WEJO, Please tell us about Rio....Safe? Friendly? Food? Clean? Fun? HYSTERIA???

I want to know, too. Never been but would love to include it in my big South American trip I'm saving up for.

Me to, I follow several athletes on facebook, they report mostly positive experience, great time, people being hospitable and welcoming.

Guys, why not ask when he gets back? If he says it is unsafe on a website this popular, he may get pulled from his plane and forced to pay $11k, right?

only in america where less than 15% of population has passport would media slander any place that is foreign (with all their viewers lapping it up).

rio is awesome. travel is awesome. no incidents did not fit media narrative. is travel perfect, is rio perfect, is america perfect?

wake up america MSM lies to you 24/7.

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Rio is a total dump. No sanitation. Infected water. Dangerous streets for men and women especially. Rio is like London, Beijing, Moscow, New York, Nairobi, Paris, Chicago, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Los Angeles, etc. for personal safety. I.E. in those places you must always walk only where there are armed gendarmes in sight, otherwise you are in danger of losing your life.

It won't be nearly as good when the entire Brazillian army and police forces spread back out throughout the country. It was all they could do to keep the games secure as 2 miles outside the main city it is endless slums and street gangs, rapists, murderers, robbers, etc. etc.

How to explain Ryan Lochte and his young toadies feeling so secure that they can vandalize a gas station in their drunken frat boy stupors just like Friday night in Chapel Hill? Where was that gas station anyway- in the slums or the the heavily guarded area? If the latter, why weren't the Brazilian Special Forces summoned to put down the Gringo criminal behavior?

I was in Rio for the entire Games, on a layover back to the US right now. I thought Rio was great, and I enjoyed it more (in a lot of ways) than London. I felt safe the majority of the time, only a little nervous if I was out very late at night after an event, but even then there was always a lot of security around. I had expected to be stuck running on a treadmill for the whole trip, but the boardwalks along the beaches were great for runs and there were always lots of runners out in the mornings.

The Brazilians that I encountered were so friendly and very proud of their country and the opportunity to host the Olympics. Their country pride is strong, and it is incredible to watch. I sat in a hole in the wall restaurant last night during the soccer final, eating incredible food, and enjoying the Brazilian victory with all of the locals. Today, at another Brazilian gold medal victory, I saw a packed stadium go crazy, particularly the hundreds of local volunteers whose long days of work seemed to be more than worth it to be on a court celebrating with their home country's team. Walking through metro stations with masses of people singing and cheering for their team, or wearing a USA jersey and having people cheer fornus randomly when walking by are great memories. The sport I was there for had many days of competition, and the Brazilians did consistently cheer against us and openly boo us, and while that was frustrating, it always stayed inside the gym, not spilling out after competition.

Transportation was really easy, though it could take a very long time to go from one venue to another simply because of the distance between places like Olympic Stadium and Olympic Park. As for cleanliness, hit or miss, depending on where you go. The general atmosphere though was just incredible. The energy in the city and on the beaches was amazing. My family had a great time, it far exceeded my expectations.

where in socal are you from?

my wife is pregnant and we'd like to avoid the zika.

A few years back we hosted students in our house as a part of an intensive business English program (total immersion). One of our students was from Rio. He was blown away by the fact that he could walk from our house to the college, without getting mugged or killed. "It is safe?" He stayed with us for ~2 months and walked to/from school every day, because he could.

I don't want to ever go there. But if I did, I would pee all over the place, making sure I could skedaddle before some rent-a-cops accosted me.

What a hellhole Brazil is.

Isn't Zika in Florida now? Karma really is a thing.

Like so many dozens of international competitions I've attended as a tourist, the Green Zone is always safe with many cops and specialist operators armed with machineguns in sight to protect the gringos. Occasionally a lower-class serf from the countryside or nearby slum sneaks into the green zone and the police escorts them out or arrests and drive them back to the farmlands. Green Zones are safe in the day but at night there are fewer soldiers around. In London, Beijing, Seoul, Bangkok, Salt Lake City, Monaco, etc. it get dangerous very fast after midnight. The riff-raff know security takes a nap at midnight so they swoop in to pick up bottles/cans and dumpster dive for a feast.

Good interview of Lilesa. Your brother makes light of "SJWs," but seems like you got in there and asked some good questions and helped break the story.

Bygone eras wrote:

Good interview of Lilesa. Your brother makes light of "SJWs," but seems like you got in there and asked some good questions and helped break the story.

That whole story going public is a testament to the best of what Letsrun is about. Robert read the 'X' was a political protest on our marathon thread (where others were pissed he was doing some sort of Dez Bryant celebration). He texts Jon and me and says we have to ask about it. (I don't even see the text) Jon standing next to me makes the first question at the press conference (where i figure every question will be to Kipchoge and Rupp) to Lilesa about the 'X'. (I'm thinking 'Jon never asks stupid questions, why he's asking this?) And then Lilesa mesmorizes everyone there with his answer. Maybe someone else would have known about the 'X' but I cane be certain of that. So the whole LetsRjn community deserves credit for that story going public.

I'm typing this from the top of Sugar loaf. My Rio experience isn't typical as I didn't leave within a 1.5 mile radius of the track for a week. Felt safe for sure. Didn't get the big Olympic experience of countries coming together because track was removed from everything else. Never slept less in a week because track went so late and leave stadium at 2 am. Less 'fun' for me than London but I have enjoyed it. Will post more. Just now and yesterday getting to experience beauty of Rio and more of its nicer parts. For 10 days it was more like a middle class, long work trip that coincided with the venue being the best track meet in world.

Can you please confirm for the idiots here that there is less gravity in the southern hemisphere, thanks

I'm interested in the favelas, and no, I'm not talking about those awful, morally void "poverty tourism" type of trips. Would it be possible to venture into one? Thanks.

thanks socialrungirl, always nice to get a response from people that actually went and experienced it.