CptNemo,
you posted factual reports and nice pics, that's cool. I'm happy you can afford high-fees CC's, but I have to tell you, the same level of protection is also in the free cards!
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CptNemo,
you posted factual reports and nice pics, that's cool. I'm happy you can afford high-fees CC's, but I have to tell you, the same level of protection is also in the free cards!
this hapeens everywhere. last year in ft. lauderdale at the tiki bar at the bahaia cabana hotel that a group of us stayed at. anyone that charged a round at the tiki bar had their card scammed. 5 out of 8 of us. all were reimbursed and 3 of us were called by our cc companies about strange purchases all over the country. it turns out the bartender asked how long we were in town for then hand over the cci nfoirmation to a friend that would buy crap up until the day we left. got 5 of us a free trip back to fl to testify against the ring.
Rastaman:
i was in Rio last week. met Kenny and took him up on his "cruise to nowhere." i'll see if i can find his business card. if i can't locate it, i can call someone in Rio and get his number. you can also PM me.
Rio continues to be a very dangerous place to visit. Two articles in the English news this week.
A War Zone in Centro
http://www.expats.com.br/noticias.php?cod=3027
Bandits are using mortars to fight police in the center of the City. When you read reports about 4X4 and 65, this is the neighborhood.
And if you think staying in rich exlusive areas will make you safe. Another article.
Few Leads in Brutal Attack on Utah Couple in Brazil
http://www.expats.com.br/noticias.php?cod=3037
An American couple hacked to death in a 'guarded' exclusive community.
If you go to Rio, please take care!
i heard from a friend in rio that this afternoon the copa branch of Bradesco bank was held up. i was told three armed men entered and held everyone up. does anyone have additional information?
thanks
Moreyada, just because you read a two articles you think you know what is going on here in Rio?
Firstly that American couple were most likely killed because of some shit the husband was into in the Middle East and Russia. He was in the oil business and had spent years there doing "DEALS". Their deaths were most likely a hit. That hit would have occurred anywhere that they lived, even in your home town. At this point everything is being looked at. Until they find out why the couple were killed, don't say that it was a random act of violence just because they lived in Rio.
Secondly: the police are cracking down on Illegal Street vendors in Centro not Bandits. I wonder what the authors definition of a "MORTAR" is ? If the street vendors were using rocks, pieces of wood, coconuts, and even chairs. I don't think they were using anything like what we would consider a "Real Mortar". These people could not afford anything like that.
Yes, Rio can be a dangerous place but please do not believe everything you read. And please do not pollute this board with hear say. Think about what you read before you re-post any false information.
I was in the middle of battle between 20 riot polices and some people. It happened near 4X4, right on the Ave Presidente. Someone from the other side street threw tennis ball size rock at police and police threw rocks back. It was Friday afternoon 5PM rush hours. Local people did not seem to be surprised by what happened. After 5 minutes childish rock throw battle, these 20 riot polices (with shield) charged cross the street. Everything was back to normal, except the broken glass door of one bank.
If it was gun battle, I would be very scared. But with rock, it was almost fun to watch.
Nodd_N, I am sorry if PRESS reports about real violence in Rio is effecting the ability of some to make money off of sex tourists who are first timers in Rio.
I have been to Rio over 25 times over 10 years. I speak the language pretty well. My motivation in posting is not monitary (unlike others). My motivation is that before an person (with a life to loose) chooses to go to Rio they should understand it is as you admitted a 'dangerous place'. After I almost lost my own life in Rio, I felt a moral obligation to share with others what the true dangers are. I had posted so many articles on the pleasures I felt some balance was needed. No I do not beleive everything I read, but I would beleive an article in the press over a hypster looking for new clients.
The police do not know why that couple was killed. Yes I could understand that the local tourist board wants it to turn out to be related to the persons business. Of course the maid who was fired is still a prime suspect. Perhaps you are right it was business. Perhaps we will never know.
BTW a friend just returned to tell me he was assaulted by two men on Avenida Altantico at 5:30 in the afternoon. It was by luck he escaped without serous injury. He now joins the ranks of many who will not return to Rio.
Moreyada
Firstly I also traveled here about 4 times a year for a year or two before I decided to move here. I live here now and I have for a few years now. That just might give me a better handle on what is going on here over someone that comes here a few times a year for short visits. I'm retired and DO NOT work here or make any money from sex tourism.
