terça-feira, 17 de setembro de 2013

Etiqueta no shopping: você não está comendo em casa!

O que acontece com as pessoas na praça de alimentação de shoppings? Eu não entendo!

A pessoa termina de fazer sua refeição, se levanta e deixa a bandeja suja sobre a mesa com a maior naturalidade, como um cão de rua que defeca, dá as costas pras fezes e segue sua vida...

Eu estive pensando sobre o assunto e desenvolvi minha tese:

Existem duas questões sobre a forma como essas pessoas lidam com suas bandejas sujas ou embalagens de comidas nas praças de alimentação dos shoppings. E ambas são muito erradas!

A primeira é que muitas destas pessoas trazem para o ambiente público das praças de alimentação a mesma relação que possuem com os afazeres domésticos em suas próprias casas; se vivem com os pais ou contratam empregados para lidar com suas louças sujas e limpeza doméstica, eles entendem que o mesmo se aplica à realidade dos shoppings, onde as faxineiras têm o dever de lidar com o assunto.

A segunda questão é a filosofia de que os serviços dos shoppings são pagos por uma porcentagem de seus gastos em produtos e serviços e, portanto, essas pessoas têm o direito de não retirar as bandejas sujas das mesas porque pagaram indiretamente para que as faxineiras façam isso por eles.

Em ambos os casos falta às pessoas a noção de civilidade. Por isso eu gosto de trabalhar com analogias. Analogias são ótimas pra ilustrar situações pra pessoas menos esclarecidas, como eu...

Imagine que você chega em casa apertado para usar o vaso sanitário, chega ao banheiro, levanta a tampa do vaso e percebe que ele se encontra “cheio” e que o odor que o material emite impregnou todo o banheiro. Você provavelmente xingará todos os “suspeitos” que vivem sob seu teto e:

1- Tendo a sorte de possuir um segundo banheiro, correrá para se aliviar nele;

2- Caso haja apenas um banheiro em sua casa, será obrigado a lidar diretamente com a eliminação do conteúdo que lhe impede de resolver suas necessidades e com o cheiro oriundo do material.

E é dessa forma que eu enxergo essa questão: quando uma pessoa usa a praça de alimentação de um shopping e “esquece” sua bandeja suja sobre a mesa, me vem sempre a cabeça o tipo de pessoa que vai ao banheiro e não dá a descarga nunca! Pra mim as duas situações são equivalentes em mal estar!

É chato ter que falar o óbvio, mas – principalmente quando o shopping se encontra cheio – a próxima pessoa a se sentar em sua mesa será obrigada a “dar descarga” na bandeja suja que você não fez questão de retirar da mesa. (Quer por achar que não devia ou por estar acostumado a ver os outros fazendo este serviço por você).

A lógica é simples: se todos retirarem suas bandejas sujas, sempre haverá mesas disponíveis. Se ninguém retirá-las, as mesas sempre estarão sujas...


Então da próxima vez que você tiver comido e estiver satisfeito, se levantando feliz de sua mesa, lembre-se da história do “vaso cheio”. Faça este pequeno gesto de retirar sua bandeja e ajude a tornar o dia de outra pessoa menos estressante! 


quinta-feira, 30 de maio de 2013

Commercial aviation in Brazil: a Russian roulette (with 4 bullets)

(Written by an airline pilot specially to people who use air transport in Brazil.)


For someone to understand how aviation works in Brazil, one just needs to follow this idea: imagine yourself driving a luxurious BMW in the middle of a safari in Africa. That is pretty much how it feels for an aviator flying in Brazil: you have cutting edge technology within your plane but poor and outdated system surrounding you. I'll explain it with details.

