How about a nice walk in Rio

[mvan1]

 

https://riotimesonline.com/brazil-news/rio-de-janeiro/robberies-increase-in-rio-de-janeiro-by-as-much-as-79-percent/

[ihpguy]

This isn't news to me. I was assaulted three times in February. A tall younger Brazilian friend was visiting me in the center of São Paulo on a weekday at 11am, was assaulted and robbed. I posted a warning six months ago, and most of the members on this site made light of it. I gave up. It seemed no one wanted to take the advice of a gringo who has been living in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo permanently for the last ten years.

[SolaceSoul]

1 hour ago, ihpguy said:

This isn't news to me. I was assaulted three times in February. A tall younger Brazilian friend was visiting me in the center of São Paulo on a weekday at 11am, was assaulted and robbed. I posted a warning six months ago, and most of the members on this site made light of it. I gave up. It seemed no one wanted to take the advice of a gringo who has been living in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo permanently for the last ten years.

Don’t feel it’s just gringos (although gringos are certainly a bigger target). A brown-skinned muscled garoto I know Well was beaten, mugged and robbed leaving 117 a few months ago. His beaten face looked like Rocky at the end of the fight in the first movie in the photo he sent me.

[sydneyboy1]

Very, very depressing. I was mugged almost in front of the Copacabana Palace in 2005. I have reported details on a number of sites including this one. This provoked responses ranging from a giant yawn and it can happen anywhere through to allegations that I was an out and out liar. There was a time when 117 would ring a taxi when leaving but on my last visit all they would do is direct you to the taxi rank. Walking down the hill after dark gave me the creeps. The appalling mugging reported outside 117 does not surprise me as you are an obvious target leaving the premises  leaving particularly after dark. One last thought. So much for a law and order President.

[sydneyboy1]

Not being a subscriber I can’t read the full Rio on line report. Is there any way of downloading the report in its entirety? I was planning a December trip to Rio but I might opt for the relative peace and tranquillity of Thailand.

[Riobard]

What hill? There's no pitch from 117 to R. da Glória unless you have had too many caipirinhas.

Edited August 14, 2019 by Riobard

[SolaceSoul]

1 minute ago, Riobard said:

What hill? There's no pitch from 117 to R. Da Glória unless you have had too many caipirinhas.

LOL. Technically, it is slightly sloped. 

[sydneyboy1]

1 minute ago, SolaceSoul said:

LOL. Technically, it is slightly sloped. 

Thank you. I was probably using the word hill loosely however I respectfully suggest my point remains valid. You are exposed walking to the taxi rank.

[Riobard]

Portmanteau ... I sloppily loped to Walter's Sandwich cart.

I wonder if the GdeP was targetted in part by an assailant assuming earnings cash. 

[SolaceSoul]

1 hour ago, sydneyboy1 said:

Very, very depressing. I was mugged almost in front of the Copacabana Palace in 2005. I have reported details on a number of sites including this one. This provoked responses ranging from a giant yawn and it can happen anywhere through to allegations that I was an out and out liar. There was a time when 117 would ring a taxi when leaving but on my last visit all they would do is direct you to the taxi rank. Walking down the hill after dark gave me the creeps. The appalling mugging reported outside 117 does not surprise me as you are an obvious target leaving the premises  leaving particularly after dark. One last thought. So much for a law and order President.

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? 

Edited August 14, 2019 by SolaceSoul

[Riobard]

My 'probability of an least one' incident is catching up with me. I have spent months at a time walking alone at night from Clube 117 to various points in Gloria and Catete. 

[SolaceSoul]

10 minutes ago, sydneyboy1 said:

Thank you. I was probably using the word hill loosely however I respectfully suggest my point remains valid. You are exposed walking to the taxi rank.

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! 

Edited August 14, 2019 by SolaceSoul

[SolaceSoul]

6 minutes ago, Riobard said:

I wonder if the GdeP was targetted in part by an assailant assuming earnings cash. 

That’s exactly what it was.

[sydneyboy1]

32 minutes ago, SolaceSoul said:

That’s exactly what it was.

Being the Devil’s Advocate the “average” customer leaving 117 is likely to be carrying more money than the “average” working boy even after a successful night and consequently more vulnerable.

Edited August 14, 2019 by sydneyboy1

[SolaceSoul]

19 minutes ago, sydneyboy1 said:

Being the Devil’s Advocate the “average” customer leaving 117 is likely to be carrying more money than the “average” working boy even after a successful night and consequently more vulnerable.

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. 

[sydneyboy1]

3 minutes ago, SolaceSoul said:

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. 

