Rio (Brazil)!

Last week we took a family vacation in Rio de Janeiro!  We went to visit friends who had lived just up the street from us here for the past eight years but moved back to Rio (where they are from) a few months ago.  I was excited because it was my first time in the southern hemisphere, my first time in South America, and my first BRIC country visit (Brazil, Russia, India, China – planning to visit all of them over the next couple of years).

The most notable impressions from Rio were the palpable sense of economic growth and my high perceived level of safety.  Due to the city’s fairly unique geography of being bordered by water and mountains, expansion is taking place primarily further out in the Barra area where we stayed.  There one can see tons of new high rise buildings being constructed.  The result is a bit of a traffic nightmare.  From our friends house to Ipanema is 20 minutes without traffic and 60 - 90 minutes during rush hours!

Given the extensive warnings we had gotten before leaving, I was a bit surprised that I felt completely safe the entire time, including going out at night, getting lost and asking for directions.  I have spent a little time searching online, trying to find a break down of crime statistics for Rio between the favelas and the rest of the city but without luck.  Based on appearances alone (and hence not to be trusted), it seems as if much of the violent crime takes place inside the favelas.  Incidentally, the housing in the favelas was less rickety than I had imagined it – construction is crazy tight and without any building codes, but one can also see tons of air conditioners and satellite dishes sticking out and Internet access is apparently widely available.

Postscript: Sadly, Rio was hit by torrential rains right after we left and close to 200 people have died, mostly from mudslides and mostly in favelas (which at their edges tend to push up against ever steeper territory).