Rio de Janeiro

O Rebentor, o maior bandido do maior morro no Rio.

altitude 700 m

The "Cidade maravilhosa" may well be the most beautiful city in the world, due to the stunning natural
beauty of the location, even though the "Cariocas", in the name of "progress", have done their best to bury it
in slums & pollution. So, although most of the city itself is your typical 3rd world concrete block fest,
many splendid examples of its royal past can still be found around town, if you look hard enough.
Caveat; Rio is a dirty city comprised of ugly cement blocks blackened by either dirt, graffiti, or mold.
It has almost no infrastructure, and what's there is 50 years old and rotting. It has 2 very short freeways,
for a city of 10 million people ! So traffic of course is a typical example of Latino chaos & cluelessness.
Fortunately it is difficult to bury 1000m high towering granite walls in concrete. Miles of beaches, and that
Hawaiian like climate (it is on the same latitude south as Hawaii is north), makes it deliciously sub-tropical.
The "marvelous" part of the equation, no doubt, has to be the hedonistic undercurrent this place is infamous
for, despite the fact that most of the people live in one religious delirium or another most of the time.
The people are generally dumb, superfriendly, and of great spirit, despite poverty, crime, low wages & high taxes.
Another plus is its echo of Southern California "rollerblading along the beach boardwalk—smoothie—surfing"- culture,
albeit with a substantially greater percentage of street scum. If it wasn't for the scum factor you might be forgiven for
thinking you've landed in paradise Baby ! Add to that an obscenely funny and obscure language with bizarre pronunciations
and you have all the ingredients for a smashing good time ! (If you manage to avoid stray bullets, muggers & random acts of deadly,
extreme violence). Rio (& Brazil in general) being an excellent place to visit, doesn't, unfortunately, make it a great place to live,
but that's another story...
There are a few morsels of insight regarding THAT at the bottom of this page.

Bottom Line: Rio de Janeiro state is by far the most worthwhile place in all of Latin America to explore/hang out,
both culturally and geographically.

Zona sul

(The "nice" part of town, 5% of Rio)

Click here to jump to Zona Norte (the hellish part of town)

The view from my window in Botafogo during one of many tropical storms









Moonrise


Moonrise


Moonrise


Moonrise


Moonrise - Sunset


Sunrise


Botafogo is a somewhat more "intellectual"/chic part of zona sul, with cafés, bookshops, art cinemas,
and the highest concentration of old mansions from centuries past.
And the best view in Rio, of course :)


Night view from Sugarloaf.







That's 20 lanes of traffic !


Local tagger art




Brothers 2012


The Wild One having one of his Gary Oldman moments...


