Journalled on Thursday, 4th of May 2023 | Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro: 26 degrees, warm, sunny, and slightly overcast.
It is Thursday, but D-Day is Saturday. The removal is scheduled for Saturday morning, so now it is just a matter of packing, boxing, and preparing my clutter.
I have lived in Copacabana for a little more than two years. I lived in Copacabana, Posto 6, for about 25 years, including about 6 years there. Besides living in Copacabana, I have always had an enduring connection to the neighbourhood because of the school here.
Even after I moved to Flamengo for the dogs, I had to go to Copacabana every day for school for twenty years. Only now have I realised how much Copacabana has been a large part of my life.
I have lived, worked, and dated in this iconic neighbourhood and experienced both memorable and not-so-memorable moments, good and bad. I have always said Copacabana isn’t a neighbourhood but a town or small city; it has everything and everybody, except the internationally famous beach.
There are the rich, the poor, the homeless and any sexuality you wish to imagine working and living here, too.
Retail and wholesale trade, with micro industries spread throughout the neighbourhood, is already well-known for its prominent street shopping.
Exclusive residential buildings line the beach in AV. Atlantica, and, in contrast, just a few blocks behind, you have the boutique slum/Favela Tabajaras or even the rougher, more complicated slum of Pavao-Pavaosinho behind Posto 6.
The Rio Copacabana Palace Hotel, a reference not just in Copacabana or Brazil but internationally, is almost a hundred years old. It stands tall and imposing halfway down Av. Atlantica is in front of the beach. Not to mention the hundreds, if not thousands, of hotels, hostels, and Airbnbs in Copacabana, all trying to cater to domestic and overseas tourists, travellers, and businesspeople.
So, Copacabana is a small city, a small metropolis, and as with any metropolis, it has its problems and bad side.
One such recent problem that has exponentially increased over the last year or two is the rampant increase in homelessness. It is not just a problem in Copacabana, but also a global problem, as other famous cities around the world have serious problems related to the homeless population.
Public security is also a major problem in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, and worldwide. Safety in Copacabana is related to the issue of the homeless population and drugs, which is a problem everywhere nowadays. People are increasingly afraid to go out at night, and this fear has worsened over the last few years.
Bad public administration has left the neighbourhood looking tatty, worse for wear, and shabby, with a lot of street litter and graffiti. Seeing so much garbage and graffiti in such a beautiful place doesn’t make sense; sometimes, it is too much!!!
Why is a place so blessed with good weather and a unique and exuberant topography yet punished by its people?
Copacabana is like an old woman who is slow and weak due to so much pain, suffering, and punishment from an eternal love-hate relationship with her family.
Copacabana is unique but needs some TLC, tender loving care, like anybody else.
The rest of the day was spent giving classes until 8 pm and in bed by 9.
In bed by 9 p.m.
Thank you.
Thanks for reading my blog. Check out my other posts and share your thoughts in the comments.
Richard
