Favela Tour, Rio de Janeiro

The Favela Tour:

History of this tour from the Favela Tour site:
"Brazilian born in 1968, Marcelo Armstrong is the pioneer of tours in favelas in Rio, since 1987 he's been working on the tourism market, having had the possibility to travel to many countries and getting to know different cultures. When he returned to Rio de Janeiro, his hometown in 1992, he decided to organize visits to favelas. Given their bad reputation, ...
...companies and hotels. Today FAVELA TOUR is still growing and making possible to a higher number of visitors, a much better understanding of local society and the day by day life in Rio. Marcelo is registered in EMBRATUR (Brazilian Tourism Bureau) number: 01053672730 and he speaks English, French, Italian and Spanish fluently."


My experience of this tour:

Our guide while we were in Rio de Janeiro suggested ... more

The Favela Tour:

History of this tour from the Favela Tour site:
"Brazilian born in 1968, Marcelo Armstrong is the pioneer of tours in favelas in Rio, since 1987 he's been working on the tourism market, having had the possibility to travel to many countries and getting to know different cultures. When he returned to Rio de Janeiro, his hometown in 1992, he decided to organize visits to favelas. Given their bad reputation, it was hard to gain the credibility of local tour companies and hotels. Today FAVELA TOUR is still growing and making possible to a higher number of visitors, a much better understanding of local society and the day by day life in Rio. Marcelo is registered in EMBRATUR (Brazilian Tourism Bureau) number: 01053672730 and he speaks English, French, Italian and Spanish fluently."

My experience of this tour:

Our guide while we were in Rio de Janeiro suggested few things that we could do while we were in Rio if we had had enough of lying on the beach or by the pool in the sunshine. One of these was The Favela Tour which she explained took you into a couple of the favelas, introduced you to some of the residents, took you to visit a school and you walked through these streets seeing how the people lived in these Favelas or 'slums' of Rio. She was a genuinely nice local guide and she assured us that the tour was not voyeuristic or depressing; it was a way of seeing another side of Rio beyond the beaches of Ipanema and Copacabana, the Sugar Loaf Mountain and the Corcovado. My husband was still not convinced but as another few people from our group decided to go on the next day, we thought we would wait for their verdict. They came back very positive so we called our guide and booked to go the following morning.

We were collected in a small minivan from our hotel and joined three other couples so there were eight of us, a guide and a driver, It was quite cosy in the van but we didn't argue over who was sitting where and just got in to the seats in the order we got into the van then the seats were folded down so the rest could get in. Fortunately there was air-conditioning as otherwise it could have been a bit hot and stuffy otherwise. Our guide was a young man of between 25-30 years old and very pleasant. He had spent time travelling around Europe the previous year and was very knowledgeable about both his own country and others too.

If you have seen the film,' The City of God' this was based in a favela and indeed most of the young actors were teenagers living in the favelas at the time. Since the film's success these actors have become a lot more famous and wealthy. According to the guide we had on our Favela Tour the young actors have put a lot back into the favelas and many stories he told reflected the loyalty that people brought up in these areas felt towards each other.

Interestingly these favelas are on the higher areas of Rio and have the most amazing views. In Rio the nearer you are to the beach, the more valuable your property so the upper areas of land had been left undeveloped. When the numbers of country people coming to Rio looking for jobs grew and they had nowhere to live they began to cobble together hovels out of whatever they could find just to make a shelter. These previously undeveloped areas that belonged to the government have been taken over and small cities have arisen which are called favelas in Brazil. They do not have permission to build and there are no regulations covering the buildings which grow up. There are no facilities such as water, power or garbage collection provided to these areas by the government or private companies. However they do have some electricity, water and gas.

As you reach the edge of the favelas there is a huge pile of garbage beside the road. This is brought down by the residents in a co-operative way and put just outside the favela. The government have agreed, for health and sanitation reasons, to collect any rubbish put in specific places, it never gets completely cleared but it is kept under control. The water and electricity is 'stolen' as the wires and pipes are connected to the city's water and electricity by residents of the favelas. It looks very unsafe but we were assured by our guide that it was safe. The residents who do the electricity connection work for the electricity companies or builders so they know what they are doing and the same with the water. Their services are therefore 'free' - they are not billed as it is siphoned off illegally out of the system. Everyone knows and just accepts this as a way of life.

The first favela we visited was Rocinha. In order to reach this favela we drove up the Estrada da Gavea which was a F1 race track in its former life. It must have been a bit like Monte Carlo, small twisty, hilly, roads, climbing through forested areas. On the way to Rocinha we passed some extremely exclusive houses and a very expensive private school. One of the houses near the favela belonged to a famous Brazilian plastic surgeon. Apparently he is very well respected by the residents of Rocinha as he has often treated them and does not charge them. Apart from the rather smelly pile of rubbish which you could ignore if you looked over it, the view was spectacular.

