favela.JPGMore than one person I told about my Brazil trip had either been mugged in Rio de Janeiro, or knew of someone who had been. It appeared inevitable that I, too, was going to be accosted and relieved of my money during my stay there. In preparation for the seemingly unavoidable, I shaved my head in order to appear tougher and meaner.

In the days prior to departure, I thought a lot about how I might react to a mugging. Those of you who know me, will attest that I am neither a pacifist nor do I do things simply because someone tells me to. After much internal debate, I decided that if the mugger(s) had a gun I would give up the a fake/decoy wallet (prepared with a few dollars and some bogus credit cards), but if the assailants had only a knife or a club, I would fight them.

When my brother flew in to SLC before the trip, we talked in the car ride home about our potential responses to a mugging. Strangely, he had independently decided on an identical course of action; unless robbed at gunpoint, we would resist.

I guess from a mugger’s point of view, foreign tourists are good targets. They are often

  • tired
  • unarmed
  • heavy laden with bags
  • unfamiliar with the area or language
  • distracted by the surroundings
  • carrying money, a camera and a passport

It’s a moot point because we were never mugged. In fact, I felt very safe in Rio, even in the more sketchy parts of town (the favelas) in which we occasionally stumbled during our 15 mile daily treks.

It is noteworthy that the average Brazilian man is 5′9″ or so, and not overly muscular, so my brother and I, as taller, seasoned cage-fighters, would have had a distinct physical advantage.

During the first day in Rio, however, we were particularly on our guard for any mugging attempts. As the day pressed on and no attackers emerged, we thought, in the spirit of being proactive, that we might preemptively attack a passing Brazilian and steal his money. Then perhaps the word would spread that Americans were aggressively vicious and should definitely not be mugged. Then, as fewer tourists were targeted, Rio’s reputation as a place of thievery would diminish. All would profit. Being both afflicted with ADD, however, we were quickly distracted to less aggressive forms of amusement.