The scoop on Lifestyle !
Coconut on the beach, and Açai !!!, the main reason to be in Rio !
This poor man's food of the Amazon mixed with Guaraná syrup is delicious as hell and became very popular around Rio in the 1990s.
It is normally found at one of the hundreds of juice bars scattered around Rio, often with about 30 different kinds of other S American fruits
to choose from, but beware when ordering your smoothie as you must remember to request that they don't dump a handful of sugar in it ! (it's the default !).
Juice bars are as common as gyms and are found on every block, as are scummy and crowded supermarkets selling meats, fruits, and vegetables, the latter
always dirty and of poor quality, which is hardly surprising as 99% of Brazilian cuisine is bland and heavy and does NOT rank very high on any culinary scale,
but is a fair bit better than the food in the rest of Latin America, with the exception of "ceviche" found on the Pacific coast from Mexico to Peru.
Ceviche is the only delicious dish I've had in South America, and it is divine indeed, there is no comparable dish in Brazil though, unfortunately,
it's all very heavy, bland, overcooked and salty here and uses greens mainly as garnish or as condiments, so vegetarians et others beware, you won't find an advanced
food culture here (Mc Donald's is considered fancy food here !) but you can make up for it by indulging in the above mentioned plenitude of south American fruits instead ; )
Brazilian food could be described as almost a caricature of what English food was back in the 1970s, usually over fried to 'shoe sole' standards.
Your best bet for tasty food are the "pay per kilo", "comida a kilo" eateries as you can choose & pick what looks the tastiest.
An excellent but expensive place is the "Porcão" on the bay shore in Flamengo which has an awesome and extensive buffet of world class food.
In most of Brazil salt seems to be the only known "spice" and is used in excess for lack of other options. One will even find the
(in the western world) ubiquitous salt n pepper team on your table missing a member, as even pepper is an exotic substance in Brazil.
Quality bread is a challenge to find, and cereal is a rarely used luxury product. Real yogurt does not exist (only sugary kids' versions).
Fish there is lots of but unfortunately is rarely worth buying as is it often old or stored incorrectly, and even when
fresh enough and stored on ice it is always sold with guts n all still inside !?
Wine is the most exotic substance of all (beer is king) and trying to ingest Brazilian wine can be as shocking
an experience as paying for an imported bottle would be. Quality tea is also hard to find (coffee is king).
Cars, electronics, and other "luxury" items are 100-300% more expensive in Brazil than in the 1st world (2005).
The high Tax burden coupled with low income means that Brazil is a country of expensive low quality goods.
Cigarette smoke wise Brazil is far more advanced than its stinking neighbours, or Europe.
Almost nobody smokes !? and it's prohibited in public places. Awesome !
Surfing is mainstream, windsurfing is exotic, and diving is unusual.
Beach volleyball is everywhere (especially the "footvolley" version).
Women's swim wear fashion has evolved to minimalist perfection,
while men's swimmers are poignantly stuck in the 1950s.
For a Country that is as obsessed with cosmetic surgery as Brazil,
it is surprising how many REALLY ugly people there are on the beach !
In the USA the poor people are fat and the rich are slim.
In Brazil the rich people are fat and the poor are 6-pack.
In the US "suburbia" refers to the prosperous safe part of town,
in Rio "suburbia" refers to the fucked-up, poor part of town.
In the rest of the world rich people live in the hills with
awesome views, while poor bassstds are stuck in the flatlands.
In Brazil the slums are in the hills with amazing views while the
rich, for some strange reason, prefer to live in the boring flatlands.
Don't ask me why, as all I'd have to say about THAT is that in Brazil
a LOT of things are upside down. Makes it a funny place to visit, I guess...


Here are a few pics of some local supermodels !



Factoid :You get 10% more beautiful for every 30 days spent in RIO !!!


...and 10% dumber for every year.




Praia Vermelha is our local beach.




This pleasant seaside walk, next to the beach, is the safest and most relaxing and excellent place in Rio.
A great place to jog surrounded by monkeys, native jungle and crashing waves — even some jungle trails.




Atlantic rainforest, with some introduced species like Jackfruit.


Monkeys


Rock climbers are always hard at work in this rock climbing mecca.










Rio Sul





Sunsets can be intense affairs among these granite walls.


Urca is the safest and one of the oldest neighbourhoods in Rio.


Choppers in the Botafogo sunset. At morro da Urca (Sugarloaf).


Eu


Carine


The Rio Yacht club area, Urca


More Urca neighbourhood shots


One sunny Sunday morning we wake up to a few thousand slum dwellers from this state and beyond,
shipped in by some Christian evangelist cult on several hundred buses, clogging the normally empty beach.
The poor lost souls take to the disgustingly polluted smelly bay (which I would be afraid to dip my toe in),
as if it´s holy water !?, while the band played on.... (hardcore church music at hell raising volume).
By midnight they had all vanished ! ...a surreal experience. Praise Jesus !


The beach is packed again.
This time it's Red Bull putting on the show !
There are one million people on the beach and coastline surrounding the bay.
The Red Bull air race was a cool event.






Flamengo


The Flamengo/Catete beach area next door.


Flamengo. Night & day.


There are miles of walking/running tracks along these relatively safe middle class beach suburbs.
The main one is an 8km round trip with fantastic scenery.




One thing that sets Brazil apart from developed nations is the complete and mystifying
absence of marinas; on such a marvelous coast with superb sheltered bays and no lack of millionaires — weird.
I am puzzled as to where they park these things ?
Even the Rio Yacht Club does not have a marina, despite having about half a mile of perfect bay frontage !?
In fact it's more like a Country club full of posers than a yacht club, sporting restaurants, tennis courts, and
swimming pools. Brazilian priorities, I guess...


