Iguaçu Falls

For those who have not read the article properly, it clearly reads: "Brazil: Best bits", although I certainly would argue that there are other places much better than the some mentioned on this article. The point is, should we write about "Britain: best bits" and discuss the widespread violence in the UK e.g. the riots or the centralised and recurrent violence in certain places such as Brixton, Lewisham, Hackney, Birmingham to name just a few... or we can discuss the hooligans and binge drinking, widespread use of drugs, random attacks to people on the streets, corruption (we all love the MPs scandal, don't we)... the list can go on and on, we certainly will have something to pick and discuss ;-)

The size of Brazil is 8,514,877 sq km which makes it 34 times bigger than the whole UK (243,610 sq km), but that is a bit unfair as we are taking into consideration a group of countries.. if we compare Brazil to England, it is 65 times bigger (130,373 sq km). Rio’s area is only 1,182.3 square km and a tiny proportion of that is where the slams are located – so let’s not imply the whole country is crap…

The slams in Rio and some in Sao Paulo are dangerous, but one cannot judge 200 million people based on a slam. Anyway, there are zillions places in Brazil that are incredibly better than Rio - Rio is just for tourists that have no idea about Brazil. I understand that everyone that goes to Brazil want to go to Rio (it is like coming to the UK and not coming to London)... but if one can spend half a day in Rio and go to much better places (more beautiful, cheaper, cleaner, less crowded and not violent at all).

Violence in Brazil is directly linked the poverty.. mobs in some slams can kill you because your pair of shoes (or camera, or whatever), will give them enough money that is worth 4 months of drugs consumption, etc… in the UK mobs can kill you because they thought you gave them a “dirty look”, or simply because they are bored, they got a bad grade at school, etc…

I am from Brazil (Sao Paulo) and I have already travelled to Rio many times (mostly to take my British friends with me on holiday) and we have never been in any dangerous situations. Funnily enough, it was in London that I encountered violence towards me (2 yobs started a fight to try to nick my mobile phone)... and I have witnessed various fights on the streets - just give a Brit an opportunity to drink a bit and they will get drunk and violent – better yet, give them alcohol in the Spanish islands ;-).... the NHS doctors will certainly agree with me.

So, focus people… let’s talk about the natural beauty… violence, corruption, poverty (be it in wealth or mentally) exist in every single country in the world. Remember that good news are no news, they don’t sell (look at the news here, 90% are about bad things)… all my friends and family members got in contact with me after the riots because they saw on the news in Brazil what was going on and, because some newspapers mentioned that in some areas it is quite common to have violent outbursts, they thought it was a normal thing going on… not everything that is published is 100% accurate or real at all…

Dont forget about the astounding crime rate, and the fact that Rio is possibly one of the most dangerous citys in the world. all you have to do is watch the news here to see how many murders there are on a daily basis.

Also they dont give a damn for human life here, me and a friend where on a ship just off Rio and we found a dead body in the sea, it was reported to the police and they said just to leave it as it will most likley get washed up on the beach and they will deal with it then.