Delays: Delays in Brazil have unusual characteristics compared to worldwide ones. Whenever there is fog, only Guarulhos airport (in Sao Paulo state) has a more accurate system for landing by instrument, known as "ILS Category 2". Curitiba also has it, but it's so confusing that they put the system to maintenance exactly during fog season.
Shamefully Porto Alegre, Florianópolis and Confins do not have this system. Those airports always close because of fog. Manaus, which has an extremely strategic location and always has fog, also has no ILS. Note that In the U.S. there are over 100 airports with ILS category 2".
If you are a passenger going to Porto Alegre, know that your plane can not divert to Florianopolis in case Porto Alegre is closed. Florianópolis has an absurdly small patio for only five airplanes. Without mentioning that on summer Florianópolis receives 150 more charter flights than usual. This airport, shamefully, has no taxiway (runway for aircraft taxiing to the main runway), requiring the aircrafts to tax down the main runway generating greater spacing between aircraft approaching, or causing delays.

If you are arriving in Sao Paulo, the problem is similar. Guarulhos' patio is always packed, as well as Victoria and Confins. Galeão (International Airport - GIG) and Congonhas were in the same situation of crowded patio days ago. Pilots who had Galeão as an alternative runway had to listen to a "negative" from the controller to divert to that airport. Galeão was in the flight plan as the "alternate" runway.
Therefore, if the controller approved the plan before taking off, that means that following the schedule is a matter of law and not of convenience.

Northeast: Flying in Northeast part of Brazil is quieter because there is less air traffic, but then there is another problem: The air traffic control has the disservice of counting on military aircrafts doing training flights which consequently generates delays, usually more than 20 minutes in departures, what triggers an even greater delay to these aircrafts that arrive late to southern Brazil. Accordingly to international flight rules
an aircraft in international military education takes precedence over civil aircraft in passenger arrivals and departures, however, if the country wants to adopt international rules by the book, let them build military bases for specific military training. Bear in mind that this is Brazil and not Europe or the U.S., where the planes are sequenced for landing with 4 kilometers separations between aircrafts, while in Brazil is 8 km between aircrafts and, in the case of Florianópolis, it reaches 20 km per aircraft for lacking of taxiway.

Know that every Brazilian pilot feels safer flying in the U.S., Europe and Asia than flying here in Brazil, indeed disappointing, but I'll explain why ...

Here in Brazil there is a rule: "the shortest distance between two points is a curve." Did you know that when you leave the Brazilian coast and goes to Sao Paulo you fly in a curve? Flying over Rio de Janeiro is obligatory. pilots have to fly a straight line through Minas Gerais. This outline flight over the coastside generates at least 1000 more liters of burnt fuel in each flight.

In the U.S. air ways no longer exist, but only the straight prow to the destination. There they have agreements with NGOs and understand that the less time a plane stays in the air the lower the greenhouse effect. If it happened in Brazil, it would be the equivalent of taking off from Salvador and the controller allowing direct prow in São Paulo. 1000 liters of kerosene are wasted, and burned over the heads of Cariocas every 2 minutes! (Let Green Peace know about that. They'll be overjoyed.)

The excuse can not be flow separation, since the U.S. are larger than Brazil, and their airflow is fifty times greater than in Brazil. Brazil's flight hours in 50 days are equivalent to U.S. flights in just one day. "It could be worse if snow fell in Brazil. Daily messy air traffic control would be a catastrophe."

But do not blame the controllers. The fault is not theirs. Brazilian air traffic control system is the one that is archaic and insecure. The salary of these controllers is low and there are lots of people working there without any commitment to their profession. Some are serious and dedicated but don't have decent working conditions. One single controller handles various regions of the country and they all suffer too much pressure to, ultimately, be less efficient controllers than Americans, Europeans and Asians.

The other day I heard a radio controller saying goodbye because he got a better job - it is shameful for a country that wants to offer a "first world" service - but I wished him the best and hope he is happy in his new well-payed job now. He has certainly not been valued as he should.

Being an airline pilot, I can say without exaggerations that flying in Brazil today is like being in a kind of flying yellow alert. Another accident is very close to happening. When taking off does we are never sure to land at the destination or alternate airport. The other day five airports were literally closed for lack of patio: Confins, Galeão, Vitoria, Guarulhos and Campinas. So you have to take off from Brasilia to Sao Paulo with enough fuel to divert to Salvador!

