Daily Life in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Transport Issues...

Things happen in threes, right? So I'm told. Good, we're done....

It seems as though we are having some setbacks/challenges with getting around lately. A couple of Saturdays ago we parked on the meridian by the Lagoa, and returned from our lovely lunch with friends to find our vehicle towed.

Now, at the end of the day, where we park our vehicle is obviously our responsibility, but I'll say this: when a parking person in a parking pinny takes parking money from you and issues you a parking ticket, you think you're okay to park somewhere. Even moreso because the fellow asked us to move the car slightly (which we did). When we returned to where we'd left the car, it had been towed, and he wasn't there (no surprise!).

Luckily we'd popped the Canadoca in her stroller before going to lunch, as she was in the middle of a nap when we parked, and so we carried on with our day, asking the next "parking attendant" we came across what might be the first in what was sure to be many next steps along the path to car retrieval. She told us to go to the police station on Bartholomeu Mitre, conveniently located close to Casa DRL.

We arrived there about 20 minutes later, and immediately spotted our vehicle. Could this be a Brazil miracle? Might we take it home today? Of course not. This was a police station, a temporary holding place for towed vehicles, which are a Prefeitera issue. We would have to begin the process on Monday. The people were very nice and allowed us access to the vehicle to collect our belongings, which was much appreciated.

On Sunday, we opted to ride our bikes to the pool. Mr. DRL was less than pleased when his tire blew out in the 40 degree heat.

Monday was the big day. The start of the process.

What process?

Step 1) Receive instructions from impound lot.

Step 2) Go to collect a ticket from an office in Centro.

Step 3) Go to Detran in Centro to pay a ticket.

Step 4) Go back to the first office to prove payment of a ticket.

Step 5) Go to Recreio to collect car from the Deposito. 

Our car was scratched quite badly during one of the two towings. We were charged R$35 per day for storage fees. An additional R$120 for tow fees, which when you consider that it was towed twice, isn't a bad deal ;)

We were fortunate enough to use a despachante, which was nice but not exactly cheap, but better than using what would certainly would have been almost two entire days of our time as the despachante went all the way to Recreio on the Monday after completing the other tasks only to be sent away because the car hadn't been towed there yet.  It was still in Leblon just a few blocks from our house of course. If you use the option of the despachante, there must be a Power of Attorney written up for the vehicle, for which then there are notary fees. We received the car on Tuesday.

An expensive little incident. Let's just say that with the Prefeitura going crazy towing cars and fake parking guys on the loose, valet parking is truly a steal in Rio. We just couldn't find any that day!

Finally, the third and hopefully final transportation-related incident occurred today: my bicycle was stolen. Keep in mind that I use my bike a LOT. As in 4-5 days a week.

Besides the case of the stolen fridge back in '08, this is the first time in almost three years that I've been truly ripped off in Rio. To be fair, I admit, I am partly responsible. I left my bike - LOCKED UP - on the street, overnight. A porteiro I spoke with who works near my bike's last known location says it was still there this morning but someone cut the lock in broad daylight, on Dias da Ferreira. Droga!

However, if a negative incident must occur with my bicycle I consider this to be a best case scenario. I've had friends have their bikes stolen while they were riding them, another much worse situation would have been if I'd found myself stranded with the Canadoca somewhere far from home in the heat! Though it's irritating, I still consider myself lucky, and had a rather lovely day in Rio.  Best of all is that this is behind us, if things truly happen in threes.

 

 

Well Done, Cariocas!

Today's headline was a nice one: Numero de homicidios no Rio e o menor em 20 anos, in English, Rio's murder rate is the lowest it's been in 20 years.

Proof in numbers at least that it's getting better here all the time.

With the way that futebol players are idolized here I admit I was a bit concerned that there might be a bit of a trend starting of murdering pregnant girlfriends, but I guess not! Thank goodness!

Rio's 2010 homicide rate is 29.8 per 100,000 habitants. To put this in perspective, the 2009 murder rate in New Orleans was 52 per 100,000 habitants. In St. Louis and Detroit it was 40.