Where did you get the idea that I profit from sex tourism?
Before you start to REPORT on anything like the violence here in Rio or anywhere else for that matter, I think you should get your facts straight. ----- If they were killed as a random act of violence I would not have said anything to you.
But you posted your remarks like you knew exactly what happened. You posted that article like that killing was just another murder in Rio and all the members here should take your advice and stay away or be warned. You're so informed and important that we should all listen to you, right?
People get killed here in Rio all the time just like in the USA and throughout Europe and other South American countries. That comes with the territory. Innocent people the world over die all the time. I bet the people reporting to work on 9/11 thought they were very safe in NYC also. You never know what will happen at any time anywhere. If you and your friend decide not to return to Rio that is no big deal. Many others will take your place. I myself was mugged at gunpoint in NYC in 1996 and that did not stop me from going back there.. Some people just have no backbone and let others dictate their actions.
The first time I went to Rio, it was in May of '01 and I was one of very few Americans there at the time (or so it seemed). At that time, I spoke no Portuguese, and was looking around dumbfounded and obviously a newbie who didn't know squat. One would think I was a target for muggings and scams, but aside from a few guys on the beach bum rushing me to buy stuff and patronize their girls (which always happens, no big deal ), I found most Brazilians there to be very helpful. They offered me advice on how to spot scams and what not to do, and all kinds of stuff when I really didn't ask for the advice. A girl from HELP even told me to hold on to my drink to avoid being slipped a roofie after I set the drink down. I wasn't even into this girl and she knew I wasn't gonna take her home, and she looked out for me anyway. One might think that during off season (especially early May when there doesn't seem to be many tourists), con artists and thieves would be drooling at the sight of a young American looking around bright eyed and ignorant of Rio's ins and outs. An easy score I would have been, no doubt, but I felt completely safe. I felt looked out for, which is more than I can say for most American cities. Maybe I'm incredibly lucky-I don't know. I'm not saying bad things don't happen, but if you conduct yourself relatively proper and don't do anything stupid, and you treat the people of Brazil (who are your hosts, which is something some folks seem to forget) with some respect, you will enjoy your trip immensely and return again and again.
Irishlager
IrishLager
I am glad you had a good time and stayed safe. One thing to think about is your sharing 'A girl from HELP even told me to hold on to my drink to avoid being slipped a roofie after I set the drink down'. How prevalent must druggings be to garner such advice. One word from someone who was once a first time visitor, became a frequent visitor and will never go again. When you 1st go to Rio your senses are overwhelmed by the girls.... Often it takes repeated visits (or armed robbery as in my case) to clue you in on the dangers. Once clued in you see the true dangers. Also, you have not been there in 2 and a half year. I can tell you my friend a lot has changed.
Nodd_N. Where did I get the idea you profit from sex tourism? First I could not understand why someone would intentionally misslead readers about how dangerous Rio is. With some people I could have a reasonable debate on the topic, but you seemed somewhat emotional. Second I checked your posts in the reports forum where you seem to steer people to one of the ‘apartment guys’ in Rio while putting down another. Perhaps you just had a good experience with one and a bad with the other. Perhaps the relationship is personal or fiduciary. I don’t know.
As for OBJECTIVE info on safety in Brazil in particular (and I think Rio and SP drives these statistics),
From the NY times
‘Annual homicide rates on the outskirts of Brazil's biggest cities exceed 100 per 100,000 people, among the highest in the world. One in every 20 citizens in São Paulo was a victim of armed robbery during 2002, at a rate of 1,704 reported incidents a day. Mr da Silva says the overall cost of crime to Brazil's economy is $100m (€79m, £55m) a day.
Rising crime is causing rising concern among Brazilians. A survey published last month by the CNT, a transport industry confederation that conducts regular public opinion polls, found that 84.3 per cent of respondents felt violence had become worse over the previous six months, up from 79.1 per cent in October.
One problem is a general sense of impunity. In the state of Rio de Janeiro, for every 100 cases of murder, just two are solved by the uniformed police on patrol, known as the Military Police, and one more by the Civil Police, who carry out investigations. Police intelligence shows that bank robbers and kidnappers regard the threat of arrest as an irrelevance’.
