The people of this city, like everywhere else in this country, are also victim of a system that disproportionately favors the powerful. Inequality is the norm, crime is high and cheating at all levels is bread-and-butter.
All this movement and fragile institutions makes it so that here everyone is on a mission, and everybody is watching their backs. But...
Despite all the craziness you can expect from a busy city, I find very few people racing in metro stations, taxi drivers show me videos of their kids, strangers are more than happy to answer all sorts of questions, and waiters at restaurants will divide the check in as many parts as you want & charge each person with separate credit cards!
Despite the helplessness systemic disparity and burocracy creates, conversations with locals about the state of their country aren't any more heated than conversations with publically concerned citizenry in developed countries.
The zona sul of Rio, where I spend most of my time, also emerged as a urban ecosystem with plenty of organic and planned leisure outlets hugged by a forest, the water and the sun. This is key to me because the carioquice or way of being of Cariocas as an immaterial culture is one with the outstanding space that houses it. In my humble opinion, this allows locals (and visitors alike) plenty of actual physical and mental room to relax, no matter what!