The average garoto would have to have had an extraordinarily successful evening. 

[SolaceSoul]

30 minutes ago, sydneyboy1 said:

The average garoto would have to have had an extraordinarily successful evening. 

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.

 

Edited August 14, 2019 by SolaceSoul

[Riobard]

The garotos likely do not hide the bulk of their cash in a pouch in their undies crotch, carry a cheap wallet with a few small bills and deactivated cards, or carry more outwardly a useless decoy phone. 

Edited August 14, 2019 by Riobard

[Riobard]

And what's with the Zola Budd assailant-fleeing playbook? Shoes, gents. 

[sydneyboy1]

18 hours ago, ihpguy said:

This isn't news to me. I was assaulted three times in February. A tall younger Brazilian friend was visiting me in the center of São Paulo on a weekday at 11am, was assaulted and robbed. I posted a warning six months ago, and most of the members on this site made light of it. I gave up. It seemed no one wanted to take the advice of a gringo who has been living in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo permanently for the last ten years.

I am one who most certainly will not make light of it. I recounted my 2005 experience (much to the annoyance of one contributor to this thread) to make the point that people can be appalling unsympathetic because it has never happened to them and some believe it never will. Brazil has had and continues to have a crime problem.

[SolaceSoul]

50 minutes ago, sydneyboy1 said:

I am one who most certainly will not make light of it. I recounted my 2005 experience (much to the annoyance of one contributor to this thread) to make the point that people can be appalling unsympathetic because it has never happened to them and some believe it never will. Brazil has had and continues to have a crime problem.

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?  

 

 

[sydneyboy1]

1 minute ago, SolaceSoul said:

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?  

 

 

I have returned to Brazil 8 times since older and wiser. I have a solitary motivation in telling my story which I did in detail on another thread. To do my best to ensure my experience does not happen to anyone else. I will now let the matter rest.

[ihpguy]

Apologistas for Rio de Janeiro crime, go f_ _ k yourselves. 

#1) I have lived here ten years.

#2) I was assaulted RECENTLY, February 2019 on the sidewalk in front of the beach in Ipanema at about 2pm on a Sunday afternoon. Directly in front of Posto 10. I speak fluent Portuguese.  I told the pivette I had nothing for him, as I changed from my tennis shoes to chinos.

#3) No one came to help or chase the pivette

#4) thenowner of the quiosque called me an ambulance, the police and the firefighters. For 20-30 minutes, no one came to help a tourist, and I heard the owner talking on his phone. He gave me two bags of ice. After the bleeding to my eyebrow reduced, I grabbed myself a taxi to Copa D'or in Copacabana, where I received three stitches. 

#5) Apologistas for the dangers that can take place in Rio de Janeiro, just stop. If it can happen on a Sunday afternoon, near the Ave. Vieira Souto at 2pm in front of a lifeguard station, in can happen anywhere.

#6) The pivette got nothing from me, except a free escape, no one went after him, no authority ever showed, I took it upon myself to arrange my own care.

#7) So to the apologistas.....stop already.

[SolaceSoul]

4 hours ago, sydneyboy1 said:

I have returned to Brazil 8 times since older and wiser. I have a solitary motivation in telling my story which I did in detail on another thread. To do my best to ensure my experience does not happen to anyone else. I will now let the matter rest.

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 

[SolaceSoul]

5 hours ago, ihpguy said:

Apologistas for Rio de Janeiro crime, go f_ _ k yourselves. 

#1) I have lived here ten years.

#2) I was assaulted RECENTLY, February 2019 on the sidewalk in front of the beach in Ipanema at about 2pm on a Sunday afternoon. Directly in front of Posto 10. I speak fluent Portuguese.  I told the pivette I had nothing for him, as I changed from my tennis shoes to chinos.

#3) No one came to help or chase the pivette

#4) thenowner of the quiosque called me an ambulance, the police and the firefighters. For 20-30 minutes, no one came to help a tourist, and I heard the owner talking on his phone. He gave me two bags of ice. After the bleeding to my eyebrow reduced, I grabbed myself a taxi to Copa D'or in Copacabana, where I received three stitches. 

#5) Apologistas for the dangers that can take place in Rio de Janeiro, just stop. If it can happen on a Sunday afternoon, near the Ave. Vieira Souto at 2pm in front of a lifeguard station, in can happen anywhere.

#6) The pivette got nothing from me, except a free escape, no one went after him, no authority ever showed, I took it upon myself to arrange my own care.

#7) So to the apologistas.....stop already.

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?

Edited August 15, 2019 by SolaceSoul