The entire city of millions and millions is all slums

No site da Folha, tem a tradução deste blog, mas o interessante é saber que o brio nacional reage tão bem às críticas externas, mesmo quando feitas por uma jovem que só conhece a riqueza e a boa vida, mas não reage quando este estado de coisas é causado por pura inanição popular, incompetência e corrupção dos dirigentes! Ou ela fala alguma coisa errada? Aliás, ela fala muito bem do povo, da hospitalidade. Ela reclama da comida da vila olímpica e diz que a cidade está cercada de favelas. Ela não critica nada que não viu. Não fala do governo, nem do caos aéreo. Mas como negar que o Rio é uma cidade cercada de favelas, com prostituição, drogas e jogo em toda a sua extensão, Copacabana incluída? O Pan estava relativamente seguro pela grande quantidade de policiais (não do FBI, claro) e porque os traficantes não quiseram dar espetáculo, por conveniência. E ela ainda cita a hospitalidade brasileira, as poucas (de acordo com ela) vaias. E não se queixa de que houveram, sim, vaias à delegação americana.

Portanto, aqui vai a solidariedade do PP com a menina, que teve seu blog invadido por imbecis brasileiros (a maioria dizendo bobagens em português, provavelmente sem ler o que ela escreveu...). O PP dá toda razão à ela, de que aqui somos uma republiqueta repleta de idiotas (isso ela não disse, mas deveria!)


Sunday, July 15, 2007
Hello from Rio and the Pan Ams!

I really thought I would have much more free time to write and email, but we have been on the go since our arrival. I am going to apologize right now for my writing because I have little time to whip this out but I wanted to give you a quick update.

First, things here are CRAZY!!! You have nothing to worry about with our safety because there are 15,000 police, undercover FBI agents, Secret Service agents, etc that are all over the place. We have police escorts and have to go through screening everywhere. Besides that, this place is the poorest place I have ever seen. It is really sad. Copacabana, where we play, is the nicest of everything I have seen.

The entire city of millions and millions is all slums. The rivers run black. There are dead cows along the edge of it that look like they are covered in tar. Then there are pigs and other animals that go drink out of it. It is terrible.

Opening Ceremonies were incredible. They were held in the soccer stadium which seats 100,000+ and it was PACKED. The show was incredible. Walking through the parade of athletes was really cool. The brazillian people are so energetic and were really into it. They are so proud to be the host of these games. There were a few boos, but mostly cheering and waving to us. Definitely something to remember.

Our villiage is nice. It was built especially for the games. The apartments where we live will be sold to the richest of Rio after we leave. But to get perspective, they are the most basic of the basic. There are NO luxeries here.

The food situation is interesting. We were told that we would be fed great food, approved by a sports nutritionist. I am shocked at what the other athletes from other countries eat. Lots of fench fries, hotdogs, tons of bread, and desserts like you wouldn't believe. Many of the athletes do not look like athletes. I am surviving on oatmeal, papaya, and powdered eggs for breakfast... Lunch is by far the best meal of the day with black beans and rice with chicken and broccoli. Dinner on the other hand, no protein to be found... I have been eating the brown wilted lettuce with tomato and olive oil. There isn't much other choice. It is a struggle to find good food. Brooke and I were almost in a panic the first breakfast and dinner when we searched and searched for something we could eat.

We start competition tomorrow (Monday, the 16th.) Our venue is incredible. It is larger than an AVP stadium and has been sold out for months! It is by far the best venue of the games. We find out today what our schedule will be and who we will play. Other than that, we have been on the go constantly. It takes over an hour by bus to get to our site. Yesterday we did a double day so we spent 4+ hours in a bus. Today we only have 1 practice so only 2 hours on the bus. Thank goodness. They definitely keep us busy.

By the way, you can watch us on ESPN2 or one of the ESPN channels! If you don't have it and want to buy it, it is supposed to be cheap!

Hopefully I can post more later. Be sure to follow our progress which will be posted at http://usocpressbox.org.

Angie

Posted by Angie Akers at 7:31 AM

Imagem: favela da Rocinha (baixaki.com.br). Você não fica apreensivo vendo uma imagem destas?