Theses continuous problems will make Brazilian aviation impractical, not to mention the sale of our airlines to neighboring countries, due to high tax rates on them, so that, to survive in the market, undergo miraculous partnerships including moving the head offices to neighboring countries to get rid of Brazilian nonsense taxes, in other words, they now will pay taxes in another country ... Why does that happen? Because there are no incentives here. Lack of structure and lack of clarity. That's what I call "Delivering the National Sovereignty."

Sovereignty is not only putting military troops on the borders. The country has never been so prosperous, the problem is that our politicians win elections because they know how to be in the spotlight but they have mediocre mentality. They sell themselves. Simply put dollars in their hands or speak with a little accent and they give you everything.

I flew a lot over Amazônian and I guarantee that after the rainforest turn into a desert no one else will want to take it from Brazil. Deforestation in the area occurs in a proportion of a football field per second.

Today Brazil only builds dams because of the blackout of 2002. The blackouts in aviation will be repeated for the next 20 years. And remember that the World Cup and the Olympics will take place durinh fog season.

Infraero already got two solutions: remove sits from the bus stations-like airports to give more space for passengers to stand up, and free Wi-Fi to console the users.

Today Brazilian aviation offers a different surprise each day, "the mess" (a mess), as defined by an European pilot days ago, and I assure you that being blindsided in aviation has tragic consequences.

Solution: First of all: The politicians have to start thinking as serious rulers and do as the Brazilian singer Raul Seixas once said: "the solution is renting Brazil".

In the U.S., Europe and Asia airports are built to meet a demand that will only exist in 20 or 30 years and with enough patio to park more than 100 large aircrafts together. This is quite different from Brazilian adaptations which does not even attend the current demand.

As you read this e-mail, more than 10 airports larger than Guarulho's airport are being built in India. In China more than 70 are being built and the 3 countries: China, Brazil and India are part of the same group called "BRIC", which also includes Russia and South Africa. It seems that only Brazil has not yet agreed among these five.

Absurdly as it may seem, Brazilian airports do not have subway stations! Foreigners think is a joke when they get here and see no subway stations at airports. Any airport abroad has subway stations.

What country is this? Brazilian people compare themselves to American people, but American people, opposingly to Brazilian citizens, know how to claim for their rights. By acting this way, the Brazilian government does not expect to be pressed by the citizens to start investing  money from taxes in education, health, etc.

Brazilian people only care about complaining. They just don't do so to the right person, organ or appropriate sector of the government. They complain to friends and neighbors, but almost none of them is able to access the Senate or the House of Representatives websites to send e-mails complaining about politics absences or even know what these people do with the money from taxes that the citizens pay.

It is very easy to go on vacation to the United States and come back to Brazil saying that everything is fantastic there and Brazil is the end of the world. In fact there are decades of delay, but American people are way more conscious about what their politicians are doing with public money and bureaucracy in their country is practically nonexistent when compared to Brazil.

In Brazil ANAC takes 30 days to issue an aeronaut license, thus generating a fall in the wages of pilots and flight attendants, as well as financial losses to employers. Who will pay this bill? ANAC? The Federal Government? In the U.S. the same license is issued in just one hour by the FAA. Bearing in mind that  ANAC in Brazil manages a universe of 20,000 commercial pilots while the U.S. deals with over 600,000.

In the U.S. a few public sector jobs offer stability, maybe that's why the public servants work harder, are more efficient, work for the good of population, apologize if they get late at work and treat taxpayers properly, even if it's a Latin American person. Diversely from public servants in Brazil. Anyway...

Good luck to all and may God protect us!


sexta-feira, 8 de março de 2013

Réveillon em Copacabana: 5 horas de stress por 15 minutos de fogos...