The only Marina in Rio is the small and strange "Marina da Gloria", downtown.


The Volvo round the world ocean race just blew into town.










Copacabana !
Tourist central, has few redeeming qualities and is not exactly a safe place due to a
torrid assortment of rough urchins of urban squalor crawling down from the many favelas (slums) surrounding Copacabana
to feed off the poor tourists (and locals). Here foreigners are likely to be approached by everything from hardened criminals,
to beggars, to a vivid variety of sex for sale, everything from stunning creatures of the opposite sex, to disease ridden,
cumguzzling gutterwhores, creepy halfbreed transsexuals and transvestites, all seeking $$$, £££, and euros.
Caveat Emptor !
All said, it is the best place in the world to be for new year's eve when over 2 million people fill the beach
for the most stunning spectacle on earth ! with 24 tons of fireworks exploding off of half a dozen huge purpose
built barges positioned at intervals 300m offshore along the 4 km long beach. An awesome deafening show, probably
not even outdone by the allies in Berlin in 1945 ! After 15 minutes of constant bombardment, the entire
city of Copa is covered in a cloud of smoke akin to a warzone ! Cool...hehehe


Update; The Rolling Stones drew in about half as many, for a half assed free show
on the sand last week, plus a flotilla of boats.




The Upper class Ipanema next door is the home of Bossa Nova.
Here's some more, Elis Regina , Elis & Jobim , Renato Vargas , Frevo mulher.




It's a relaxing, if expensive, place to hang out.


Em meu apartamento, Vinicius de Morais.


It has better water quality than Copacabana.






Jardim Botanico, Rio botanical garden, is even more relaxing.


Founded by the king of Portugal/Brazil, Dom João, in the early 1800s, as he fled Napoleon
and set up shop here in paradise. Understandably, he did not want to return to Portugal !



The famous rows of Royal palms !




Parque Lage, next door, is a remnant from the mansion days.
That's Jesus up on the hill there, in the background.





Sun sets on Botafogo and Parque national da Tijuca, the 1000m high granite walled,
rain forest covered, mountain massif, in the middle of the city of Rio de Janeiro.


Driving around there is very reminiscent of the Hana hwy on Maui.


With lookouts like Vista Chinesa, over Lagoa.


Within the park are lots of trails and waterfalls.




And weirdest of all,


this all is smack in the middle of a city of 10 million people !





Driving into Barra da Tijuca.
These monstrosities are actually what people around here aspire to live in !
A great way to wreck otherwise beautiful scenery.


A few do live in real houses in this most desirable of Rio neighborhoods.



Barra shopping mall
There is no shortage of enormous shiny modern malls in Brazil,
the contents of which provide stunning contrast to the surrounding slums,
with half of the shops bearing English names that nobody understands,
and T-shirts sporting tragically miswritten meaningless slogans in "English".
All this would be almost as funny as China if it wasn't for this ridiculous, subtly omnipresent,
misplaced admiration for the USA that permeates the already "valley girlish" atmosphere.
You CAN find an occasional refreshing "Foda-se USA" (Fuck the USA) T-shirt, so I guess it's a love/hate relationship.
Huge tasteless malls are a curious 3rd world phenomenon. Same thing in Asia. They love building giant malls for some reason ?
I guess nobody told them big malls are no longer fashionable. They seem awfully proud of them ghastly monstrosities though.


The canyon between rich & poor in Brazil is one of the deepest on our pretty blue planet.
In Brazil all roads lead to a slum ( favela ).
This road in the richest part of Rio, flanked by the apartments of millionaires, conveniently leads to the largest favela in Rio.
After all, masters must have slaves, that's why the slave quarters are right next to the masters'.

