Members ihpguy Posted October 9, 2011 Members Posted October 9, 2011 For the second year in a row, the bank tellers have gone on strike. Not that travelers need to see a teller, but depending on the agencia/branch, some machines are inoperable/broken. Also, keep in mind that the machines might only dispense a smaller quantity of cash/saque. Or else, that the machines might be all out of cash later in the day. The strike is mostly in the centro area of Rio. Also other cities as well. Outlying neighborhoods are not as affected. A couple months ago, the firefighters/bombeiros got a large raise in salary after a short strike. Starting in September, the mail carriers went on strike that is continuing as of now. So expect prices pretty much everywhere to have gone up 10%-20% or more. All the stores use scanners and rarely paste prices on items. They offer scanners for customers to perform their own price checks. This happens at larger pharmacies, supermarkets, bookstores like Saraiva and Travessa. Even my guiltiest pleasure, an Acai shake(Acai,Sweet Cream ice cream and Guarana syrup) has spiked from 7,95 to 9,95 on Praca XV. Quote
Members MsGuy Posted October 9, 2011 Members Posted October 9, 2011 Seemingly small stuff like this can really screw up your day when they catch you unawares. A good travel tip, ihpguy. Quote
TotallyOz Posted October 10, 2011 Posted October 10, 2011 Ihpguy, Thank you so much for keeping us up to date on the situation down there. You always give us useful information. It is much appreciated. Quote
Members ihpguy Posted October 15, 2011 Author Members Posted October 15, 2011 Ihpguy, Thank you so much for keeping us up to date on the situation down there. You always give us useful information. It is much appreciated. My pleasure. Went into Rio today. The bank tellers strike has ended. They are apart by 5% on the wage increase. 7.9 to 12.9. Then their is the claim that they deserve better fringes as the banks are right now earning billions. Grupo Itau Santander earned $5.4 billionUS in the first 8 months of the year. Each director on their board is being compensated to the tune of 7.9million Reais for this year. They are noe back in negotiations. I'm just happy that the ATM I normally use has been repaired and shot me money today. Still no mail. It seems like forever and a day. But with e-mail, PDF files and a printer, it's easy enough to have bills to pay. The part I don't understand, and I live here after all, and no one can really explain, the mail carriers are still delivering SEDEX( Brasil's version of FEDEX)daily. No regular mail. Strange. BRASIL! Quote
Members Lucky Posted October 20, 2011 Members Posted October 20, 2011 Brazil's stunning rise in the value of its currency, the real, was in part propelled by its "towering" interest rates. But yesterday the government cut rates again for the second time in two months, "doubling down on its bet that a slowing economy is more troubling than high inflation." wsj.com The inflation rate, as well as the increase in the value of the real, has made it much harder for tourists to enjoy Brazil. Brazil's slowing economy has given the dollar a rise of some 6 percent this year, small comfort against a currency that has risen 40% over the past 3 years. And, if the gains in the dollar are eaten up by even higher inflation, well, tough titties for us tourists. I canceled a trip to Brazil in August after I discovered how expensive it had become. Since then the dollar had risen, and hotel prices which once seemed very high became just high, so I rebooked the trip. In August the real was at 1.59 to the dollar, and is today at 1.77. Sadly though, the hotel I had in mind at $160 a night just a couple of weeks ago is now $187 a night. At this rate even if I can afford to get to Brazil, inflation may make it hard to enjoy the trip if I have to watch every penny. I don't like acai beverages, but the bf sure does. Our days of daily sauna boys may become rare. The dollar may rise with this latest interest rate cut, so I had better lock in a hotel room price quickly. Quote
Guest lurkerspeaks Posted October 20, 2011 Posted October 20, 2011 Sadly though, the hotel I had in mind at $160 a night just a couple of weeks ago is now $187 a night. At this rate even if I can afford to get to Brazil, inflation may make it hard to enjoy the trip if I have to watch every penny. I don't like acai beverages, but the bf sure does. Our days of daily sauna boys may become rare. The dollar may rise with this latest interest rate cut, so I had better lock in a hotel room price quickly. Lucky, I sent you an email.. check out craigslist.. there are quite a few rental apartments there at reasonable rates... most are thru agencies, so hopefully that provides a little more "peace of mind" than just renting from an individual.... studios and 1 bedroom apartments for less that the price you quoted for a hotel room.... sure, you gain some positives and you loose some positives with an apartment.. but if you can find one in the $100 range, the saving for each day would cover one person's sauna time.... just my two cents worth. Quote
Members Lucky Posted October 20, 2011 Members Posted October 20, 2011 Thanks for the email. I did check out Craigslist, as well as flatfinders and rioapartmeentrentals.com and also VRBO. It's a frustrating process trying to find the suitable apartment which is not only affordable but also available at the time I need it. In my frustration I put up a CL ad of my own, specifying exactly what I wanted. I got 3 replies, none of them remotely close to what I had asked for. Flatfinders also responded with an apartment which was not close to what I had asked for. (How does Copacabana translate to Ipanema?) The apartment we liked at rioapartmentrentals was not available, so an alternative was suggested that was not pleasing. I asked for another option and received no reply. So you see why a hotel might be the better choice. I don't have all day to look through the multitude of listings only to find the one I like is unavailable. As you know, many of the apartments that are available leave a lot to be desired. Quote