Can't wait until the headline reads that there was no garbage left on any beach after the hottest weekend of the year. Let's keep dreaming big.

The New Face of the Police?

Rio's current situation in the favelas (Police Pacification) is an opportunity for the police foces here to reinvent themselves. Rio's police have been largely feared by the public for a number of reasons - the Tropa de Elite films tell some of the stories...

I hope that the police rise to the occassion and that a few bad apples don't manage to spoil the bunch.

There are signs of hope.

The other day, the Canadoca and I inadvertently walked through a large crowd of police officers with large guns setting up for some sort of exercise or operation. I was a bit nervous, then glanced over at one point to see the majority of them staring at my daughter with broad grins, waving frantically at her trying to get her attention with their huge, in some cases tattooed arms as their assault rifles dangled from their shoulders. What a photo that would have been... I chuckled to myself but noted that they must be looking for someone scary and we should get out of there..... then continued on to a main street to be met with more police pulling over vehicles, directly in front of me, an officer first just drew, then pointed his gun at a motorcyclist he was pulling over. I backed away, then the group of officers I'd just passed, noticing my hesitation, sent over the biggest representative to accompany the Canadoca and I through the situation, telling me I could pass and it was fine and perfectly safe. By this point the officer and the motorist he'd just pointed the gun out were old buddies, thumb's upping each other before the motorist was on his way....

I've become accustomed to seeing guns and big ones at that, but pointed guns still really creep me out.

Drivers in Rio de Janeiro

When I first moved to Rio I used a driver service quite often to get around. Now I either walk, cab or drive myself, and many people think I'm crazy. Driving here is not really that bad if you know where you're going and are used to it.

However, when you first get here and need to get around (and if you are not here with a company that provides driver services) it can be great to hire a driver by the day. I frequently did this with guests as well, to send them off sightseeing, etc.

Last week, when I was at the airport picking up Sogra DRL (Mr. DRL's mom) I ran into a driver we used a lot when we first arrived. It was so good to see him and it reminded me of how much those first few people we met when we moved here mean to us. He helped me so much! I hadn't seen him in well over a year.

If you are looking for reliable hourly or daily driver service in Rio de Janeiro give Alternativa Turismo a call. 4453-3390 If you want someone English speaking, ask for Marco. But be warned, once you get the details figured out, he will then make you work on your Portuguese!!

This Weekend in Rio...

Many events and concerts around Rio de Janeiro have been canceled as a result of the violence and general unpredictability going on.Today's #'s were slightly better though - hopefully that trend continues.

I checked the government of Canada's travel advisory site and nothing has changed in terms of travel advisories to Rio. Mr. DRL's mom is flying in next week for a visit, hopefully things will calm down before her arrival.

One thing I keep wanting to mention - please remember that anyone who buys drugs basically anywhere in the world is connected and contributing to this violence in Rio and in this case, innocent people being killed. A two year old girl was shot in the arm today. Something to think about if you like to get high...

Rio readers: are you doing anything differently this weekend? Staying in more? Going about your daily rio life?

 

Rio Situation Update

Really, I can't tell you anything about what's happening that you can't find elsewhere on the internet. And as we've been discussing, it's hard to say how true some of it is anyway!

Pertinent in my world on the situation:

• Last night a car was set on fire on Farme de Amoedo in Ipanema. Getting a little too close to home for my liking. 
• I can tell you that my maid told us we should not leave the house at all this weekend. Good thing I have lots of water and alcohol around here I guess...  I think we'll assess the situation as we go. 
• The army and air force are currently helping the police.

Here are the latest numbers on the war in Rio:

• 96 vehicles burned, 192 people arrested, 25 killed and three policemen wounded.

Here is hoping that the worst is over, the criminals who have escaped the favelas now occupied by the police will be captured swiftly and that no more innocent lives are lost.

