November 13, 20187 yr Active Members 5 hours ago, pauleiro said: I am back there at the end of the month of November ... Looks like we could meet again, Paulo! glad you are ok @Tomcal, but don’t pull a stunt like this again, you could have gotten yourself killed.
November 13, 20187 yr Active Members 6 hours ago, pauleiro said: I am back there at the end of the month of November ... I'll be there too at the end of this month.
November 14, 20187 yr Author Quote I got 12 messages from sauna guys today all of whom I know well and they all had heard about the incident!(they are bigger gossips then we are! lol) and to a person they said I was really dumb to resist!....I agree!
November 14, 20187 yr Active Members 7 hours ago, Tomcal said: I got 12 messages from sauna guys today all of whom I know well and they all had heard about the incident!(they are bigger gossips then we are! lol) and to a person they said I was really dumb to resist!....I agree! Not to even mention the potential harm and risk that you placed your Brazilian friends in by running off, leaving them with a pissed-off armed gunman (or two).
November 15, 20187 yr Active Members Glad you are ok indeed. All Brasilians I met told me that rio has indeed became very very dangerous place. I think indeed that the only possibility to avoid problems is to be almost naked without nothing except little money. I hate bolsonaro style but I hope really he and his team can manage this. It wont be that easy
November 15, 20187 yr Active Members I also would have given my cellphone. You are lucky the boy was not too agressive and let your friend go without shooting him. They undervalue your life and probably also theirs.
November 15, 20187 yr Active Members As already mentioned I was atacked at the limit of a favela. These guys are not behaving like us. Since they are kids they are trained to do the bad work. They are completely out of control and.lost to the society. Often under drugs
November 15, 20187 yr Active Members Really glad you’re okay! I just arrived today, and am already thinking about how I may have to be even more vigilant than my previous trips. Your account affirms that. Stay safe and thank you for the update!
November 18, 20187 yr Active Members You have my total sympathy. It happened to me 13 years ago and it was an experience not easily forgotten.
November 18, 20187 yr I am one of the unlucky ones that have been robbed at gunpoint a few times in Brazil. Two times in Sao Paulo and once in Rio. But, both in Sao Paulo were at the Citibank and in broad daylight when I was getting money from an ATM and the hotel told me not to go there alone. One time wasn't really a robbery but the police stopped my hotel car coming home from Gala Gay during Carnival and they checked us all for drugs but they took part of the money in my wallet. I said nothing to them and let it go and looking back, I still am not sure if this is a robbery at gunpoint or just a shakedown.
November 18, 20187 yr Active Members On 11/15/2018 at 2:45 AM, Johnatan41 said: Glad you are ok indeed. All Brasilians I met told me that rio has indeed became very very dangerous place. I think indeed that the only possibility to avoid problems is to be almost naked without nothing except little money. I hate bolsonaro style but I hope really he and his team can manage this. It wont be that easy I hope in the short term aggressive policing tactics don't actually inflame the situation and lead to more aggressive tactics by the criminals. All the police in the world won't stop crime unless the criminals decide not to commit crimes anymore. I echo what other posters have said--my friends in Rio have said that there has been a change in Rio--what was always a bit dangerous has become much more so. That being said I will continue to visit and will only go out with what I can afford to lose and be prepared to give it up at the first sign of trouble.
November 18, 20187 yr Active Members Glad you did not get shot. You actually put your 2 brasilian friends in danger by going back in the door. All very lucky!
November 18, 20187 yr Active Members 3 minutes ago, Marcorjbr said: You actually put your 2 brasilian friends in danger by going back in the door. Disagree, at least indirectly. Opportunistic felons with honey badger DNA put them in danger. Being an innocent mark put them in jeopardy. Understandably buying into the illusion of inviolability and not taking coordinated group precautions opened the vulnerability. Our lizard brain makes a snap decision. The split-second in-a-blink-think usually serves us well in most circumstances. Freeze, fight, flight ... all viable self-preservational impromptu responses. We have now had an inservice training, fortunately without casualities, on how to better engage our more complex reaction sets. I usually practise being the guy in my North American city that the retail security guard tracks with his eyes and flight path. And lock down valuables up against my sweaty mischief zones when out and about in crime-endemic environments. I will now add to my playbook a mock-up prep drill with any new fellow visitor joining me out in public. They balk? Bounce alone, bitch.
November 18, 20187 yr Active Members [had an interruption and missed the edit /add deadline] This theme was akin to a game hybrid: Russian Rock-Paper-Scissors Roulette. You want to all be on the same page thrusting out paper, no rock-slinging, no scissor-kick sprint. Calls for dress rehearsal. Well, OK, pull a Little Britain's Matt Lucas exclamation, if you must, over the policia lineup later: "Não, não ele, mas ele ė absolutamente LINDO!"
November 18, 20187 yr Active Members 3 hours ago, Marcorjbr said: Glad you did not get shot. You actually put your 2 brasilian friends in danger by going back in the door. All very lucky! Hey, I had nothing to do with this! As for Tomcal, remember the incident took all of 20 seconds. There was no time to think or rationalize. It was every man for himself when the gun came out. Even tomcal disagrees with his reaction now, but what would any of us have done? With time to think, we would have given up the phone. Of that I have no doubt. I am glad that no one was hurt and I hope we never hear of a similar incident in the future.
November 19, 20187 yr Active Members Everyone has different reactions during this kind of events... There are people who get mad and get stabbed/shooted. There are people who trigger their survival instinct while keeping enough focus to don't do the most stupid thing (run away) and who manage to get safe. There are people who just don't react and that the only loss they get is entirely economical. Nothing can be said about tomcal's reaction.
November 20, 20187 yr Active Members On 11/14/2018 at 8:40 AM, SolaceSoul said: Not to even mention the potential harm and risk that you placed your Brazilian friends in by running off, leaving them with a pissed-off armed gunman (or two). So how do the Brazilian 'friends' and their friends view this, as well as coming from a gringo client?
November 20, 20187 yr I do not know what I would have done in this same situation and neither do any of you. However, I do know my friends would be ok with any reaction as people act on instincts. And, I think one must be in that situation to understand it. Having been robbed with a group of Brazilians at one point, they wanted me to go back and fight with the police. LOL That was not going to happen for me. However, they did understand.
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