The subway in Sao Paulo

My Brazilian Portuguese is a little rusty but....

Municipal bus drivers went on strike and the result has been total chaos.

The police might be going on strike next week; and in 3 weeks the World Cup starts.
Strikers want better salaries.

Brazil is such an interesting country. No other place that I've traveled to will you see beautiful multi-million dollar condos right next to the worst slums you'll ever see. Travel to the beautiful beaches of Rio and you'll see the favalas (slums) and across the street beautiful high rise expensive condos.

The gap between the rich and poor is extreme and I would imagine there will be groups that will try to disrupt the games and voice their grievances. 
 
It's going to be a very interesting World Cup; and not just for the soccer.

I think the murder rate in Brazil is over 4 times that of the US. Beautiful country but I think I'd be on edge in a city like that (and this coming from a New Yorker). I shared a house in Nantucket with a bunch of guys from Sao Paulo about 12 years ago and from the way they talked about it I gathered it's a pretty badass place.