Even though slavery was abolished here a whole 120 years ago (the last major nation to do so)
you can still buy a slave (maid) here for a 100 bucks a month, the minimum wage in Brasil (many make less).
That's why here in "the land of tomorrow" even middle class folk have one ; )
In Brazil the top 10% of the population make 50% of the national income, and the bottom 10% make 1%.
40% of the land is owned by 1% of the population, and the indigenous population is still being massacred by rotten ranchers.
There are still tens of thousands of slaves in Brazil, mainly in Amazonia (Pará), but also in the cane fields, and
even farther south. While this macabre show carries on the elite (Judges, lawyers, businessmen, estate owners etc.)
are, to use a local expression, "viajando na maionese" (traveling in the mayonnaise), trying to convince themselves that
they are living a first world existence by watching the nightly 8 pm "novela" that often lends support to such delusions.





Recreio, the last (most westerly), of the Rio beaches, is the best of the lot.








Barring the beach beyond the mountains, Grumari.






The hideaway called Barra de Guaratiba, at "the end of the road" going west.


View of Zona Sul, Gloria to Lagoa, from the perch of Jesus up on the hill.

---

Zona norte

( The "bad" part of town, 95% of Rio )

Mercadão de Madureira is packed with Macumba cult artifacts & supplies, including live animals.
Macumba (like Candomblé) is an Afro-Brazilian slave cult incorporating catholic saints into a hilarious nutfest
carnaval of silly characters (Orixás) reminiscent of Hindu mythology, with a good dose of Voodoo thrown in.
One popular orixá is the mermaid goddess Yemanja. Here's another song about her.
Brazil has a much more vibrant and alive element of African cultures than the US mainly because
the region imported about 10 x as many African slaves during a much longer period than north America.
This is a Capoeira song born of that culture. Here is one more.
They sing of their longing for Africa, their arduous journey, and their marshal art, Capoeira, disguised as a dance.
Other afro slave cults include; Quimbanda — a more 'original', darker, more authentic, if you will,
version of Macumba/Candomblé; Umbanda — a politically correct version, and; Rickquemanda — the most
popular among the rich and beautiful in the new millennium, a kind of Brazilian version of the Kama Sutra
and Tantric traditions of the East.


Deep in zona norte.


That's official Government electric work.


In Brazil, as anywhere in the world, the poorest people are usually the friendliest.



In the neighborhood in which Marcia grew up...


...a few of her childhood friends are actually still alive !
Regrettably, many of them met a violent and early death. Everything from being set on fire alive,
dragged to death behind a car, tortured to death, chopped into pieces and laid on mom's doorstep,
or just plain shot. The anecdotes are as endless as is the creativity of the local bandit assholes
of how to kill their real or imagined enemies.
Walking to school in the morning was never dull, kinda like walking through the set of the "Texas chainsaw massacre",
nor was coming home from school, as it was occasionally delayed because of gun battles between police & thieves.
Sometimes at night it was even a pretty show with all the tracer bullets flying between the hills.

August 2007 update; These days, during the civil war in the Alemão favela in zona norte, I see one news report after
another about how kids can't concentrate on homework because of the constant sound of heavy gunfire.
Many die in bed once they manage to fall asleep because of stray bullets coming through the walls.
If they do manage to get to school safely they often have a hard time concentrating on the lesson
because of frequent gunfire outside. Parts of the government have even suggested teachers go through
training in how to take care of the students when heavy gunfire breaks out in the neighborhood. This
has met resistance among more politically correct persons in government who refuse to accept the reality
that 90% of the city of Rio de Janeiro is a War Zone.


When we called this victim in they asked "how many are there ? ......only one ! "
"Well that's gonna have to wait...click." In all fairness, it was a Saturday night.


Here's the aftermath of a gunfight outside my apartment in Zona Zul today (dec 2006 update).
I first thought that must be fireworks as new year's eve is just a couple of days away,
but Marcia could tell the difference right away.
What made it appear to be fireworks was the extremely heavy fire. A mix of machine guns and small arms fire.
This lasted for only 30 seconds. Marcia remembers many gun battles going on for hours !
Looking out the window what really convinced me it aint fireworks was people running all over the place and one dropping dead.
As the eager reporter that I am I went down to take a few pics while the blood was still fresh and the people still
wailing & lamenting these daily, inevitable, events in the "Marvelous city".


