Rio prepared for the World Cup and 2016 Olympics? Who are they kidding anyway?
Santos Dumont International Aiport opens and closes with greater frequency than a toilet seat in the airport restrooms. As if it isn't bad enough the almost daily closures because of morning fogs, seasonal rains and the like the airport suffered another closure of the main runway today due to a major leak of diesel fuel from a truck that was supposedly removing rubber build-up during the wee hours of the morning. There is still no estimate just when the clean-up will be completed and the airport re-opened to air traffic.
Although the photo above is small and difficult to see, it depicts the dark ages clean-up efforts. When the news broke major Brazilian news sources showed photos of about a dozen crewmembers out scrubbing the runway with detergent and brooms. These photos were all quickly replaced by an aerial view of the runway itself, not the 'herculean' clean-up efforts that looked more like a comedy skit than anything else. You can almost guarantee that somebody in government was burning up the phone lines to get the original photos quashed. This was the ONLY one left to be found on the internet.
Just who are these people trying to kid anyway? How in the heck can anyone in their right mind really believe that Rio de Janeiro is anywhere near capable of hosting events on such an international scale as the World Cup and Olympic Games? Flying in and out of Rio is a nightmare now, just imagine how much worse it is going to be during these events. The only thing that will resolve this and save face for Brazil is the construction of an additional airport capable of handling international flights; and we all know that couldn't possibly be done in time even for the 2016 Olympics.
They somehow managed to muddle through during the Panamerican in 2007, even though many of the venues weren't even really ready, they experienced troubles during the Confederations Cup earlier this year, which the whole world was watching to see some indication of the level of preparedness for the World Cup. Again they squeaked through by the skin of their teeth; now they're hoping that they'll have the same dumb luck during the World Cup.
I don't know whether to laugh or cry! Or as they say here, "Não sei se é pra rir ou chorar!"
Cheers, 
William James Woodward, Brazil & Canada Expert - Expat-blog Team
Like a scene out of the dark ages - Santos Dumont Airport
The more I see in this country the more I life. Their pride is laughable. How can anyone be proud of this crap? The people would never support the construction of another airport, at least that is what I think. Instead maybe they could stop the wasteless spending on soccer stadiums when there are already dozens in each city?? Then take the money they save and apply it towards an airport! Or maybe a new government!
Matt V. - Manaus, Amazonas, Brasil
Visit my Personal Blog - brazilbs.blogspot.com
1) santos dumont is not and will never be an international airport. It's only runway is only 1323 meters long, way too short for anything bigger than a Boeing 737 or Airbus 319 not fully loaded.
2) I remember seeing pictures from a road accident where a fuel truck spilled gasoline on the highway somewhere in Germany and law and behold, the fire department was hoist the road down with water and detergent, which, for all I know is still the best and quickest way of cleaning oil spills on roads.
Of course they could have contacted a specialized company, waited several hours for them to arrive and have them clean the runway "professionally" with water and "professional" detergent, canceling all in and outbound flights and/or rerouting them to Tom Jobim.
Without the new stadiums, there would be no need to invest in Airports in Rio, as the international airport is under capacity and Santos Dumont is just a regional airport.
I can understand your anger USMC, as you live in Manaus. Manaus "international" airport is worse than Bangalore International 15 years ago, and Manaus itself is utter crap of the worst kind. I lived there for almost a year. I REALLY feel for you. If you can't get Hellmans mayo in one supermarket, forget it, it'll take at least a week before being available again, and is most likey sold out in any of the supermarkets. Forget going out for dinner on a Sunday because anything is closed. And the heat is totally insupportable.
True, Santos Dumont is NOT an international airport. However, during such international events as a World Cup or Olympic Games it is obvious that people would be coming from all over the world and from all over Brazil as well in order to partake in those events. Clearly not everyone that comes from abroad will be able to find accommodations in Rio and for example, the World Cup matches are being held all over the country, people are obviously going to be flying between venues and the increase in air traffic is going to be incredible.
Under those circumstances Aeroporto Internacional Antônio Carlos Jobim - Galeão simply will not be capable of handling ALL the arrivals and departures both national and international in the event of closures at Santos Dumont, which are far too frequent. Further, since a fully loaded 737 or A320 can't use the short runways of SDU for landings and during events airlines certainly aren't going to fly with empty seats SDU is just going to be used by TRIP or other airlines that use much smaller aircraft like the Embraer ERJ-195 for example.
