Fabulous Favelas
Trip Start
Sep 07, 2011
1
193
289
Trip End
Sep 06, 2012
Where I stayed
Rio de Janeiro, State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Monday, May 28, 2012
If you do not know what a Favela is, it is basically an area where the poor people live and generally there are houses built upon houses. It is not a safe place to walk around on your own, so the only way to do it is take a tour.
The tour lasted around 2 1/2 hours and we got to the Favela at around 10.30 am. Our guide, Daniella, spoke to us briefing on the way to the Favela to tell us about the does and dont's whilst we are there. We were told that when we got to the bottom of the Favela, we were not allowed to take photographs as there is a lot of police presence and also there could be gangs and drug dealers around and they don't really like their photo's being taken. I wonder why?
When we arrived at the bottom of the Favela, we were all given helmets and were each taken to the top of the Favela on motorbikes. This was such good fun and no one knew this was going to happen. It was quite interesting riding up the hill as you were looking at all the individuals on the streets wondering if they were a drug dealer, or a gang member or just a normal every day person. They all looked so normal. The ride only lasted a few minutes but was good fun. Once we were all at the top, Daniella led us down a little alleyway and inside on of the houses.
She explained to us that over the past year, the Police have come in to try and clean up the Favela due to the World Cup in 2014 and also the next Olympics. They had captured the main guy running the Fa vela, but since his capture, other gangs have tried to come in and take over. They had done a good job but things have changed again. The problem the police face is that no one will speak to them, for fear or being killed and also, there is not a chance in hell that they will find these gangs and drug dealers as there is only one road that runs to the top of the Favela. All the houses are linked up by little lanes and alleyways. It is like a maze in there and if you don't know your way around, you would likely get lost forever.
The view from the top of the Favela is absolutely awesome. Apparently, it has become quite trendy to live in the Favela now, especially at the top where the views are. No one pays for a house there, but you do pay rent. The higher up the hill you are, the higher the rent. I am not sure who the rent gets paid too, whether it be the government or the gangs/drug dealers running the show. I think it is the latter, as no one pays any electricity, water or cable TV. Wires are just connected from the main streets and basically it is stolen. You would not want to live near the bottom of the Favela as the sewer system isn't great and when they get bad rain, all the rubbish, blocked sewers and everything else that is lying around gets washed down the alleyways and ends up either flooding peoples houses or just washed up outside your door. It did stink a bit when we got to the bottom.
Whilst we were walking around the many alleyways we stopped off in a small shop to buy some food, which is where I had my first Pastel. It is similar to a pasty but square and was filled with chicken. We also stopped in a newly built nursery whilst has been funded mainly by the tour company that we went with. They are trying to help the community by offering childcare, education, and lots of other good things to help the kids have a good start in life. We were told not to give anything to the children, even if we wanted to as they have been told that they have to earn something and not be given something for free. There were a couple of kids that walked past holding their hands out but we just ignored them.
This was such a good tour as you really got to feel what it is like to be such a poor person living in Rio and also to see what it is like for them.
After being dropped back at the hostel, I decided to spend the rest of the afternoon on the beach as it was a beautiful sunny day. I also wanted to take my mind of the water infection that I had contracted when I woke up this morning!! Managed to get some tablets in the chemist, by way of thanks to Google Translator as I don't speak Portuguese and no one in the chemist spoke English.
Our friend John had left earlier that day as he was flying to Santiago to spend a couple of days there before flying home to Melbourne. As you can imagine we were very surprised when he walked back into the hostel at 8 pm that evening. His travel agent had messed up his flight and not changed it as he had asked weeks ago. This isn't the first time his travel agent had messed up his booking. He had asked for a flight to be booked to Salvador in Brazil. To his surprise, when he got of the flight he was in El Salvador!!!! I think I would change travel agents!!
Didn't really do much else that evening as I felt a little tired and also felt as if I was coming down with something. Bloody typical eh. Loving it here and want to party and someone has spread gems on me!
