Favela Tour

My first tour of Rio was to the Rocinha favela, the largest and richest favela in Rio. There are about 600 favelas in Rio and about 1,000 in Brazil. A favela is a shanty town controlled by criminal organizations whose income is from openly selling illegal drugs. There is more or less a truce between the police and the organizations to leave each other alone.

Not only do the poor live in the favelas but also some of the middle class. Most of the favela residents hold jobs, but this leaves their children to fend for themselves while their parents are at work. There are not enough schools for all the children to attend. Additionally, other government services such as hospitals and other medical care are missing.

Photo: When this jeep came to pick me up at my hotel, I didn’t think they had come for me. I had expected a tourist van. But it seems that many of the day tours in Rio use these jeeps for transport. Not particularly comfortable and hard to take photos from.

We had a interesting tour group: a couple from the U.K., a man from Switzerland, two Cubans from Miami, a family from Florida, and me.

Rocinha Favela

The Rocinha favela is quite big with over 200,000 residents. It is a city within a city with shops, restaurants (including a McDonald’s), and services.

Most of the Rocinha favela buildings have electricity, most have running water, but sanitation is very poor.

We had walked about four flights up a favela building to take this photo from a roof balcony. The favela borders a high–rent district of high–rise buildings, seen in the middle rear of the photo.

Rocinha Favela

Part of the favela tour had us walking down many flights of uneven, steep, and also cracked steps between two favela buildings. Interesting but definitely not enjoyable.

Note that it is very strongly advised that you do not go to a favela on your own. Your safety cannot then be guaranteed but it is when you go on a tour to one. The organizations in charge of the favelas do not allow visitors on a tour to be robbed, bothered, molested, etc. So being on a tour to a favela is actually the safest place you will be in Rio. Rio has a reputation of not being a safe city for visitors as there are many pickpockets, unscrupulous taxi drivers, and people who will even cut the straps on cameras around your neck to steal them.

I have put my photos of the Rocinha favela on a slide show. Go directly to

http://www.peggysphotos.com/favela–tour/

(Slide Shows, South America, Brazil, “Rio: Favela Tour”).

Rio’s Beaches

After visiting the favela, we went to Sao Conrado Beach (also called Pepino Beach) to watch the parasailors coming down from the mountain on the left. You can sign up for a parasailing ride. Parasailing is a big sport in Rio with competitions.

Rio’s Beaches

Then we drove along the beach front: from Sao Conrado Beach, to Leblon Beach, to Ipanema Beach, and, finally, to Copacabana Beach. All the beaches are beautiful and they run into each other without a break. Along the roadway, there are bike paths and artistic black and white cobblestone walking paths. Additionally, there are many food kiosks along the beaches.

Rio’s Beaches

Another view.

I have put my beach photos on a slideshow. Go directly to

http://www.peggysphotos.com/rio–beaches/

(Slide Shows, South America, Brazil, “Rio: Beaches”).

Samba Show

Tonight, I went to a samba show with a dinner before it. The dinner was supposed to be at a Brazilian barbecue restaurant but it was changed to being at a regular restaurant. There was a German group on the tour that mutinied. First, they were supposed to be on a German–language tour but the German–speaking tour guide was ill, so they were put on our English–language tour. They refused to get off the bus and insisted on being taken to a different restaurant. They were and we picked them up later to go to the samba show.

However, I had a very nice dinner and good conversation with a couple from Germany who were not with the German group. One of our choices for dinner was steak. It was probably the best steak that I have ever eaten and could not even be compared to the everyday steaks we had in Argentina.

The samba show was at the Plataforma and was a touristy show, which I had expected it to be. But the costumes were beautiful and very photogenic. I have put my photos of these on a slide show. Go directly to

http://www.peggysphotos.com/rio–samba–show/

(Slide Shows, South America, Brazil, “Rio: Samba Show”).

Below are three movies I took at the show. No video recording was allowed but everyone was doing it so I joined in.

Samba Show Movie-1

A crazy guy.

Samba Show–Movie 2

Girl dancer.

Samba Show–Movie 3

Samba dancers.