Will most visitors go to Rio without incident? Of course. However especially on this forum it would be immoral not to let people know they are not going to NY, London, Bankok, Amsterdam or any other comparable large city. Whole buses are not robbed at gun point in NY. Tourist attractions are not grenaded or sprayed with automatic machine gun fire. The highway to the airport has not been closed on multiple occasions due to shootouts between armed gangs and the police. All these happen in Rio.
Rio has a significant violent crime problem that is materially different in nature then almost anywhere else. As you walk the streets you can see the men who are sizing you up as a potential victim. I have traveled the world (and still do). I’ll be in Bangkok in late January. And generally I will not let others ‘dictate my actions’. At the same time I would not walk through a war zone just to get my pipes cleaned. Based on what I have seen and heard I have crossed Rio off my list. Of all the major cities covered here it is the only one I would not visit. Am I a coward? Well one day we may meet and you might find out. But that aside I have nothing to prove. I like my life and have to desire to have it shortened just to visit a Terma.
Yada Yada Yada
Moreyada, I have said that Rio is dangerous in the past and I continue to say it is dangerous now. DO YOU HEAR ME NOW!!
You do not understand why I post opposing opinions to yours? Well let me think. When you pick an article from some news agency somewhere and post it as “gospel” that gets me upset. No news agency gets it right! They are only interested in their circulation, not necessarily in the truth. I live here in Rio and travel around the city at all hours day and night, mostly by my self, and I have never had any trouble. I have never even witnessed a mugging here in Rio. I will say this again, just for you, Rio is as dangerous as any other large “Tourist City” in the World. You would not want to wander into parts of many cities in the USA alone and you would not ever want to try and visit a Favela here in Rio alone either. As long as you take normal precautions here in Rio, you should be OK.
You can spout all the statistics you like, but if you knew anything about statistics, you would know that they are pretty much useless because they are almost always slanted in one direction or another. Most of the areas that these killings take place in are the Favelas among the drug gangs. So the average tourist walking around in Copacabana or Ipanema during reasonable hours, is reasonably safe. YES, there are exceptions…… and people have been mugged in broad daylight in Copacabana…… just like in Paris, Rome, Madrid, NYC, Chicago, Detroit or Atlanta, etc... get the idea?
Yes, I have mentioned a few apt. renters here in Rio I have used in the past. I thought that was allowed.. If we know of someone in Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Cuba or Costa Rica that treats his or her clients with respect why should we not post something about it? People post recommendations all the time here on these boards without having any financial gain…If we know of anyone that goes out of his or her way to help with questions or problems why shouldn’t we share that information with others. I thought that is what these boards were all about...
Moreyada
Sorry to note that an "armed robbery" in Rio occured to you - and that therefore you "never go again" to visit "Cidade Maravilhosa" -
OK - we heard you over & over - we undestand danger while travelling, specially at night looking for sexo.
Now that you have posted your concerns - Let those of us, who want to visit RIIOOO do so. We are adults, mature enough to make up our own minds, without scare reports.
Personally I will visit Brasil & Rio - fingerprinting - danger or what ever.
I just returned from 6 weeks in Brasil - have posted 18 reports so far on WSG - in the SP, Rio, Curitiba & other areas forums. More reports to follow. This was my 14th trip in the last 5 years.
I just walk around in daylight, dressed down with a local newspaper in hand. If I sense danger, immediately take a bus / taxi out of the area. I have a habit of taking the Metro, getting out at a station & walking round - If I smell danger, I immediately get out.
At night - its only taxi's.
Since you are going soon to Bangkok - maybe also other SouthEast Asian nations -
Per your report - in other tourist spots -
a) - "buses not robbed" - buses robbed & bullet sprayed on the road from Vientinne to Luang Prabang in Laos.
b) - "tourist attractions not grenaded" - in Cambodia
c) - "tourists not murdered" - in Pattaya, Thailand
d) - "tourists not drugged" - very common in Bangkok, Thailand
e) - "airport not closed by shootouts" - in Colombo, SriLanka - was there when it happened about 3 yrs ago.
Finally about "Armed robbery" - Yes, once I too was robbed at gun point -
Where - when I first arrived in Chicago as an immigrant from SriLanka 36 years ago.
Chicago too is a dangerous city - dangerous as well as safe neighbourhoods - Chicago had the highest murders total in a USA city for 2003.
Have I run away from Chicago & the USA ??
NO - I still live in Chicagoland & hope to die in the USA.
So Muito obrigardo for your concerns - you have repeated them loud & clear - over & over.