They peppered this police booth and nearby cars thoroughly in one of those " kill as many Cops as possible in 24 hrs " - games
that the trafficker scumbags like so much. But these cowardly morons kill any bystanders indiscriminately, like terrorists.
This time a "camelô" (a street vendor) and her son kick the bucket, just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
That's mostly their blood on the street there, not the cop's, although he was shot up severely, these bungling
morons didn't even manage to kill him at almost point blank range but they put 55 holes in the booth !
Reinforcements who showed up all of a sudden took off, burning rubber, as info came on the radio.
They managed to kill over half a dozen bandits.
In this organized attack, dozens of targets were hit around Rio. 25 Dead, twice as many in the hospitals.
11 buses burned, some with people still inside, "carbonized ", as they say.
Here's the somewhat erroneous BBC version of last night's events.


A sign of the times: Today (a couple of days after the above), Marcia went to visit mom in zona norte.
We are now having evening tea and she says , " Oh, by the way, while I was waiting for the bus a bullet fell from the sky,
landed between me and the guy standing next to me, and mom said someone machine gunned the local Carrefour supermarket yesterday."
Such relatively minor indiscretions don't even make the local news ! Not exactly Mr Roger's neighborhood, is it.



Over 100 people per day are murdered in Brazil and about 50.000 people per year are reported missing
with ~ 10% of those remaining unresolved every year (probably the ones nabbed by organ traffickers).
Rio now has the dubious distinction of being the most violent city in South America and the world,
as Medellin and Cali in Colombia have become considerably safer.
Here´s a couple more links , link 2 , link 3 , link 4 , from the BBC for your reading pleasure.

And here´s a sobering quote from the BBC,

"About 40,000 people are shot dead each year in Brazil.

The UN and disarmament groups are using shocking statistics
to put pressure on Brazil's parliamentarians.

The report's headline figure is that more than half a million Brazilians died
from gun-inflicted injuries in the past 24 years.

That is more than four times the number of deaths recorded
in the Arab-Israeli conflict during the past 50 years."

Quick math = 10 x more violent than the Middle East !

In case you care, on this site you can keep track of what's goin on in da hood.
"Mortos" means dead, "feridos" means wounded. This site counts dead police.
Counting since february 2007 (violent "unnatural" deaths only, of course).
Keep in mind that those are only the "official" ones. Most in fact never make it to officialdom.
Some are chopped up by bandits and vanish in the favelas and others are clandestinely executed by corrupt vigilante police.
A friend of ours who was tortured and shot 12 times in the face last week did not add to the above statistics,
nor did her friend who was shot at that same time.

Official statistics for Rio for the month of March are 640 murders, 4.861 street muggings,
815 muggings on public transport and 3.381 cars stolen.

Here's a new story on the BBC today (Aug 2007 update)
and here's one more false hope inspiring one.




Favela access is always controlled by ultra-violent Sons-o-bitches
that you are well advised to steer clear of at all times, No exceptions !




Here the army and special forces are playing cat & mouse with the drugfuck assholes.




Unfortunately, on this day, a 16 year old kid bites the dust thanks to a "bala perdida" (stray bullet).
A common cause of death in Rio.


Welcome to JAIL !

The main force on the front line of this civil war is called BOPE "tropa de elite".
This elite force has the toughest job in "Cidade maravilhosa"
having to duck not only bullets but socio-political attacks as well.


This is their emblem


This is their vehicle, the "caveirão" (the big skull).
So called because this armored vehicle resembles a skull ("caveira" = skull) seen from above.

The caveirão is the subject of heated controversy as you can see in This article which reflects a typical attitude
put forward by Amnesty International and others with PC blindfolds on who do not accept
that policing favelas without the "caveirão" would be fatal.
One would last about as long as a virgin in a whore house — or a disarmed Israel.
Here´s a local news clip about it. And here's a BBC story.

Take a drive in a caveirão on You Tube.