Update on the situation in Rio

If you follow me on twitter, I've been re-tweeting a lot today, snippets from here and there, things I'd heard. For example, when they shut down Avenida Brasil this afternoon. Also a very popular tweet today is a warning not to go to Shopping Leblon on Saturday as a mass attack of armed favela residents is expected. I don't know how much truth there is to that but I can tell you there's nothing in that mall that I need that badly!!!! I'll be avoiding that area, thank you very much.... Since writing this there have already been more tweets talking about the mall being closed on Saturday. Like I said it's just heresay on twitter but sometimes where there's smoke there's fire...

Speaking of avoiding areas, I'm certainly glad Mr. DRL came home early today and avoided the Tunel Reboucas as an Antarctica truck was burned close by, causing a big cuffuffle .

If you search Leblon on twitter these days there's also a lot of gruff being said about Leblon residents and the governor's residence. As I've mentioned we live in very close proximity to his place. So any talk about that freaks me right out!

Stay safe everyone. It is my hope that this difficult time in Rio will not be in vain and that the city will be safer in the long run. I hope that no more innocent lives are lost.

Here is a photo of two of the front pages of papers in Rio de Janeiro today (OGlobo and Extra). Scary stuff.

Here is a regularly updated map of where in Rio de Janeiro cars have been firebombed/arrests have been made, etc. The current map:

 

Rio Rattled By Violence

There are a number of articles you can read about the current violent situation between gangs and police in Rio. It's been a bad week. Blockades have been set up by gangs, cars robbed, buses burned, people shot. Supposedly two of the gangs might even be working together on this attack. It's awful news. 14 people were killed in Rio just today, including a 14 year old girl who was hit by a stray bullet. Today seems to be the worst day so far, 22 is the total death count since Sunday. The one positive note is that 25 people were arrested (which brings the total since Monday to 150).

Here's the lowdown from what I've read tonight:

• Earlier today bomb squads were called in to several areas of Ipanema where wooden boxes were left on the street (near a park we go to regularly, in one case). They contained promotional materials, not bombs. Thank goodness.
• This morning a car was bombed in Copacabana on Rua Siqueira Campos. As a scary-for-me sidenote, Mr. DRL picked the Canadoca and I up from the Pao do Acucar store a block from there, yesterday evening. Crazy. 
• Cars were also set on fire in Niteroi and Recreio. In other words, this situation is NOT just taking place in the Zona Norte as many of Rio's unpleasant situations are. It seems to be almost everywhere.  
• R$200 is apparently the going rate for drug traffickers from Vila Cruzeiro to pay someone to set fire to a bus in Rio. 
• Eduardo Paes is calling this week's acts terrorism.

That said, to be honest if you want to know how I have personally been affected when going about my daily busines - I haven't. It is a chilling reminder, however, to read later about things go down in areas I frequent. With the exception of noticing a lot more helicopters and police around, there doesn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary around here. Which just goes to show how diverse life is in Rio. In one minute it's paradise and around another corner, a warzone.

An interesting sidenote - I was talking with the Canadoca's babysitter a little bit this morning about the situation (she lives in Rocinha) and she seemed pretty un-rattled by it. In fact she was much more excited to tell me about seeing the latest "SAW" movie. I guess when one grows up surrounded by these situations it just doesn't phase one the same way.  The last thing I feel like doing is watching a scary movie... 

Security Tip - Zona Sul Key Chains

Zona Sul Supermercado (grocery store) has a loyalty program which allows customers to give personal information in exchange for discounts. Kind of like your safeway card back home, likely the data of how many times you buy milk in a month is sold to marketing firms. I have no issue with this. It's also handy for deliveries because when you use your card, your address automatically pops up on the screen, so they have it. Now, the VERY security conscious would probably not want to use a Zona Sul card at all, for this reason.

As I've discussed I'm a medium-security-conscious kind of person. I have a Zona Sul card, but I don't carry it on my keychain, because I figure that if my keys are ever stolen, all the person has to do is buy a chocolate bar using my Zona Sul card and they will have access to my address. Something to think about.Instead of using the card, I just give my CPF # to the cashier, and it pulls up my account.

