Im no expert on history but in a nutshell, Rio's is that some Portugal dudes arrived one hot-as-hell January day to take power from some French dudes who wanted to build a colony. They saw the amazon, big rocks, some water (the bay) and thought it was a river. Hence (pause for shock and amazement): Rio de Janeiro (River of January). So they set up camp, claimed power, made some stone roads and Im guessing hung out and drank coconut water. Independence, although it was a battle starting with someone screaming "Independence or War," isnt celebrated proudly today. At least from what I saw when I was here on Independence Day, there were no huge parties, festivals or anything. In fact, the Gay Parade was the biggest celebration I've seen so far.

Anyway, nowadays Rio has blossomed... Sort of. Its had its share of corruption, poverty and crime. But its also established a strong culture of unique food and music. The slaves that came from Africa and the European settlers clearly have left their marks with physical appearance features, food and music. The older Cariocas have seen a lot of drastic changes, good and bad. From the cost of living sky-rocketing and American consumerism exploding to the new, modern metro system and the pacification of extremely dangerous and violent favelas. Although Rio has improved a lot, there is still a long way to go. With banks on strike, a maze for roads, most salaries lower than the cost of living, and a huge gap between social classes, it's hard to see an end to some of the issues. Politicians are their usual slimy and corrupt selves and quite frankly, as much as people complain here it seems like they don't totally want a strong law and order either. Theyre used to the freedom, selling illegal knock-offs and charging tourists double, arriving to work late everyday and blaming the lack of bus schedule (firing someone here is a foreign concept), and doing whatever they want because you can pay off the cops.

So where is Rio today? It's interesting because it seems that there is a variety of different opinions of this huge, party-lover, beach-goer city. Some Cariocas are negative about Rio and complain about the situation yet immigration is increasing drastically here. Both legal and illegal. Many foreigners who come, leaving their monotonous routines and cold weather behind imagining the girls in thong bikinis on the hot beach. And there have been some signs of positive changes, such as a new public bike system offered by the government. At most main parts of the city are new bike racks with government-funded bikes. You just get online, register for a bike (for one day or a month) and it´s only like $3 per day! You take a bike, using the code you got online when you paid and then you can leave it at any other government bike post.

Even negative things like favelas are becoming popular, almost chic. Similar to the new (ironically expensive) fashion trends of hippy-thrift clothes, jeans with rips in them and baggy, off-the-shoulder shirts. Favelas are dangerous, poor and a difficult reality for many yet a movie or two came out and Jamba Juice started selling açai and suddenly Brazil is in style, poverty and crime included. There are already tours in some of the pacified favelas which I see two ways: on one hand, this is humiliating and a bad image for Brazil, on the other hand if the profits are used to help the people on display and create a better and safer community, then perhaps their unfair situation just became a means for a solution.

Looking ahead to the future, Rio is a mystery. Cariocas are anxious to see if it will have as big of a breakthrough and some are expecting or if it will remain with the same old bulls***. With the World Cup and Olympics coming, they should expect popularity and success but there are two issues. One is that Brazilians are known for procrastinating and being lazy, many fear that they won't be prepared (the stadium, infrastructure and transportation). Also, from what my students have told me, they don't expect to see any benefits of the profits or tourism. They say that the government probably wont use the economy boost to improve health care of education (which both desparately need help). Therefore, even if Brazil is successful with these big events, who will really benefit? The rich, corrupt government and corporate owners (wow, sound familiar?!)
Another power-boost for Brazil is the recent discovery of oil off the coast. Lula, the last president before the current one today, was able to pay off Brazil's debts.

So, maybe the economy will improve, businesses will grow, and who knows maybe Brazil will win their 6th World Cup on their own soil. But there's no guarantee that the social and politcial situation will take a turn. And once all of the hooplah is over, what will happen to Rio de Janeiro? Will it use its new wealth to flourish or will it get left behind as just another 3rd world country who had its 15 minutes of fame?