This morning after breakfast we were picked up for our first tour of the day.
We travelled the short distance through the beach side suburbs of town, to get to the largest fevela in Rio.
A fevela is essentially a shanty town, often found on the steep rock mountain sides and is where the poorer class of people in Rio live. Whilst you may see poverty yes, you do not see a terrible quality of life. In fact these people can quite often be seen on the streets talking and laughing with each other, far from misery!!
In Brazil, many of these people built their homes on land that was not occupied. By law, if no one contests them living on that land after 5 years the land becomes theirs. And that is how the fevelas became what they are today!!
Many of the people who live in these homes are no different from you and I, it's just that they were born into poverty. Many of these people work as maids, drivers, waiters for the rich and upper class society of Rio. In some fevelas, the mansions are mealy across the street, and is the main reason why these fevolas sprung into existence. The employees of these mansions wanted to live close to work, reducing the time and money spent on commuting to work.
We initially stopped on a main street, solely to get an idea of how this community was developed. There was a small market set up on the side of the street, with the most imaginative crafts available. We met one girl who had learnt to speak English on her own, in order to communicate with us English speaking tourists. The view also was stunning. Many people would pay millions for the view that these people have from their fevelas. At this first stop, on a clear day, you would be able to see both sugar loaf mountain and Christ the redeemer all in one shot. Unfortunately it was overcast, so we didn't get to see that view, however what we did see was stunning!!
We then continued on our journey to an apartment block. We were granted access to the balcony at the rear of this apartment. We walked through the garage which adjoined the tight winding streets of the fevela. As we came through the door at the rear of the property we all were amazed at the view that welcomed us. Not only did we see the most spectacular views of the ocean and surrounding hills, it also showed the entire fevela. This view gave us a true indication of just how big the fevela was, and just how far it extended. Another surprise was how the small shack buildings of the fevela balanced precariously on the steep slopes, as if they are floating on the mountain sides, also intertwined between mansions. There is no real division of rich and poor. Mansions, all grand and fresh hover above the street, built to enjoy the views that only Rio can offer, and yet across the street you can find shacks occupying any land that was free at the time of building. This particular fevela had previously had issues with drugs, and is one of the communities in which the police took back control from the drug lords. It is an on going battle.... the instant that police reduce their control of the fevela it is feared that the drug gangs are just waiting in the shadows to re-take control.
There is only one main road to service this entire fevela. It in fact used to be Brazil's formula one track back in the 50's and 60's. To service the shacks, there are only alley ways, none of which have names. This therefore means that these people do not have fixed addresses.
We then made our way to another fevela. Now this one has not been effected by drugs to the extent the first fevela had. The differences were great.
A wealthy Italian family wanted to help the community, and therefore opened up a school for children. This school is separate to primary or secondary school.... It was there for kids to attend once they had finished their regular schooling for the day. They learnt things like English, meditation, yoga, and also gave children a chance to work with a tutor to aid in completing their homework. However the main aim is to keep children busy after school, and therefore reduce the risk of these kids from becoming part of the drug trade.
This fevela also has streets with names, meaning that people can have a fixed address, and have other community facilities, including childcare, community centres and sporting facilities.
It was such an interesting tour to do, just to see how these people live. I would strongly recommend that you do this tour if you ever come to Rio.
I spent an hour at the hotel, before being picked up for my afternoon tour. This time, we were driven about 1.5hrs up into the hills just beyond Rio. On the way up, Fernando our guide, passionately told us all about the history of Brazil, and in particular the sordid affairs and relationships of the Brazilian aristocrats and royalty!!! It was quite entertaining.
Petropolis, is a small town that was built purely for the royal family, in an attempt to avoid the yellow fever outbreaks that were occurring in Rio.
We visited the royal summer palace that has now been turned into a museum. This was great to walk around. Although, it was more like slide around the museum. In an attempt to preserve the wooden floor boards, every visitor had to put these big slippers on over their shoes. It was like wearing snow shoes.... they were so big you couldn't lift your feet up for fear that you would trip yourself over.
We then walked the short distance to a beautiful cathedral, and finished the tour at the crystal palace, which looked like a big glass house. Whilst empty now, it is occasionally used for orchestra or choir performances. It is somewhere where acts from all over the world, including Australia come to perform.
We then made the long trip home. Whilst coming down the hill was ok, we hit full peak hour traffic as we re-approached Rio. Inch by inch we made our way back to the hotel. The trip home taken only about 2.5 hrs.
With just enough time to get changed, I met up with my Amazonian tour group friends for dinner at the hotel. Then it was girls night!! We had decided to go and see a music show in Ipanema... even though our luggage was getting picked up from our rooms at 4am the following morning. My theory, I'm already going to be tired tomorrow, so why not go out and enjoy our last night in Rio?!?
The show was based at the bar where the song 'Girl from Ipanema' was written. So our plan was to catch a taxi from the hotel.... That should be easy enough shouldn't it??? No!!! We asked at the concierge desk and he pointed us in the direction of the car services desk. We asked for the hotel car services manager to please call us a taxi.... And some other guy pipes up.... 'I can help you with that.... I will drive you there for $R30'. No way... That was crazy expensive.... So we told him no, and then he started trying to scare us.... 'Im a private car, I'm safe, taxis are dangerous'. This guy is kidding himself. So we re-asked the car services manager to please call us a taxi.... No, apparently they don't call for taxis. So we ended up going to the street and flagging down an approaching taxi. As luck has it, the taxi driver was actually dropping a fair off at the hotel anyway, so he was stoked that he had a fair back down the hill. In we jump, and the taxi driver is trying to talk to me in Portuguese. Hahaha, there was lots of smiling, nodding and laughing, however very little knowledge of what was actually being said, on both sides!!
We were dropped off at the bar, however soon realised that we had actually been dropped off at the restaurant. We tried to ask the waiter, who obviously doesn't speak English where the show is. Just to give you an example of just how well we were going with getting this information, we were shown the lost property box, and the cupboard where they store all of the restaurant merchandise for sale... With the waiter asking us 'shirt shirt' and pointing at the cupboard. In the end we asked if someone spoke English and he pointed out the grumpiest waiter in the world. He gruffed at us, that the show was across the street, upstairs.
Up we went, and found the other 3 girls we were meeting. We sat down and ordered a drink. We chatted and listened to the warm up act, as we did the dark bar started to fill up with patrons very quickly. By the time the main act came on it was 10.30. We listened to this amazing Brazilian woman sing her smoky tunes. Singing the very classic Brazilian songs, a particular style of music that was birthed in the bars of Ipanema and Copacabana (Rio). The only issue being, they were all in Portuguese, and she spoke in Portuguese.... We didn't understand anything. Everyone in the bar had obviously been brought up on these songs, as they enthusiastically sang along with each line. We on the other hand felt so out of it. We were like the people who go to a concert because we liked one song, and don't know any words of all the other songs being played. We eventually decide to call it a night at midnight.
We easily caught a taxi back to the hotel and fix up our bills at the hotel, ready for check out very early tomorrow morning. I then went back to my room to finish packing my bag. Eventually time for bed at 1am. I'm not looking forward to getting up in a couple of hours!!