My Most Intense Experiences From Rio

In 2018, I spent two months of my life in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil as a volunteer for an NGO called Edumais which focused on teaching English to children and adolescents from underprivileged backgrounds. When I was in my last year of high school, I knew I wanted to spend some time somewhere in Latin America and when I was given the opportunity I took it without thinking how intense the experience could possibly be as Rio de Janeiro does not have a favourable reputation. My time in Rio was excellent, I spent my free time on the beach, learned how to surf and watched Flamengo matches. 

What had to be said though was that being in Rio was intense, I would hear gunshots from outside of the apartment I stayed in and even saw the military police and army at work. Hardly anyone could speak English - not even the woman I stayed with or the people I had befriended. 

My first wildly intense experience was when I was walking from the apartment I stayed in to Leblon and noticed that two military police officers were standing with rifles. Next thing I noticed was that they had their rifles pointed towards me and yelling at me in Portuguese. This was one of the scariest moments of my life and I was conversing with them about what the issue was. They said that they thought I was a drug dealer and signalled towards the car. I thought they wanted to arrest me and I said in my state of shock no way and said to them in Portuguese if there was another way around it because I had money to see if they were looking for a bribe, but this only made them more agressive with their rifles. I then tried to explain to them that I was a British citizen and I was doing volunteering and I hate drugs and asking if they were able to talk to me in English. Then they searched me, found nothing suspicious and decided to let me go on my way. To this day I had no idea what their intentions were did I really look like a drug dealer? Or were they looking for a simple bribe? Either way it was a simple case of bad luck which I hope never happens to me again.

A week later I was sitting at Copacabana beach, enjoying the atmosphere and the next thing I noticed was that my wallet keys and phone were gone. I was completely shocked and was consoled by two Paulistanos who were kind enough to give me 50 reais and some water because I had been robbed.

The next day was super stressful, it first involved having to go to a stuffy Western Union office to get money to go home and the bureaucracy in Brazil is tedious. They asked me a series of questions including why I needed the money and ultimately refused me because I was only 17 at the time and the rule is that you have to be 18 to get a money transfer.

 Then I had to go to the tourist police to get a police report on the robbery which took an hour of waiting inside of a dull police station. After that I explained to one of my friends what had happened and they said she could receive the money in her name. After two hours of waiting in a Western Union office, I eventually got the money and was relieved. 

The next day my luck had been awful again, as I was walking towards the beach for one last time and noticed a group of military police officers who wanted me to come towards them and thankfully this time they could speak English, I wanted to know what they wanted and they said they were suspicious of me being a drug dealer and they searched me. They found the money I had from yesterday (dreadful mistake on my part) and it instantly made me suspicious. Thankfully, the woman I was staying with had came down and demanded them for me to be let go. They ordered her to get my passport and after an awkward 20 minutes of basically being held at gunpoint they had a look at my passport, flicking through the pages for no reason and decided to give me my money back and let me go. I had then noticed that a significant amount of the money I had was missing and I had been ROBBED by the police. There was nothing I could do to get the money back, if I stood up to them they would have probably arrested me. I explained to the woman I stayed with the situation and she was horrified saying: "Que uma merda, uma vergonha" ("What shit, what a shame") This is a perfect example of police corruption in Rio de Janeiro and they robbed me because they are severely underpaid. 

In conclusion, I have to say that this should not represent Brazil nor Rio de Janeiro. Yes it's dangerous, but I was unlucky with the military police as such things would be unlikely to happen to tourists in the city. There is a risk of getting robbed in Rio de Janeiro, but I would say I was being to negligent. It's very important to not take valuables to the beach as it can be easily stolen by opportunistic thieves. This doesn't just happen in Rio, it can happen in European cities such as Barcelona. Travelling to Brazil can be a very enjoyable experience, but in places like Rio it can be a challenge. As Tom Jobim said: "Brazil is not for beginners" Brazil is a wonderful country and I can't wait to hopefully return.