Our guide explained a bit of how the favelas worked. He said that we were perfectly safe but would not advise coming up here by ourselves and just wandering round. There definitely were drug cartels in the favelas and they often provided money to residents of the favelas who were struggling. The problems came when there were rivalries between one or more drug cartels. They were fiercely protective of their areas, helpful to those within but did not tolerate any interference in the way they ran their business. A lot of the residents benefitted from the Favela Tours as they set up stalls selling their handicrafts. We were taken to a small group of these stalls and introduced to the stall owners and told a bit of their background. They were all delightful people, smiling and friendly but not at all pushy. We bought a couple of things but others in the group bought nothing and there was no hard sell at all.

After we left this little group of stalls we drove around Rocinha to a very tall block of flats. We went in the building and climbed to the top on the roof. From here you could see all round the favela and across Rio. The inside of the building was well kept and owned by a builder who rented out the flats. From the roof we could see the water pipe coming down from the hill which provided 'borrowed' water. We could also see that some of the residents had even got tiny swimming pools on their flat roofs. Not everybody in the favela was poor but they chose to stay there as they had connections there, facilities were free and often they were quite happy there.

We then walked through the shopping area and market of Rocinha before squeezing back into our minivan to drive on to the next stop. The shopping area had everything that could be needed from fresh food, meat, electrical things, cafes and so on, it wasn't clean but it was not too bad. I was wearing flip flops and managed to walk quite happily. You did have to keep an eye on the ground, there were dogs everywhere and pooper scooping hasn't reached the favelas. Nobody was unpleasant, some ignored us and other smiled as we walked through but there was no feeling of menace or threat. I had not taken anything at all, no bag or camera. My husband had left our small camera in the minivan with the driver so as not to offer temptation but I certainly felt quite comfortable walking around.

We left Rocinha and arrived in Vila Canoas, where we visited the "Para Ti" community school. This project is financed by the Favela Tour that we were on. It was started by an Italian man called Franco Urani from Torino who was the President of the FIAT in Brazil from 1971 to 1975 .When he settled in Rio in 1977 when he started this school in the "favela" VILA CANOAS that was next to his house. His house is actually physically attached to the school and he pops over from time to time. As we were in the school one of the children had a birthday and Mr Urani came over with a cake and shared the 'Happy birthday' singing. He was a lovely man, very friendly and chatted to us for a few minutes then shook all our hands as we left. He was very humble, not at all full of himself. He told us of the photo book that the children had made with the help of the teachers that was on sale but not at all pushy. Unfortunately he is not well; he has some sort of cancer I believe which is very sad considering how much effort he has put in to helping other people.

Initially a lot of financial support from the school came from Mr Urani's connections in Italy. Later the Brazilian government also offered support by giving a school lunch to the children in the school. The classes in the school are organised and managed by The Associacao Sao Martinho which specialises in helping needy children. There are regular classes and, basic computer skills and handicrafts taught at the school. There is a small 'shop' at the top of the school where you can purchase these handicrafts and the funds go towards the school. Again, there was no compulsion to purchase anything. The children were quite shy, they smiled at us but my Portuguese is non-existent and they did not speak English so communication was mainly smiling and waving.

The school has been a great success as previously only about 20% of children from the favela had grades good enough to continue to Secondary school whereas now it is nearly 90% who continue with their schooling. Recently a few students have achieved university places which are a wonderful testament to this family's work. If you are interested there are photos on a site that the children have taken: http://www.parati.inf.br/uk/album_2.htm

After we left the school we went into the favela of Vila Canoas. This was quite different from Rocinha as this favela was much smaller and the buildings were like a medieval town. They were so close together that they were almost touching. There were tiny alleyways between the houses that were like a twisty maze. Our guide reminded us every now and then to duck our heads as the ceilings were very low in places. Every now and then there was lager area and in one was as small playground painted in bright colours and children friendly paintings on the surrounding walls. It was a very cosy community and seemed more friendly than Rocinha but I am not sure why as nobody was unfriendly in either favela.

We stopped at a small shop and could buy a drink, the guide had a chat to the shop owner and we smiled again - not knowing any Portuguese does make it tricky to communicate any other way.

We were returned to our hotels or dropped off en route if requested. The tour lasted about 2½ hours and was very interesting.

According to the brochure for this tour:
"The tour introduces you to another Rio, within Rio city: the favela. There are close to 750 favelas in Rio. Mostly placed on former public areas on the hillsides, they are now home to 20% of Rio's population; however they remain a mystery for most people who don't live there. The tour is not only to explain about favelas, but to give you a whole new understanding about different aspects of Brazilian society.
You will go to the favelas of Vila Canoas and Rocinha, the largest one in the country. Picturesque from a distance, once closer they reveal their complex architecture, developing commerce and friendly people. Most Samba Schools participating in the Carnival parade come from favelas. The tour changes their reputation of areas related only to violence and poverty. Don't be shy, you are welcome there, and local people support your visit. If you really want to understand Brazil, don't leave Rio without having done the FAVELA TOUR."

In Summary;
This was a very interesting tour, different from the normal tourist places to visit in Rio. The Favela tour contributes to the upkeep and running of the school in Vila Canoas so you feel like you have put a little something back. You did also feel that you had see a bit of Rion beyond the beaches of the city and the famous sites.

©Catsholiday 

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