Minha experiência com o Réveillon em Copacabana começou dia 30 de dezembro, ou seja, na antevéspera do ano novo. Fui à tarde tentar comprar bilhetes de ida e volta do Metrô Rio na estação Central. Uma vez que o esquema especial de trânsito para o Réveillon iria fechar Copacabana até as 4:00h da manhã e obrigar todo mundo a caminhar até a Praia de Botafogo para voltar de ônibus (e esta "organização" não me soou bem aos ouvidos...), preferi optar pelo metrô, que me pouparia de fazer uma "meia-maratona" após a queima de fogos!

Chegando à estação Central para comprar os ingressos especiais, havia uma fila de mais de 100 pessoas (e aumentando a cada minuto...). Porém não havia um único funcionário do Metrô ao longo da fila instruindo a respeito da compra dos bilhetes especiais ou sobre a finalidade daquela fila. Os únicos funcionários fora da bilheteria eram dois seguranças que estavam do lado de dentro das roletas. Perguntei a eles e confirmaram a fila como sendo a de compra dos bilhetes. Esperei 10 minutos na fila e não saí do lugar. Lembrei que as estações Carioca e Largo do Machado também estavam vendendo os bilhetes pro réveillon. Saí da fila na tentativa de comprar um bilhete para ir até uma destas duas estações, que certamente estariam com filas menores que a Central. E qual não foi minha surpresa quando, ao chegar à bilheteria, ouvi do funcionário que as vendas de bilhetes já haviam encerrado nas outras duas estações e que ali, na estação Central, só haviam bilhetes de ida para 23h e 24h!

Traduzindo em miúdos: eu só tive essa informação porque tentei ir para outra estação. Se tivesse aguardado na fila por mais de 1 hora - o que certamente teria acontecido , diante da imobilidade da fila - teria arrumado um tumulto muito sério por terem me feito esperar na fila à toa. Muita gente deve ter se aborrecido com o desserviço prestado pelo Metrô Rio aquele dia.

No dia 31 de Dezembro peguei o metrô para Copacabana na estação Largo do Machado. Já esperava que as plataformas e trens estivessem cheios, afinal de contas o réveillon em Copacabana é um evento que atrai gente do mundo todo. Porém minha expectativa era de que o Metrô Rio - no mínimo - colocaria trens com intervalos inferiores a 5 minutos desde o início da operação especial de ano novo, de modo que não houvesse superlotação nos vagões. Ledo engano...

Sabendo que o esquema especial do Metrô Rio iniciaria às 19h, comprei bilhetes de ida e volta para acessar o Metrô a partir das 21h (2 horas depois do início da operação especial da empresa). Qual não foi minha surpresa quando, ao chegar à estação, tive de esperar que QUATRO trens passassem com todos os vagões abarrotados até a porta, para que eu conseguisse - forçadamente - entrar em uma composição!
Eu estava acompanhado de minha namorada e minha sogra. Tive de imprensá-las contras as pessoas dentro do trem e me agarrar à borda da entrada do vagão. Tendo o corpo empurrado por todos que já se encontravam do lado de dentro, esperei que a porta se fechasse contra as minhas costas para que eu pudesse viajar. No caminho, pelo fato de estar de costas para a porta, várias pessoas tentaram forçar a entrada num vagão já incapaz de acomodar ninguém. Inclusive tive que discutir com uma senhora que, totalmente alterada, me xingava e forçava uma caixa de isopor contra minhas pernas dizendo "que tinha que entrar naquele vagão porque ia trabalhar!" (Sim... O Metrô autorizou a entrada de pessoas com caixas de isopor de pequeno volume, mesmo não oferecendo estrutura para tal).

Ao descer na estação, apesar de o trem estar funcionando apenas para desembarque, a massa de pessoas acostumadas a diariamente se jogar na plataforma antes do fechamento apressado das portas, saiu às pressas empurrando todos que estavam à frente. Imagino a quantidade de itens (carteiras, celulares, câmeras...) que devem ter caído no vão da plataforma e de pessoas que devem ter sofrido quedas e escoriações devido à falta de seguranças na plataforma para auxiliar a saída organizada da estação (o condutor da composição deveria ter sido orientado a pedir calma aos passageiros antes de o trem chegar À estação e informar que as portas ficariam abertas por 30 segundos , mas o Metrô Rio desconhece o conceito de proatividade!).

