Is the Rio de Janeiro still beautiful?

by Beatriz Zamarco (Brazil)

I didn't expect to find Brazil

Almost every brazilian from the inland dreams to meet the Rio one day: beautiful biches, touristic points, excited people, carnival, samba. To me it wasn't different. I prepared myself for months to travel to the Wonderful City and exploring every corner, I was very excited. I travelled to Rio by bus with my family in a very rainy time of the year here in Brazil. When I arrived in the capital, the first shock: where was all the beauty described on the magazines? That place seemed like a neglected little city from the inland, not a good-looking touristic city capital of a state, which appears in postcards. A city circled of favelas (peripheral communities which their houses are precarious and the misery is clear) that portrayed the carelessness of the government with the poor people, even if that urban settlement was able to turn ugly (or less beautiful) one of the only brazilian cities wanted by the foreigners tourists. When I arrived in the hotel, which wasn't that near from the beach, but mostly in the interior of the city, we faced another shock: the rain had flooded the hood around the hotel. The miss of urban planning in a place so visited as Rio let me nonconformisted. How could the State worries that little with that paradise? That situation made me think about how that dreamed trip was surprising me, not positive, but negatively. I didn't thought our country was so abandoned. In the next day, in the first day of touring, we went to the most visited places of the city: the famous biches of Copacabana and Ipanema, the Cristo Redentor, the Pão de Açúcar and the Corcovado. They were all incredible tours. They surprised me in a good way. I saw and felt unexplained things. Amazing views with excited people. Finally I was living all that I have dreamed about. I didn't saw favelas or flooded areas - besides of the rain we faced during mostly of the day - and everything was perfect. With this trip I could conclude that the Rio de Janeiro for tourists is amazing. But the Rio de Janeiro for the true residents was, in fact, very disappointing. For the tourists, excitement, urban planning, good views, quality places and a lot of respect. For the residents, misery, carelessness, social exclusion and almost any respect to the human dignity. For me, it was a huge experience, because I could think about my people and, nevertheless, enjoy amazing views and receptivity from the Wonderful City. My expectations were overcomed, but, in costs of others suffering. I hope one day I can come back and find a place more supportive and fair to all: tourists and residents.