 

Careful!

This email has been circulating the expat community over the past few days, I've now received it several times, so thought I'd share. It is from one of the big corporations with employees in Rio. When discussing it with friends over the weekend we were reminded that really you should not even open the door for your porteiro unless you've requested him to come to your door (he could be knocking on your door with someone coercing him to do so....)

We would like to warn employees living in (and visitors to) Zona Sul, Zona Oeste (Barra da Tijuca, Recreio dos Bandeirantes and Jacarepaguá) and Zona Norte (Tijuca, Grajaú e Méier) about a gang specializing home invasions.

These criminals act in such a way as to trick victims and facilitate entry of the gang into a residence. The gang members wear uniforms and even drive vehicles with the emblems of telecommunications and cable TV companies to deceive victims. The gang also has a device that identifies phone lines and the address of residences.

After choosing the victim, they cut services such as telephone, cable TV and/or Internet, and then present themselves as maintenance technicians for the service that’s been cut. Two gang members have already been arrested. One, aged 39, with previous convictions for theft, receiving stolen goods, and weapons possession, has worked in an outsourcing company providing services for the former Telemar.

Security Recommendations:

a) Share this information at home and in your apartment building;

b) Access to the condominium/property should only be authorized after the OK from the tenant for previously scheduled services. This approach is of vital importance to prevent this type of crime. We reiterate that such service personnel should remain outside the property/building while the service is being confirmed.

c) Do not be fooled by appearances (uniforms, badges and vehicles with emblems etc.); the modus operandi of criminals is increasingly sophisticated.

d) Whenever in doubt, contact the company responsible for the service.

Recent positive articles on favela life in Rio

Generally the stories about favela life in Rio are scary. These ones are not, highlighting positive changes that are happening today. Having spent all of about 3 hours in a favela since arriving here, I obviously don't claim to know much, but I'm certainly interested. I do know that favelas are not all about drugs and poverty the way people picture them, they are also about families, community and every day life.

• Interesting article about a property rights project for residents of Cantagalo (the favela at the end of Ipanema). Property lines were established and mapped, creating transferable property titles for longstanding residents. 
• Rio's Police Pacification Project in Cidade de Deus (City of God) features an afternoon physical education program directed by officers. 
• Article in the Financial Times about Rio's Police Pacification Project offering glimmers of hope for Rio residents. 
• National Geographic blog post about a Favela Painting Project, which creates striking artworks, collaborating with local people to use art as a tool to inspire, create beauty, combat prejudice and attract attention. - there is also a facebook group you can join.

Maintaining Balance: FEAR

I was out for lunch a couple of weeks ago with a group of expat women when one of them received a text message. "Shots fired on the street in Gavea," she announced after glancing at her phone, then wondered aloud if it would interfere with traffic on her drive back to Barra.

The company her husband works for text messages its staff and their spouses with such security alerts whenever there is an incident of interest in Rio de Janeiro. This information gives employees and families an opportunity to avoid these areas. Some may consider it to be a bit over-the-top.

I find a wide variety of attitudes when it comes to maintaining safety in Rio from the mixed bag of expats I talk to. Some get very comfortable and do all sorts of things they would never dream of doing back home, one example I come across often is having little ones not riding in car seats. Some people really relax on it here for convenience's sake, though they say themselves they would not dream of it back home. Others I've encountered live in complete fear, and restrict their family's activities beyond anything I'd consider to be normal.In most cases, the people I've encountered who fall into this category work for large companies with a lot of support (such as those helpful text messages I mentioned). In other words, someone has scared the pants off of them. Usually HR. Or maybe a course from a private security firm like this.

I'm not saying there's nothing to fear in Rio. Just this week a friend of mine told me about an incident where her husband was recently targeted and shot at in the Zona Sul while driving home (he managed to get away, thank goodness). Despite this, she is not one of the scared-of-her-own-shadow people I'm talking about, even though you could argue she'd certainly be entitled to feel that way.

