When we met the couple from Ottawa they had been on a favela tour which is something I wanted to experience. So we got the info on the tour company from them and booked a tour for this morning. The city of Rio de Janeiro, is one of the largest cities in the world and is the second largest city in the country with more than 6 million inhabitants. A striking feature of the city is the presence of favelas (slums) that are particularly evident throughout the city. They are the result of large socioeconomic disparities and are located on the sides of hills and mountains, as the center of the city prospers and expands. A favela is a slum or shantytown. It typically comes into being when squatters occupy vacant land at the edge of a city and construct shanties of salvaged or stolen materials.  

Close to 1.5 million people – around 23-24% of Rio’s population – live in favelas. Rio’s favelas are similar to our affordable housing market. Rio has more favela residents than any other Brazilian city and, all together, Rio’s favelas would comprise the 9th largest city in the country There are over 1025 favelas in Rio, including the famed Vidigal and Maré, Rocinha, Caju. Rio’s oldest favela, Providência, was founded in 1897 within a decade of the abolition of slavery, next to the Port that received 500,000 enslaved Africans (half the number taken to the entire United States).  The term favela comes from a plant that was growing everywhere when favelas originated. 
 
Our tour guide, Luiza, picked us up at the hotel promptly at 10:30 am. We took a mini bus to the Rocinha favela, where Luiza lives. It is the largest favela in Brazil, home to over 300,000 residents and has been around for 89 years. It has 4 tiny schools with no teachers, 2 hospitals with no doctors, nurses, or medicine, and 2 banks (with money). The government makes promises to deliver services to get elected (sound familiar?) but never fulfil them. Incidentally, it is mandatory to vote in Brazil. They have a saying " the government pretends to listen and we pretend to believe". The residents pay no taxes and the housing cost is low. A 1 bedroom apartment would typically cost $200 Reals (under $70 Cdn) a month. A similar apartment on Copacabana Beach would cost $1,200 Reals a month and taxes would be assessed. A "nicer", larger place in the favela may cost up to $700 Reals ($230 Cdn) per month. This would likely include a swimming pool and bar b q area, 3 bedrooms, and a washroom with sewage. Did I mention that they don't pay taxes! Luiza has lived here all her life and wouldn't move even though she has the means. Most places have no sewage and the sewage runs through the favela like a waterfall and goes into the ocean at the beach. Luckily this beach is far from Copacabana and Ipanema. It's quite stinky near these wastewater falls. The families are big and generally live together. They build out until they can and then they build up. A typical house could have 8 floors with the grandparents on one floor, and children with families having a floor of their own. They do not pay for electricity either. They cut into the lines and use it for free. There are so many wires on the posts that if your electric goes out you just put a new line in as you'd never find your wire. Sometimes they do not have water for several days at a time. So they tend to do all their cleaning when they have water. There are no playgrounds as we know them. There is a tiny concrete, chain-link fence enclosure where the kids can play soccer. Luiza assures me there is no crime here. There were gang wars but the drugs and weapon dealers have moved out of Rocinha to other favelas. They may return eventually but, even so, the violence is between rival gangs and generally the residents are not involved or affected. There is a military presence, the military police, that have come in recently (since Rio got the 2016 Olympics) but Luiza is sure they will disappear after the Olympics are over and the gang wars will resume. 
 
There is much illness and disease, as you can imagine, with the raw sewage running through the area, dog poop everywhere, and humid conditions with no air flow. Remember, there are no hospitals. When a sick resident goes into a Rio hospital they may die waiting for medical attention as they are given the lowest priority. The churches have volunteers that provide some medical attention. In fact the tours help provide funds for this. I felt a bit uncomfortable touring these peoples streets but knowing the cost of the tour helped them made me feel better.  
 
Ironically enough, there is a class system within the favela. The lower down the mountain you go the lower class you are. So at the top is the upper class, half way down is middle class, and at the bottom is lower class. The people are very nice. Many greeted us with a wave and "Olla" and smile. And we did not get pressured to buy their wares, which is opposite to what we encounter in Rio outside the favelas where life is easier. 
 
I found this tour fascinating (it may be the highlight of Rio for me) and disturbing at the same time. The favelas are close to some of the nicest and richest areas in Rio and their visibility on mountainsides illustrates fairly dramatic social contrast. It was an eye opener for me, for sure. Here we are on a trip of a lifetime, staying in nice places with all the amenities you could want, including sewage systems and sidewalks where several people can pass at the same time and many of these people are struggling just to live. But they seem happy for the most part. What really bothers me is the propaganda about crime and violence. We did not see any of this. And Luiza assures us there is not any. The government is doing a great job of suppressing the real story of the favelas. However, I do realize that I am getting the story from a biased resident who thinks it's great not paying taxes or electricity or water and so I'm not sure what to believe. 

We had planned to spend the afternoon on the beach as we have a very early flight to Lima tomorrow. The hotel provides chairs, umbrellas and towels. However, Vic is feeling a bit under the weather today (he thinks it's food poisoning; I know it's not self inflicted from having too many drinks but I personally have my own thoughts on why he's being punished) so we went back to the hotel and he took some medication we received from the travel clinic and had a lie down while I worked on the blog with a cerveja. After a while I figured he was in for the day/ night (judging from his moans and groans). So I went up to the rooftop bar and enjoyed the views while having lunch. When I returned he was still under the covers so I decided to take a walk on the wild side (the beach). Apparently our section of the beach is the LGBT area as revealed by the rainbow flags. There are flags planted all over the beach that signify something. Sometimes it's an area reserved for hotel guests; sometimes it's just an area where a certain group congregate - it could be people from a certain country, people of a certain religious denomination or people who belong to a certain group/ club. It's a warm day but cloudy which makes it bearable to be out. They are pretty savvy here. They have soaker hoses running from the ocean to the sidewalk which allows you to walk in cool, packed sand which takes less effort (these are the darker streaks of sand running from the ocean to the sidewalk). I don't know how the fun seekers runaround playing soccer and futevolie and paddle board in the soft sand for long periods of time. I walked along the side of the beach which we didn't do our first day so now I can say I have walked the entire Cocacabana Beach and Ipanema Beach. I was alone and did not once feel uncomfortable. I think the crime rate is definitely overplayed. 

Last impressions of Rio:

• Clean
• Safe
• Probably the most beautiful setting of any city I've been to
• Happy, active, passionate, polite, mostly ugly people
• Diverse - rich and poor neighbourhoods in close proximity
• Beautiful beaches
• Brutal traffic
• Crazy drivers
• Bad food 

I LOVE IT HERE!!!

We leave tomorrow (Sunday) to fly into Lima, Peru before going to our Amazon jungle lodge. I'm pretty sure we won't have WIFI in the jungle (there's no electricity) so the blogs will be silent for a few days. But I'll be writing them and will post them when I can so stay tuned......