Earlier this week, I was flying GIG-GRU as SLF on an American carrier, before continuing to the US. We took off from RWY 10 and were climbing RWY HDG more or less - I wasn't paying much attention, so we could have turned left at 500' to 063 HDG per one of the SIDs - before turning right to head SW/W towards GRU.
Before said turn, when we were across the bay overflying São Gonçalo with the Rio-Niterói bridge on our starboard side, I saw a flash by my window. When I looked down, I was hit in the eyes by a green laser which was clearly tracking us from a position on the ground between the #2 engine and the fuselage. It caused immediate pain, and a throbbing sensation and headache that lasted throughout the night.
When we landed at GRU, I asked to talk to the flight crew to confirm what I had experienced. Only one of them had seen it, but he said the cockpit hadn't been hit directly - which corroborated my observation of the laser's relative position to us. Then, both the Captain and F/O stated firmly that this happens all the time around GIG and GRU, though it seems to be more prevalent around the latter. They said they've filed numerous reports, but nobody seems interested in doing anything about it, which is a disgrace and an embarrassment in itself.
If authorities don't listen to professional pilots, I doubt they'll listen to an SPL flying as SLF. In any case, I'm doing my part and filing an Operational Safety Confidential Report with Cenipa (Cenipa-27-Reporte Confidencial para Segurança Operacional-RCSO). If there's anything else I can do, I'm all ears.