Another grave concern it the potential for price gouging, airlines are already indicating that their fares for the period of the World Cup are going to be 5 to 10 times higher than they are now. Foreign tourists don't mind paying a bit more when they travel, but they're NOT STUPID either, they're not going to take that kind of exploitation quietly like Brazilians do. You can be sure that there will be worldwide consequences should the airlines continue with their plans of these abusive fare hikes. Who will suffer because of this? Of course as always the average Brazilian will.
This is going to create absolute chaos in the airports of Rio and will leave foreign tourists who are accustomed to much higher levels of service, better airports and effecient operation with a really bad impression. Given that tourism represents 4% of GDP, Brazil has to get this RIGHT the first time around or those billions of foreign dollars coming into the country annually could be forever jeopardized by a tainted reputation abroad. Cheers,
William James Woodward, Brazil & Canada Expert - Expat-blog Team
With not fuly loaded I don't mean empty seats. With the landing weight limited (especially in wet conditions) they just don't carry freight and carry less fuel.
SDU mostly handles local flights (SP, BH, Vitoria) and has no possibility to extend its capacity.
Regarding the World Cup, I fully pretend to move away from Rio during the event, sit back with a beer in my hands and watch it all collapse.
As USMC stated, Brazil doesn't need dozens of new stadiums, each at the cost of 40 schools and 10 hospitals.
The whole olimpics/World Cup thing is just a set up by those in power to rob billions and billions. It's just a big joke over the backs of the people. This should NEVER have been allowed to happen.
Just to add about the stadiums. Brasilia now has one, bet they don't even have a decent team, and in Manaus they built a new bigger stadium, yet soccer matches of the local team don't attract more than 10k visitors, so why on earth would they need a 45k spectator stadium?
I agree, but it is exactly what happens in a country where the people place more value on soccer than on life itself, unfortunately. Cheers,
William James Woodward, Brazil & Canada Expert - Expat-blog Team
Here is what bothers me about Manaus. -- #EDIT# AND BRAZIL
1) I keep hearing, well it really isn't Brazil. My response is if it isn't Brazil why do they fly the Brazilian flag outside every building? Why do I have to deal with the Federal Police of Brazil? I realize there is more to Brazil than Manaus, believe me I do - but Manaus is in Brazil so it's as much of a problem for me as it everyone else.
2) The other day I went to buy frozen french fries at the grocery store. I went to three grocery stores - DB, Carrefour and another that I can not remember the name to. These stores were massive. None had french fries. DB also did not have ‘steak de boi,' but had it the week before. But Carrefour did and the other did not. It seems an average trip to the grocery store involves a trip to more than one to accomplish a simple life task. Here is the kicker - I later went to the dive street store the size of my bathroom. Guess what? They had HUGE bags of french fries. Go figure. There is no rhyme or reason to this madness.
3) Today, I witnessed in a taxi a group of people yelling “VIVA BRAZIL” but at the same time smashing the windows to a car. Need I say more? This is the pride of Brazil? Chaos and anarchy? James covered this on another topic. Where were the police? In route I would hope. I did not stay to find out.
Matt V. - Manaus, Amazonas, Brasil
Visit my Personal Blog - brazilbs.blogspot.com
About Manaus (from the point of view of also having lived there)
1) When they say "it's not Brazil" in a sense they're right or at the very least being realistic. Ask any Brazilian and they'll all tell you the Center-East and only the Center-East is Brazil. The rest gets ignored, discriminated, despised and forgotten by the only 3 'important' states in Brazil. São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and to a much lesser degree Minas Gerais are considered by the average Brazilian living in those states to be the only states in Brazil that matter. They are so prejudiced agains other Brazilians from the North, Northeast and South it is hard to believe. If they made some of the comments that they make about Brazilian from these states about any other ethnic, religious or other definable group they'd be imprisoned; but descrimination against other Brazilians is part of their CULTURE. The sad truth is that the average Paulista, Carioca or Mineiro would probably accept a Hatian refugee much better than they would a "nordestino".