Fear is just one more thing we need to manage differently while living in Rio de Janeiro, but I think it's important to remember that stuff happens everywhere. I. Maintain awareness without letting it ruin too much of the fun. We seem to fall somewhere in the middle, maybe a bit on the less-security-conscious side. We drive here, nothing is bullet proof, we don't have 24 hr security in our building, yet we are security conscious in that so far we always have the Canadoca in a car seat, and mostly stick to the Zona Sul.  

What do you think?

 

New Carseat Law in Brazil

As of September 1st, in Brazil it is now mandatory for babies and children up to 7 years old traveling in private passenger vehicles to be strapped into carseats.  Previously use of carseats was simply a recommendation. It seems that taxis and buses are exempt.

Police in Rio began issuing fines on September 8th.

Those who disobey the rules will receive a fine of R $ 191.54 and seven points in the driver's license, plus the seizure of the vehicle until the deficiency is remedied. The new rule was initially to begin to be enforced in June, but was postponed because the seats themselves were in short supply. As it is, there are currently 3 month waiting lists at some stores to buy the seats. So, I am guessing that you could probably sell a carseat for a pretty penny here in Brazil these days! Especially considering they are about 4 x the price of the ones back home as it is!

One article I read estimated that previously just 32% of mothers in Brazil were using carseats to transport babies.

 

 

 

Spotted: Submarine off the coast of Ipanema

Rio Reinvented?

Much has been written in the media lately about Rio being reinvented, particularly with the Olympics and World Cup coming. When I am asked about the current state of Rio I am always hesitant to answer. I realize that my answer is totally dependent on my experiences there, which are in no way representative of what is going on in the city as a whole. We've been in Rio for over two years. Touch wood, we have not had any "incidents" happen to us, a few near-misses, sure, but nothing major. My opinion of Rio's current security state is largely dependent on this continuing to be true.

I also realize that after living in the big city for as long as we have, we've become hardened to certain things, again, we are not objective.

Nevertheless, in true Brazilian fashion, I will still offer an opinion! I do think that Rio is changing for the better, and it is being cleaned up. I hear about less incidents of horrendous crime, the drive to the airport doesn't seem to scare my guests the same way it used to before the "walls" along the road went up, and I feel safer overall. Maybe it's the Polyanna in me, who knows.

Smithsonian magazine put out an interesting article on Rio's reinvention this month, check it out here. It talks about the opportunity Rio currently has to repair itself, and the hows and whos, shortcuts and challenges of getting Rio "there". 

On the other hand, an interesting quote from a piece The Guardian put out on the recent gunfight at the Intercontinental Hotel in Sao Conrado:

"We have been sharing in the illusion that Rio is entering another chapter, turning the page on the horror," he said. "But this shows that the pacification units are merely islands of excellence in an ocean of barbarity that is very much alive." 

My only comment on this incident is that since living in Rio I have not heard of a single incident of a tourist being killed here, though I have heard of SEVERAL meeting such unfortunate fates in countries such as Mexico. Yet people seem to have no fear of going there, but Rio is terrifying to them. Strange. Apparently this incident was enough to scare off the stars of Twilight from filming in Rio!

Anyway! I think I have been sharing in the illusion, too. I have relaxed, about a lot of things. Or maybe just become lazy?  Maybe I have changed.

What do you think? Is Rio getting safer? Has it changed?

 

Takedown in Leblon

So, last night I went out with the ladies. We had a lovely time, I had a bit too much wine... good times. At the end of the night I headed home, saying goodbye to my friends at the corner and walking the last of my walk (three doors down) on my own. Noticed some sketchy characters hanging out outside the building next to mine, but thought nothing of it and was by no means scared of them. I get just past them, about to enter my building when three guys come seemingly out of nowhere, guns not only drawn but pointed in outstretched arms, at the two aforementioned sketchy characters. I hightailed it into my building and talked to the porteiro who was as calm as could be (which really makes me wonder how often this happens!) and explained that the guys with the guns were undercover police. Still, yikes!