Uma vez deixada pra trás a desorganização do Metrô Rio, finalmente chegamos a Copacabana, onde mais dores de cabeça me esperavam. Chegar à areia em Copacabana exigiu verdadeira estratégia de guerra. Desviar de pessoas paradas em grupos, fluxos contínuos de famílias e amigos que passavam no sentido contrário em trenzinhos (para evitar se perderem na multidão), vendedores ambulantes mal humorados que apareciam do nada com isopores volumosos e molhados... E isso tudo sem mal conseguir enxergar onde se pisava.

Quando finalmente consegui chegar à areia percebi algumas tendas armadas. Pensei tratarem-se de postos da Guarda Municipal ou da PM pra tomar conta das pessoa na praia. Não era: pessoas que chegaram mais cedo à praia simplesmente armaram tendas, isolaram o acesso às mesmas com elásticos e cordas e fizeram suas pequenas áreas VIP na areia. Ou seja, a praia inteira foi loteada em verdadeiros labirintos de tendas (e barracas de camping!) que diminuíam o espaço disponível à população que foi assistir à queima de fogos e aos shows e tornavam virtualmente impossível chegar até o mar!

Durante o tempo em que estive na praia, notei ao menos duas discussões entre pessoas mais exaltadas. Havia torres de policiamento na areia, mas os PM's ignoraram estes incidentes de forma categórica, quase como se estivessem ali a lazer. Da mesma forma, não havia guardas municipais ou PM's circulando entre as pessoas para acalmar ânimos ou inibir assaltos (eu testemunhei duas pessoas se queixando após roubos).

Depois da queima de fogos, para evitar o tumulto do retorno pra casa, preferi aguardar que a praia esvaziasse. Deixei a praia às 3:45h da manhã e me dirigi à estação Arcoverde. Note que aguardei mais de três horas após o fim da queima de fogos para ter tranquilidade em minha volta para casa. Ao chegar em frente à estação Arcoverde notei que havia uma fila cercada circulando a calçada para entrar na estação, de forma a organizar a massa de pessoas que voltariam de metrô. Pensei comigo "ok, vamos pro final da fila". Procurando o fim da fila eu cruzei uma esquina. Depois duas. Três... Tive de caminhar até a Rua Siqueira Campos - a cinco quadras de distância da estação! - para chegar ao final da fila!

E se já não estivéssemos cansados o suficiente por ficar de pé na praia desde as 22h e ainda termos de caminhar por 10 minutos até o final da fila e esperar mais 20 até que chegássemos à entrada da estação, ao longo da fila ainda tivemos que lidar com vários idiotas tentando furar fila! Aconteceu duas vezes na minha frente quando a fila (que andava pelo asfalto) precisou ser cortada pra dar passagem a carros que vinham das transversais à Rua Toneleros. Em uma das vezes a pessoa fingiu ter se confundido e saiu da minha frente diante do olhar de um guarda municipal que acompanhava a situação em silêncio e que manifestou um simples "Eu tava só de olho pra ver se precisaria eu te ajudar" como apoio. Na segunda vez tive de levantar um pouco a voz e perguntar ao casal à frente dos penetras se eles os conheciam e, diante da negativa, os "espertos" saíram da fila.

Cerca de 10 minutos depois comecei a ouvir uma senhora se queixando em voz alta um pouco mais à frente na fila: um grupo de mais de 7 jovens (homens e mulheres) tomou a frente dela na fila e debochavam das reclamações dela. Avistei na esquina seguinte um guarda municipal ao lado de um PM e fui pedir por auxílio pra lidar com a situação. O PM me olhou de relance e me ignorou como se eu fosse um mendigo tentando entrar em um restaurante caro, enquanto o guarda municipal sugeriu (sic) "Com tanta gente na fila, será que vocês não conseguem se juntar pra tirar os caras sozinhos?".
Agradeci batendo palmas e, de forma irônica, elogiei sua "iniciativa" e "atitude"...

