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I have never physically been to Brazil. What I see and know is from travel sites, movies and word of mouth and I am sure seeing is believing (working on that ). What do you mean by hell? Crime, pollution, cleanliness, infrastructure ... too crowded or disorganized? Or is this a mosquito related issue?
Also just wanted to mention this because I saw it in the new in Toronto today that the Canadian government is now actually warning pregnant women not to travel to Florida in the USA, which is just about the number one family friendly vacation spot for most Canadians. I got usually 1-2 times per year personally. So regarding the mosquito things ... well risks are growing over the Americas in general ( except in Canada ... but we still have West Nile and tick risk in the warmer months, which are low, but still possible). Am I still planning to go to Miami next year ... YES ( unless I am pregnant ... and that just does not happen every day ) so odds are I am going. I am really not getting the whole mosquito drama for non pregnant people.
Fill us in on what you mean by hell as one person's idea of hell can be really different then another person's. Going somewhere for work and vacation are completely different. There are many places I think are great for vacation, but would not meet my needs well if I actually had to work there ( ex anywhere that has siestas ... Canadian people don't take day time naps past the age of 5 lol so if I need something done at 3 pm you better not be napping ).
Rio is chaotic, the infrastructure is terrible and mostly unsafe. It takes forever to get anywhere further than a mile away and please avoid taking a cab as they have a tendency to overcharge or in some cases they will refuse to take you claiming it is not worth for them.The city is filthy and slums are everywhere so you really need to be careful not to end up on the wrong side of a neighborhood. People are too laid back for my taste to the point of being rude. Vendors eating while talking to you, inappropriate language. At the supermarket forget the word cordial! It's like a battle zone; people cutting in line, cashiers are slow and in their worse mood possible( things do get better on the high end markets). Bottom line for me, Rio is located on a stunning setting and IS worth a visit but be aware, what you hear about Rio ( things i mentioned) is true and often worse for foreigners and by foreigners i mean anyone who is not from Rio de Janeiro. Normally i spend anywhere from 5 to 12 days a month in Rio, so what i said above is what i have and do experience. Just my 2 cents
Oh yes, music and dance....you can really build a modern and productive society out of them! LOL Sure they are fun and nice to have, but are you seriously implying that Brazil can modernize and develop based of a flourishing of art and musicians? No wonder it's still a third world cesspool.
I think your values could be different, but please note not everyone thinks the same way about things. Many people would rather have less material wealth and have more personal freedom, art and culture then to live like a prisoner in a well kept cage.
Oh yes, music and dance....you can really build a modern and productive society out of them! LOL Sure they are fun and nice to have, but are you seriously implying that Brazil can modernize and develop based of a flourishing of art and musicians? No wonder it's still a third world cesspool.
Yep, it's a "third world cesspool" with the third largest airplane maker in the world, EMBRAER:
Yep, it's a "third world cesspool" with the third largest airplane maker in the world, EMBRAER:
EMBRAER is the third largest airplane maker in the world after Boeing and Airbus, with headquarters in São José dos Campos, Brazil.
Even the US Air Force buys airplanes from EMBRAER.
You can bet the employees of EMBRAER love their weekend samba party.
That's definitely a highlight for Brazil, though I believe Bombardier Aerospace on many counts is actually larger than Embraer even with its recent misfortunes--Bombardier is greatly helped in that its missteps come with the safety net of a prosperous and fairly efficient federal government that is able and willing to provide support without a bunch of commensurate graft and corruption to go with it.
Rio, in better economic times, made great sense as an Olympics site since it's such a massive city with already existing major stadiums/facilities and a large enough resident population and tourism numbers to support additional stadiums left from the Olympics. It's awful that the promised cleaned up waterways seems to be falling short (too bad that Brazil is gifted with such beautiful natural bounty but with a government and people who are terrible at taking care of it), as well as the mass transit/subway extensions, but I think the city will make the best of what it has.
Anyhow, here's hoping for a great Olympics in Rio!
I repeat my challenge: I want links for actual news of actual foreigners being mugged in Rio during the 2 weeks of the Olympics.
Post the links for all the cases here.
On August 22 we can count how many cases you could find.
Maybe you can collect 3 or 4 cases in 2 weeks in a city receiving hundreds of thousands of foreign tourists.
It's going to be a lot higher than 3 or 4 cases. Most municipal governments have crime tracking stats available online. London definitely had more than 3 or 4 cases, but not all of it is necessarily reported in the news so I expect at least the same for Rio. That being said, what would be the point of this unless the numbers are absurdly high or the actions particularly vicious?
It's going to be a lot higher than 3 or 4 cases. Most municipal governments have crime tracking stats available online. London definitely had more than 3 or 4 cases, but not all of it is necessarily reported in the news so I expect at least the same for Rio. That being said, what would be the point of this unless the numbers are absurdly high or the actions particularly vicious?
Oh yes, music and dance....you can really build a modern and productive society out of them! LOL Sure they are fun and nice to have, but are you seriously implying that Brazil can modernize and develop based of a flourishing of art and musicians? No wonder it's still a third world cesspool.
Bureaucracy, taxes and more taxes, juridical insecurity, protectionism, lack of a serious plan for the education at federal level... these are the main factors preventing Brazil to be a modern and productive society. While people in Brazil enjoy freedom of speech and it's an electoral democracy, Brazil is not free from the perspective of the economic and business environment. However, there are, of course, honourable examples of excellence such as Embraer.
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... but we still have West Nile and tick risk in the warmer months, which are low, but still possible). Am I still planning to go to Miami next year ... YES ( unless I am pregnant ... and that just does not happen every day 
) so odds are I am going. I am really not getting the whole mosquito drama for non pregnant people.
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