Friday 4th May began with a shaky start. I wanted to visit the Policia Federal to get info on how I could legally leave the country, go around the world and come back before my maximum stay of 6 months per year is up. It turns out that if I leave on the 1st August (one week before the end of my 6 months) I can return next year legally for a week, once the week is up I will be staying illegally. What this means is I will get charged R$4 for every day I overstay my legal welcome, with a maximum charge of 100 days this equates to a total of 100 quid. The reason for my imperative return: I have just leased a bar for one year. Now, I have a certain itinerary that involves meeting with Gaz, Nefs and Colin 10th June in Peru, followed by a two week trip to Colombia. I then return to Rio for another two months and leave for New Zealand. The other arrangement, that I definitely do not want to miss is Thailand for NYE, where I will meet 10 or 12 of my UK mandem. So you see, it is all a bit complicated. The reason why the day started shakily is due to when I went to renew my visa, I was informed that I would have to pay an extra R$250 for losing my immigration slip. I refused and went home to find it.
On the way home, I bumped into Joe, my American friend, who I am co-renting the bar with. We discussed the details of the bar and basically came to an agreement that while I was away, I would receive only half of the profits for the bar. This I think is fair and will mean that I will have a nice chunk of cash when I return in January 2008. We sat on Selaron's stairway to chat about the plans and my reservations over a beer. Just then, I military police car drove slowly passed and the passenger started staring at me out of the window. I stupidly - in hindsight - stared straight back. The car stopped. What followed was most unnerving. The cop who had been staring at me, jumped out wielding an M16 assault rifle and shouted something at me, which I didn't understand, he then pointed the assault rifle straight at me. I raised my hands in the air, not like I just don't care! The 'bad cop' continued barking at me and I replied 'Eu inglês, amigo, calmo' keeping my hands raised. He then pointed at my bag and a second pig, the 'good cop' jumped out of the car and came over with a pistol in hand. He was calm and behaved politely. I must have seemed to panic, (naturally with a fucking m16 pointed straight at me) and Joe then told me to stay calm and replied something to them in Portuguese. I then sat down and opened my bag, and the guy shouted 'levante-se!' (stand up) so I stood up again! The good cop with the pistol came up to me and calmly told me to empty my bag and my pockets, which I did. I had relaxed somewhat by this point but was praying to myself that I hadn't left anything illegal in my bag. I decided I had never used my bag to carry anything illegal and stayed cool. He went through every nook and cranny and when he was done, he pulled forward my shorts and took a good look down them! The bad cop searched Joe just as thoroughly and eventually once they had finished checking out our cocks, the bad cop finally hollered 'obrigado, acabo de fazer meu trabalho' meaning thanks I'm only doing my job.
They were really hoping to find something, to them that means a bonus on their salary. I have been told that if you're caught carrying drugs you get taken to a cash point rather than the police station.
The Policia Militaria remain the most feared gang in Rio.
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