Na curva de início da Rua Toneleros encontrei um grupo de uns 12 guardas municipais e, por estarem em maior número, achei que pudessem resolver o problema. Um deles mencionou que quem estava lidando com a situação eram os funcionários do metrô e pediu que eu me dirigisse à estação. Atravessei a fila diante de olhares furiosos de pessoas que achavam que eu também fosse um penetra e encontrei um grupo de funcionários do metrô que assistia com 2 PM's ao fluxo de passageiros que entrava na estação. Informei sobre minha conversa com a guarda municipal e os mesmos negaram com um sorriso amarelo e informaram que - pasmem! - a organização da fila estava sendo feita exclusivamente pela guarda municipal!!!

Enquanto eu controlava minha raiva diante da resposta do funcionário do metrô percebi que havia uma massa de pessoas se aproximando da entrada da estação pelo outro lado, sem entrar pela fila. Elas não apenas se aproximaram, como entraram na estação sem ter esperado na fila! E fizeram isso diante da total indiferença de PM's, guardas municipais e funcionários do Metrô Rio que ouviam os gritos de "olha a fila", "entra na fila", "olha o penetra aí!" com total e completo desinteresse pelo bem estar da população!

Desci na estação de São Cristóvão às 5:40h da manhã. O trajeto - mesmo em horário de rush - é feito numa média de 40 minutos. Devido ao descaso do Metrô Rio com a organização da fila, levei o triplo do tempo normal pra chegar em casa e completamente arrependido de ter acreditado nas palavras bonitas anunciadas pela Prefeitura do Rio de Janeiro e pelo Metrô Rio!

Resumindo: A menos que você invada a faixa de areia com um trailer ou um ônibus, que coloque uma cerca de arame farpado para garantir a comodidade e segurança de seus convidados e contrate seguranças particulares para garantir seu espaço loteado, não recomendo a ninguém confiar nos esquemas especiais de transporte organizados pela Prefeitura do Rio de Janeiro ou pelo Metrô Rio. Fique em seu hotel, pousada ou até em casa com seus amigos e evite uma úlcera nervosa ou um infarto no ano que vem!!!

[ENGLISH]


My experience with New Year's Eve on Copacabana began on December 30, ie, two days before New Year. I went to Central subway station in the afternoon trying to buy the special roundtrip tickets to Copacabana. Once the special transit scheme for New Year's Eve would interrupt traffic in Copacabana until 4:00 am forcing everyone to walk to Praia de Botafogo in order to take buses back home (and this "organization" did not sound any good to the ears ...) I chose to use the subway, which would save me making a "half-marathon" after the fireworks to get home!

Arriving at Central Station to buy the special tickets, there was this queue of over 100 people (and increasing every minute ...). But there was not a single employee of the Subway along the queue instructing about the purchase of the special tickets or about the purpose of that queue. The only employees outside the ticket office were two security guards who were behind the turnstiles. I asked them about the queue and they confirmed it as being for purchase of the special tickets. I waited 10 minutes in that queue and did not move. Then I remembered that stations Carioca and Largo do Machado were also selling the réveillon tickets. I left the queue in an attempt to buy a ticket to go to one of these two stations at that very moment, which would certainly be with smaller queues than that at the Central station. And, to my surprise, when I got to the box office, the clerk heard that ticket sales had already closed on those two stations and that there, in Central Station, they only had one-way tickets to 11:00 PM and 12:00 AM!

In other words : I just obtained this information because I tried to go to another station. If I had waited in that  queue for more than 1 hour - which certainly would have happened, given the immobility of the queue - I would have had a very seriously argument with the clerk, because they made me wait in a queue for nothing. Many people must have been upset with the disservice offered by Metrô Rio that day...