Their website


Oct 2007 update : A new film about BOPE "tropa de elite" just came out.
It is causing quite a stir in Brazil right now dramatizing the realities discussed above.
Here's a NY times article about it.
I haven't seen it yet, but it sounds like it will be another counter terrorism
tool in the psy-ops arsenal in addition to the "BOPE funk" mentioned below.
Cabral (the new governor) will need all the tools he can muster now that the city
seems to be falling into the hands of organized crime, in the form of private militias
who are fighting the traffickers for control of the less prosperous parts of town while
pretending to provide the "protection" that the government seems unable to provide.
Good luck to him, he needs it !

While he's at it he should consider legalizing weed in order to take
some revenue away from the traffickers, among other things.



Psy-ops play a part in modern favela warfare. To counter the illegal but popular gangster funk which glorifies the killing of police,
and brags of the bravery and invincibility of the traffickers and their "soldiers", some underground crew has produced an equally
offensive set of tunes, informing what will happen to gangster types when the Caveirão shows up.
The BOPE funk is a lot closer to reality and may do a good job of re-educating some of the trafficker brainwashed kids.
Music after all is a very powerful force.
They apparently play it through the loudspeakers on some missions, surely to the great horror of Amnesty international & co.
This , This and This clip has the aforementioned music.



Here are a few more glimpses of BOPE & others in action, Chaos , Macacos.

Here's some clips showing Rio life with local music soundtracks : Zerovinteum a , Zerovinteum b
Premonição. Scenes to a Hip Hop sound track, and last but not least Gun's n Roses.

Solutions to this violent civil war are difficult to envision as the underlying socioeconomic,
political and cultural dysfunctions are too profound to fix in even a decade or two.
OF COURSE prevention would be better than cure, but it's about 50 yrs too late now.
So for now "BOPE" is the antibiotic of choice and in fact the only realistic solution to fight
the plethora of vermin that plague the "marvelous" city. They are regrettably an essential
tool in preventing Rio from becoming soul mates with Lagos, Nairobi or Mogadishu.

This never ending civil war is especially lamentable considering that Brazil,
foreign policy wise, must be one of the most peaceful countries on earth as they haven't
had more than a couple of international wars in their entire history. This is quite impressive,
as they have more neighbors (borders) than just about any country in the world. This "peace n love"
attitude may explain why half of the equipment of the armed forces is said to be antiquated and in a
state of disrepair or broken. I guess there is a lack of political will to provide enough maintenance
or funds ? (although corruption is a more likely reason)
The ingrained "culture of violence" of Brazil seems to be purely a domestic obsession, it seems,
having started 500 years ago with the Portuguese massacre of the indigenous population (a tradition which
is still going on today, by the way) and continuing as we speak, with the emancipated slaves' descendants
killing each other in the Favelas, with a helping hand from the Portuguese's descendants...Oh whey....



Que pais e este ???!!!
The lyrics in this '80s masterpiece are SPOT ON ! especially the last verse !

CARNAVAL !

In a land where extreme wealth is counterbalanced by extreme poverty, extreme violence
is counterbalanced by one of the world's more vibrant cultures of love, dance & music.
Even though they share the same sexually repressive and guilt-addicted superstitious disease,
popularly known as Christianity, there is a general lack of the infantile feminist drivel that tends to
patronize the minds of some western women into a permanent state of paranoid delusional insecurity,
and a mortal fear of appearing remotely sensual or feminine, not to mention SEXY !(god forbid).
This is why I sometimes find myself having to explain to foreigners that the scantily dressed local women
really aren't prostitutes, but that it's just the local dress code, especially among the lower classes,
and to locals that some of the women tourists they see in Rio really aren´t lesbians, but that their
masculine appearance is simply a result of them having been bombarded and brainwashed
for decades by misdirected, if well-meaning, feminism and political correctness.
Most find this either hilarious and/or lamentable, as they are used to men being men (obnoxious assholes)
and women being (and looking like) women, except in Copacabana of course, where men might be women,
women might be men, and transvestites may be either or.......a land of extremes.
SEX & VIOLENCE !!! YEAHH !