2) Not at all surprising that the hole-in-the-wall shop you mentioned had lots of big bags of French-fries when the big chains didn't. The little guy probably buys his stock through the black market which thrives in Brazil. This is why no matter what the cargo is the chaces of it getting to its destination by truck without being hijacked are slim. They steal everything you can possibly think of here in this country to feed the black market. If they can't steal it then they smuggle it in from neighboring countries.
3) If it's anything like down here, the PM will only sit back with their arms crossed, watch the distruction and do nothing. Worse still if any of the vandals/bandits are "connected" or important people, they'll investigate the victims and then turn them into the villians in the scenario, just like a famous case in São Roch - SP that I need not even mention. Cheers,
William James Woodward, Brazil & Canada Expert - Expat-blog Team
They always count on god and hope to find a tricky solution for problems that should have been dealt with ages before. It's the infamous 'Jeitinho Brasileiro'. I believe we're coming to a point where we've run out of tricky solutions and the castle is just tumbling down, see all the protests and demands from the people all around the country. The problem is how many people will still have to suffer from this lack of investment in public services while politicians get billions constantly stolen? How many people will still have to processed (I mean processed literally, as objects)in public hospitals, public transport,schools, prisons, airports and many other services?
This question is relevant because we currently deal with a great influx of foreigners who eventually will get caught in this spider web of poor services.
I agree completely Virgilio. I don't think that even the "Jeitinho Brasileiro" is going to pull their fat out of the fire regarding the World Cup and Olympics; even if they manage to somehow cope with the great influx of foreign tourists during those events you can be sure that they are all going to return home afterwards with a terrible impression of Brazil. I hate to think of what kind of negative impact on tourism thereafter. Considering that fully 4% of Brazil's GDP comes from tourism it's going to be a headache. Cheers,
William James Woodward, Brazil & Canada Expert - Expat-blog Team
Definitely. Also, I was so sorry about the kids who came for the Pope's visit. They were queueing everywhere for food, toilets, transportation. The traffic in the city became chaotic, Copacabana area was closed in a way that even locals couldn't get home properly. "An onld lady had to go back home dragging a suitcase around for nearly 30 minutes because the taxi could not take her farther than Botafogo". Bus stops packed with people up to 1am or 2am almost everyday during the event.
At the end, it took them nearly 4 days to be "processed" through airports and the main bus terminal (Rodoviaria Novo Rio), lots of people sleeping on queues, that was unbelievable. Also, if I can well remember there was a 5hrs complete blackout on the Underground network service(not a newtork to be honest, just two lines running parallel). I kept thinking about the effort of all these kids to see the Pope, that's really amazing because I would never put myself in a situation like that. Fortunately, or by god's will no serious incident was reported. That's the way it goes in Rio, always on the edge. Guess some people live in nice cities and love to come here for a bit of a change maybe... I don't know...
Well Virgilio22, that about sums up what to expect for the next two world events. I can personally say the United States media, as did pretty much all western media, mocked Brazil for the piss poor security and protection the Pope received. I realize the Pope specifically requested that type of security but here is the deal - and this is the reality of the situation - like it or not, if the Pope was attacked, assaulted or otherwise threatened publicly and word got out or worse photos and videos spread (before the Brazilian government could cover it up) it is safe to say Brazil would have a nice fire under the butt. Who runs Brazil? The Pope? It is the Brazilian governments responsibility to protect the Pope whether they conform to his requests or not - who knows Brazil's threats better? The Pope or the government?
Further, I can say with certainty I have heard Brazil in the news more this year than ever before in my life. I do not think it had anything to do with them in the spotlight at first - unfortunately now they are in the spot light with the scrutiny of a magnifying glass!
Matt V. - Manaus, Amazonas, Brasil
Visit my Personal Blog - brazilbs.blogspot.com
usmc_mv wrote:2) The other day I went to buy frozen french fries at the grocery store. I went to three grocery stores - DB, Carrefour and another that I can not remember the name to. These stores were massive. None had french fries.
Which proves that Manaus isn't Brazil. If Carrefour is out of colgate toothpaste, so is DB and the other one.
Manaus is an island in a green ocean. Everything has to be flown in or shipped in. (mostly shipped because of the cost).
The only good thing I can see from the olympics is that they are tearing down the perimetral.
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