On December 31 I took the subway to Copacabana at Largo do Machado station. I expected that both the platforms and trains would be full, after all the New Year's Eve in Copacabana is an event that attracts people from all over the world. But my expectation was that the subway company - at least - would provide  trains at intervals of less than 5 minutes from the start of the New Year's Eve special operation, to avoid  overcrowding in wagons. Mere mistake ...

Knowing that the special operation scheme of Metro Rio would begin at 7:00 PM, I bought roundtrip tickets to access the subway at 9:00 PM (2 hours after the start of subway's special scheme). To my surprise, upon arriving at the station, I had to wait for FOUR trains to pass with all wagons crowded till the doors so that I could - forcibly - enter into a wagon!
I was accompanied by my girlfriend and my mother-in-law. I had to press them against people inside the train and grasp firmly to the edge of the wagon entrance so as not to fall from it. Having my body pushed by everybody who was already inside the wagon, I waited for the door to close against my back so I could go on that train. On the way to Copacabana/Arcoverde station, as I was facing away from the wagon door, several people tried to force entry into the wagon where we were, that could barely accommodate people that were already in it. I even had to argue with a upset lady who was totally upset, cursing me and forcing a  styrofoam cooler against my legs saying "I have to get in that wagon because I am going to sell beer in Copacabana!" (Yes. .. Subway authorized the entry of people with styrofoam boxes on such a difficult condition, while not offering structure for such).

When I got off the station, although the train was not opening for people to enter, the mass of people used to throw themselves up on the platform on a daily basis before the wagon doors close, hurried pushing everybody on their way. I can only imagine the amount of items (wallets, cell phones, cameras ...) that must have fallen in the gap between the train and the platform and how many people must have suffered falls and bruises due to lack of security people on the platform to help organize the exit of the station (the train driver should have been instructed to calm passengers before the train reached the station and emphasize that the doors would be open for 30 seconds, but Metro Rio is does not know the concept of  proactivity!).

Once the messy Metro Rio was left behind us, we finally were at Copacabana, where more headaches awaited us. Reaching the beach at Copacabana demanded real war strategy. Diverting from people standing in front of us in groups, continuous streams of families and friends who passed in the opposite direction in lines (to avoid getting lost in the crowd), grumpy hawkers that appeared out of nowhere with polystyrene bulky and wet coolers... And all this without hardly being able to see where we were stepping.

When we finally got to the beach I noticed some tents armed. I thought they were posts of Home Guard or from the military police to take care of population on the beach. It was not: people who arrived earlier to the beach simply pitched tents, isolated access to them with ropes and strings and made their small VIP areas in the sand! That is, the whole beach was subdivided into real mazes of tents (and camping tents!) that diminished the space available to people who went there to watch the fireworks and concerts and made it virtually impossible to reach the water.

During the time I was on the beach, I noticed at least two fights between more excited people. There were policing towers in the sand, but police officers emphatically ignored these incidents, almost as if they were there for leisure.  Likewise, there were no guards or municipal guards circulating among people to inhibit  assaults or calm down spirits (I myself witnessed two people complaining after thefts).

After the fireworks, to avoid the turmoil of people returning home, I preferred to wait for the beach to be empty. I left the beach at 3:45 AM and headed for Arcoverde subway station. Note that I waited fore more than three hours after the end of the fireworks to guarantee the tranquility of my trip back home. When we got in front of the station I noticed there was a queue surrounding the station's sidewalk to enter the station, in order to organize the massive number of people who would return by tube. I thought to myself "ok, let's walk till the end of the queue." Looking for the end of the line I crossed the first corner. And then two corners. Three corners... I had to walk through Rua Siqueira Campos - five blocks away from the subway station! - To reach the end of the queue!