But let those of us who wish to go to "Cidade Maravilhosa" do so.
Ceylon1 (WorldTraveller aka Charles)
Just spend another week chasing girls in Rio. I am glad to report that I had no security problems whatsoever. However the crime rate in Rio is high - so never ever walk alone at night, especially around Copacabana where the local mugging industry targets turists.
In my last sexpedition in Rio, around 6 weeks ago, I had to deal with a safety issue: a Help girl tried to use knock-out drugs with me, but I realised on time and sorted out the problem, so nothing serious happened.
It was on a Saturday night, I arrived at Help at about 3 am and after some reconnaissance chatted up a chick. She was fine, smooth-talking, had a non-hardcore look and seemed to be sweet and cuddly, so I recruited her for TLN for BRL 200.
Before leaving Help, at around 4 am, she told me to write the address of my apartment on a paper for her friend, so that she could go the following day at 1 pm and the 3 of us would go to the beach. Her friend was one of the hardcores. She had insisted on having quite a few drinks in Help, which seemed a bit weird to me but didn’t give it any importance.
About half an hour after arriving in the apartment her friend turned up with a silly excuse and then they started to talk, we were all sitting in the living-room and the lights were off, there was just light from a couple of candles as they said they liked it that way. Obviously they were preparing drinks all the time… I thought we would talk for some time and then the hardcore would leave.
The talk went on and on and I was starting to feel asleep, which was normal, I thought, as it was late and I hadn’t slept much the last few days, but suddenly I felt extremely sleepy so decided to stand up and went to my bedroom.
In my bedroom I realised that I was too sleepy, and that couldn’t be natural as when you stand up and walk, regardless of how sleepy you are, you wake up, but I was feeling more and more sleepy even after walking, so there was only one explanation: the sweetie and her hardcore friend had put some knock-out drug in my drinks. This explained many things: so many drinks in Help, writing the address before leaving, the lights off to help me fall asleep, the hardcore appearing in the scene half an hour later to help rob the apartment, etc.
My first impulse was to kick them out, but then I decided to act more subtly: I told the hardcore, politely, to leave because it was too late and I wanted to fuck the sweetie (I didn’t make them know I had found out their intentions). The hardcore left, I was feeling better, more awake, I had stopped drinking, I knew I wasn’t going to fall asleep: the situation was under control.
When the hardcore left I started having fun with the sweetie, she insisted on having more drinks but I told her to forget about the drinks and suggested a BBBJ, so she reluctantly started with the BBBJ. It was funny, I’m sure the last thing she expected was to end up giving head to her potential victim. But then she started to interrupt the fun, to make silly excuses to stop, etc, and I finally decided to kick her out. In that moment the hardcore turned up again, the fucking ho had been just waiting for me to fall asleep and she’d probably though that by that time I should have already be knocked down, so that’s way she came back to help the sweety clear the apartment. I didn’t open the door to the hardcore and locked from inside so that the sweetie couldn’t open either.
I gave the sweetie BRL 20 for the taxi and told her to fuck off, we hadn’t done anything, just 10 min of BBBJ so I wasn’t going to pay her: no work, no pay. The sweetie claimed the BRL 200 that we agreed in Help, but I told her to forget about that.
The hardcore started to hit the door and to scream so that I open, the sweetie told her through the door that I didn’t want to pay. I suppose some of the neighbours called the doorman because of the noise and the guy turned up. When I heard him talking to the hardcore I opened the door and kicked the sweetie out, I pushed her as she didn’t want to leave. I told the doorman to call the police because they had tried to rob –I didn’t have phone- and closed the door.
They kept saying the doorman I didn’t want to pay, so I opened again and told him they had tried to rob, in that moment they both attacked me trying to hit me, so I kicked the hardcore very hard in the stomach and punched the sweetie on the head, over the ear. They both stopped in pain, the hardcore leaning against the wall and the sweetie looked as if she was about to cry.
Some neighbours came out because of all the noise from the fight, I just told them to call the police and closed the door again.
I waited from the police to come, but 2 hours later no one had arrived so I just went to sleep.
I didn’t see those 2 chicks anymore although I kept going to Help and the other Rio hunting grounds as usual.
I had checked the sweetie ID, her name was Maria Paula Da Silva. She was a white girl, black and long hair, nice face and body, 23 yo.
From now on I’ll be always careful with the drinks when I hunt freelancers, just in case.