Web-Photos
Factoid: Carnaval has its roots in pagan spring festivals that the cunning Catholic church over millennia incorporated
into that religion in the form of a holiday period during the two weeks before the traditional Christian fasting and suffering of Lent.
Good Christians are supposed to finish off any remaining meats, eggs etc. that are forbidden during lent,
feasting in a civilized manner, of course. Hence the name "Carneval" or "farewell to the flesh".
There are countless other roots and expressions of this most human condition, expressed in Carnivals around the world.
Over millennia this ancient spring tradition has seen many forms, changing, adapting, evolving, and adopting.
The Rio version, at least a couple of decades ago, probably came closest to the ancient spirit of bacchanalian revelry,
characterized by unbridled freedom and temporary subversion of civil order, the "dangerous occasions of sin" that it was meant to be.
It´s also celebrated as the "big bang end" of summer instead of the beginning of spring, due to the hemisphereal swap.
Extra insight; In Rio "Carnaval" doesn´t mean "farewell to the flesh", it means "HELLOOO to the flesh".



Christians....
i.e. The Christcorpse death cult.

"Noooo, our christbastard is deead !
Let´s pretend to drink his blood and eat his flesh
every Sunday for the next 2000 years !"

Unfortunately, these fucking cannibals are still busy trying to chip away at Brazil's centuries old culture of debauchery.
An uphill battle, let's hope. Even with the aid of Brazil's new PC brigade they are likely to eventually admit defeat,
as did the bishop of Pará 300 years ago.
Quote:

"The wretched state of manners in this country makes me
think that I am living in the suburbs of Gomorrah,
very close indeed, and in the vicinity of Sodom".

Sadly though, a minority of locals these days even express some sort of perverse pride in
that it is now illegal to go topless on the beaches, though contrary to popular stereotypes Brazilians are actually,
despite being a sensual and open society, more prudish about full nudity than most Europeans !
Yes, it's true ! believe it.........or not.

Far from the extremes of the mentally handicapped Muslim world, inhabited by a substantial percentage of Psychotic
perverts, and the politically correct western world, Brazil would have excellent organic conditions for women
to be women, were it not for the two cultural extremes imported from primitive southern Europe.
1: Machismo, 2: Catholicism. The Machistas want to leash her while trying to rip her clothes off, and beady eyed
Catholics want to slap the clothes back on (with superglue), while being perfectly happy to retain the leash.
The women of Brazil are surely trying hard not to become schizophrenic !


There are over a dozen samba schools in Rio, each from a certain suburb with thousands of members, all dancing
down the Sambodromo in "blocos" with dozens of floats (carros alegoricos) each with a certain theme, till the sun rises.
This goes on for several days until a winner is crowned.
This year Vila Isabel, sponsored by Hugo Chavez of Venezuela ?! took the crown.
Smaller party blocos are found throughout the city´s suburbs.
The craziest ones normally far from the tourist areas in the south.
The south has the most popular clubs though (such as Scala).


Wikipedia = The Rio "crazy dress" aspect of carnaval has its roots in the city’s bourgeoisie importing the practice of holding balls
and masquerade parties from Paris. It originally mimicked the European form of the festival, over time acquiring elements
derived from African and Amerindian cultures. These days it´s a free-for-all of imagination.






Quinta da boa vista, the old royal palace area.
The Palace itself of course lingers in a state of dilapidated neglect, as the government of this town
(in the name of progress, while busy shaking hands with corruption)
has far more important things to tend to than maintaining pesky things such as historical heritage sites.
This state of mind though, is quite representative of the people's as private antique properties throughout town fare no better,
in favor of the hideous concrete apartment block housing favored by the population (even by the upper classes !?).

---

Centro etc.

There are a few traditional feeling areas downtown.


That's not the local Disneyland !
That's what all the fire departments in Rio look like !




The historical hill getaway for the rich 100 yrs ago, Santa Teresa, is still one of Rio´s most interesting.


View towards sugarloaf from Santa Teresa.


Niterói, on the east side of the bay.



As seen from Catete.



And from the sugarloaf, with the entrance from the sea into the bay & Prainha de Piratininga towards Jesus.


Postcard. THAT is an INCREDIBLE coastline !


The ocean beaches beyond Niterói are relaxing and empty.
This is MarAzul.

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