As if we weren't tired enough after standing on the beach since 10:00 AM  and still had to walk for 10 minutes until the end of the queue and wait for 20 more minutes until we got to the station entrance, along the queue we still had to deal with many idiots trying to bypass us! It happened twice in front of me when the queue (who was being "organized" in the middle of the street!) had to be interrupted to give way to cars coming from the cross street Toneleros. One time the person pretended to be confused and vanished due the gaze of a municipal guard who followed the situation in silence and told me "I was just watching to see if you would need help with him" in a supportive way. The second time I had to raise my voice a little and ask the couple ahead of the smart-asses  if they knew them, and due the negative answer, he left the queue.

About 10 minutes later I began to hear a lady complaining aloud a little further ahead in the queue: a group of more than 7 young men (and women) took place in the queue right in front of her and mocked of her complaints. I saw a municipal guard and a police officer on the next corner and I asked for help to deal with the situation. The police officer glanced at me and ignored me like I was a beggar trying to get into an expensive restaurant, whilst the municipal guard suggested "With so many people in that queue, how come you don't take care of the guys yourselves?".

Astonishingly I thanked him clapping and, ironically, praised his "initiative" and "attitude"...

At the beginning of the curve of Toneleros street, near the entrance to the station, I've found a group of about 12 municipal guards and, as they were in great number, I thought they could solve the problem with the disrespectful people in the queue. One of them mentioned that the subway employees were handling the situation and asked me to look for help concerning that at the station. I crossed the line in front of angry gaze from people who thought I was cutting in line and then I found a group of employees who attended the subway with two police officers who watched the flow of passengers coming into the station. I informed about my conversation with the municipal guards and they denied it all with a grin and said that - gasp! - The organization of the queue was being made solely by the municipal guard!!

While I controlled my anger after the feedback from the subway employee I realized that there was a mass of people approaching the entrance to the station from the other side of the street, without going through the queue! They not only came as they also entered the station without waiting in the queue! And they did it in front of the police officers, municipal guards and employees of Metro Rio who heard the cries of "go to the queue", "get in line", "ditchers!" with complete and total disinterest in the welfare of the population!

I got off the train at São Cristóvão station at 5:40 AM. The trip - even in rush hours - is complete in an average of 40 minutes. Due to the negligence of Metrô Rio with the organization of the line, it took me three times that to get home and I felt completely regretted for being so naive to believe in the nice words announced by Rio de Janeiro city hall and Metro Rio!

So, in short: Unless you invade the shore with a trailer or a bus, surround it with a barbed wire fence to ensure the comfort and safety of your guests and hire private security guards to ensure your space allotted, I would not recommend anyone to rely on special transportation schemes organized by the Rio de Janeiro city hall or Metrô Rio. Stay in your hotel, hostel or even at home with your friends and avoid an ulcer or a nervous stroke next year!!


Seguem os links pros vídeos que eu fiz mostrando o caos do Réveillon:

Here are the links to the videos I made showing the chaos of New Year's Eve:

Réveillon 2013 pelo Metrô Rio (Parte 1 de 2) - Subway mayhem

Réveillon 2013 pelo Metrô Rio (Parte 2 de 2) - Subway mayhem

Réveillon Rio 2013 - Areia VIP e Metrô lotado - Shore turned into campsite

domingo, 20 de janeiro de 2013

Evangélicos boicotam Coca-Cola!

REUTERS: Após a inserção de um novo slogan natalino nas embalagens de Coca-Cola, autoridades cristãs decidiram juntar forças para boicotar o fabricante de refrigerantes. O Pastor Lúcio Ferro, da Igreja Onanística de Ponta Grossa, PR, identificou na nova frase o que chamou de "estímulo ao ocultismo". Após uma reunião a portas fechadas com representantes de outras igrejas, os religiosos decidiram convocar os fiéis a protestar em frente aos escritórios das principais capitais do país munidos de garrafas de refrigerante Pepsi, seu principal concorrente. Os participantes do protesto tomarão, cada um, uma garrafa de 2 litros do refrigerante da empresa pepsico e ficarão em vigília até que um representante se retrate publicamente e altere os slogan para "ora que melhora".