to look like men, or who are interested in garotos de programa and don’t at all mind paying for a good time.

I’m going to read this article in its entirety, but I did want to add a slight correction about flip-flops. Brasileiros and brasileiras LOVE their Havaianas.

“VENOM”? YOU are the one STILL posting about one crime incident that happened to you in Copacabana FOURTEEN YEARS AGO — as if you hold some grudge against the entire city for something that happened when many of the current garotos at saunas were only 7 or 8 years old. In 2014, my and my 3 friend’s ATM cards were cloned at a bank machine in Copacabana and $2300 was stolen from my account in one morning. That was 5 years ago, I’m over it. Actually, I was already over it the next month. You’re not warning posters of dangers in current dangers or instructing them how to remain safer in Rio. Nothing you’ve posted does either of those. You’re digging up your one crime story from the George W. Bush administration era in an attempt to tar and feather a city (and possibly country) for allowing it to happen to you. I have said in another post where you discussed this incident outside The Copacabana Palace, that you basically make yourself a huge target by walking around The Palace looking like a wife-eyed gringo tourist — that area is PRIME for tourist muggings! So, if you insist on telling your 14-yet old mugging story ad nauseum, the best advice you could add at the end is: “don’t stay there, don’t look like me, and don’t do what I did”! NOT, “blame it on Rio”! And again, you got mugged on your first trip to Rio, and you still returned 8 more times since. You even Saigon this thread you’re planning yet another trip. THAT is the takeaway — that the draw of Rio (Brazil) usually wins over any of the more and less obvious risks and dangers (real or perceived).

“Back in the good old days, we didn’t listen to that hippity hoppity and that rockity roll! You whippersnapper kids stay off my lawn!”

Possibly, but none of this explains how the exact same crime with exact same circumstances, at the same location at the same time of day, the exact same items taken, the same kind of perpetrators, same witnesses, and the same taxi called to take him to the same hospital not nearby, happened to the same poster twice —- once on September 30 and the other in February of the next year. Because in his own words, this is what ihpguy said happened in his own posts. He has even doubled down on it, in righteous indignation. Anyone can read the two posts and see that. Can you explain away such odd, exact coincidences?

On October 4 of last year, @ihpguy DEFINITELY said this same story with the exact same set of facts happened to him on Sunday, September 30, 2018. So the exact same crime at the same location with the very same circumstances, perpetrator and witnesses occurred to him on September 30, 2018 AND in February 2019 (as well as two other muggings in February)? I hate to agree with you, @Riobard, but that’s just an unbelievable coincidence.

Yes, it was 117. He was robbed leaving the sauna on a Saturday night. It was on Rua Candida Mendes, this past May. I don’t know how much clearer I need to be.

Agreed, but this also applies to all of the big cities in Brazil — Rio, São Paulo, Salvador, Recife, etc.

I don’t see anyone apologizing for crime in Rio or Brazil at large or discounting your experiences. Crime — both petty and violent — is rampant in Brazil. It is not so great in good economic times, and the economy there now is in the toilet. Poorer young men are more desperate than usual, and the police force and public hospital staffs were practically cut in half a few years ago to save money. Bolsonaro is (surprise!) proving to be a mouthy, feckless idiot (just like his idol north of the Equator), so expect whatever he does to make things even worse. Muggings have bled (no pun intended) onto the boardwalks of Ipanema and Leblon. These were the very same warnings given to me when I was last there for 3 months living off Farme this past winter / their summer. And although crime can hit anyone, clearly those who physically look like they might have something to give up more easily (whether it’s the flashy muscular garoto just leaving a productive night of the sauna in Gloria, or it’s the very gringo-ey looking middle-aged man fluent in Portuguese who’s walking along the beaches of Ipanema / Leblon) are going to be at higher risk than others. Hell, I don’t even look anything like that at all, I “blend in” very well there, and even I am not naive or foolish enough to think that I couldn’t be a victim of a crime of opportunity at any time in Brazil. Safety should ALWAYS be a major consideration in Rio, São Paulo, Salvador, Recife and all points in between. Brazil is NOT Singapore! When garotos (working sauna guys) tell you that they don’t feel safe from crime, then there should be no reason to believe that you would be any safer. It’s easy to get lulled into the beauty and landscape of the city and the entire country of Brazil. So, @ihpguy, you were mugged three times in one month! Even that is highly unusual. Do you plan on leaving Brazil?

And my point is made. You were mugged in Rio / Brazil. Yet you continue to return to Rio / Brazil, and not only once, but numerous times since. We are ALL well aware of the risks of crime in Rio / Brazil. And if we are not, we very well already should be (we have the Google). Yet, in spite of knowing the risks of being targeted for crime or violence, we STILL return. Personal risk / reward assessments are a motherfucker. Signed, Not An Apologista But A Realista

What’s “annoying” is not that you had this harrowing experience — which everyone believes you did, who would not? — but that it happened FOURTEEN YEARS AGO and you’re still referring to it as some recent event. Do you have a more recent experience? If not, your constant continued recounting of this 2005 mugging outside of the Copacabana Palace does nothing for current travelers. If your point is to keep making a comparative analysis —- that there was crime in Rio then, and there is still crime, now — ok, Captain Obvious, you’ve made it. Rio is NOT a very safe city! Very few cities in Brazil are safe relative to some other parts of the globe. Now, do you have any current experiences in Rio / Brazil to contribute, or is it just that you will never return to the country because of that incident in 2005?

Most customers — if they’re smart and experienced — only bring enough cash to the sauna for the night at the sauna. Actually, most foreigners, tourists and expats — if they’re smart and experienced — only carry the cash that they need, and leave the rest safely at their residence.

The average customer would have more money GOING TO 117 than the average sauna garoto. The average sauna garoto would have more money LEAVING 117 than the average customer.

That’s exactly what it was.

Taxi rank? Nowadays, Uber will come door to door. Also the taxi apps will pick you up at the door as well. I’d recommend doing either if you’re concerned for your safety. I won’t discount anyone’s personal experience, because everyone is different and people are targeted for crime for different reasons. However, I will say that I’ve never had an issue walking from 117 to the Gloria Metro. I will now knock on wood!

I’m not discounting your experience, but 2005 was 14 years ago and 5 national elections ago. I started going to Brazil in 2009 and have been dozens of times since. Can we PLEASE keep this conversation to recent, relevant experiences?