Favelas, Rio de Janeiro

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Cariocafreeculture is a unique project that will hopefully start many new beginnings here in Rio.

They offer a beginners Português class titled : favela ghetto slang, offering the basics to get around Rio for your first time, including local slangs. Class is held in a modest home in the favela community Vidigal, with a tour of the community after to give you the chance to practice your new skills.

They also offer visits to Rocinha where your guide grew up! Come meet local people and hear the history of the biggest favela in South America!

Or hike to the top of Dois Irmãos Mountain with some of the most amazing views in Rio.

Contact them at CARIOCAFREECULTURE.COM

or check out for social projects at cariocafeeculturerj.wordpress.com

A VERY safe tour is at http://www.vale-encantado.org/Savours.html
You can simple visit the place or also walk into the Forest (Floresta da Tijuca), the biggest urban forest in the world. All the money goes back to the community. There are tracks of 1 to 3 hours, as the visitors prefer.

Clinging precariously to the mountainsides that surround the city's affluent south zone, Rio's favelas, or shanty towns, are a source of both fear and fascination for visitors. Middle-class locals will tell you that to enter into such a place is to risk violent attack, but in reality, there is much more to life in the favelas than drug crime and violence. While it is not advisable to venture into the favelas alone (not least because the lack of street names makes it easy to get lost), visiting with a recognized and respected tour group such as the long-established Favela Tour will give you a unique and valuable insight into the way these communities are run. English speaking guides will take you to Rocinha, the largest favela in South America, and normally one other favela as well.

A maior favela do mundo que hoje ja e um bairro e tem ate o seu proprio Mac Donald, e possivel visitar a Rocinha com guias credenciados e que lhe oferecem total seguranca, mais em
http://www.jeeptour.com.br/roteiros5.htm

The Bigest "favela" or slums, in the world, that nowadays is already a neighborhood, e has it?s own Mac Donalds. It?s possibel to visit Rocinha, with local guides thta can offer a secure tour to you. More At
http://www.jeeptour.com.br/roteiros5.htm

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Perhaps the title is a bit overstated, a Favela isn't exactly a family oriented activity but it still is something that tourists, much like myself, feel like they have to visit. Perhaps its the stunning poverty, or the open sewage that attracts the interest of said tourist, or maybe its the thrill of seeing shanty's that are built from anything from cardboard to tin. I think its the thrill of being surrounded by both poor people and drug dealers that make it a must see sight. Whatever the case maybe the toughest thing about visiting a favela is just that...visiting. One could pick a random favela to wander into but the chances are slim of ever wandering out. These slums are crime ridden and run by some of the nastiest drug dealer south of Mexico. Now you could take a guided tour which is quite safe, but then your just contributing money to the drug lords. So my advice is to do what I did and visit the Santa Marta favela which has been cleaned up and policed by the government and offers free guides through the slum. Nestled in the shadows of Corvacado and under the watchful eyes of Christ the Redeemer this favela offers incredible views and a chance to not only rub shoulder with destitute children and money grubbing drug dealers, but a chance to actually see where the King of Pop, Micheal Jackson, filmed one of his music videos. They even have a statue of the King himself in the favela. So bring the family, or not, and come visit the safest favela that I know of in Rio!

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Like much of Brazil, Rio is a city of rich and poor. Much of the poor population lives in what is known as favelas (pronounced fa-VEH-las), which are isolated neighbourhoods of often hastily constructed buildings, completely separate from urban Rio, yet within close proximity. These favelas are often mistakenly referred to as slums, but they are real neighbourhoods with buildings, schools, shops and other infrastructure. Notorious for being dangerous, these favelas are in fact quite organised and have little crime within each community, but they lead the illegal drug trade in Brazil. It is said that each favela is headed by a single drug lord and many in the community work in the business (sounds like the Mafia). The dangers occur when different favelas quarrel over the drug trade, resulting in many shootings. Favelas occupy many of the hills around Rio, often with the best views, so they are clearly visible from the city. For those interested, a couple of tourist agencies organise tours of favelas (completely safe).

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Favela is the Brazilian term for Shanty Town. Taking a tour of one or two should be a part of one's visit to Rio since they house one quarter of Rio's population. It's an eye opening tour. It made me realize how rich I am and how non-issues some of my worries have been. I also saw a resourcefulness that inspired me.

The tour I took was a 3-hour tour into 2 favelas — Roçinha, Rio's largest and Vila Canoas, a small favela surrounded by a very very wealthy neighborhood. In Roçinha we stopped first at a small market geared towards the favela tourists and were introduced to the merchants. The view from this spot is quite amazing. The second stop is on the rooftop of a house on land owned by the residents/family showing how some are lives are improving. Third stop is in the middle of the busy, bustling market in Roçinha. The forth is at the Para Ti school in Vila Canoas. The fifth is in Vila Canoas where we walked through the narrow passageways of the neighborhood.

My tour is run by Marcelo Armstrong and called "the most insightful and longest-established" by Lonely Planet. His are highly responsible and donate part of the tour fee to community projects within the favelas.

Best to organize this directly with him/his tour company. I paid R$65, but six Germans who joined the tour booked from their hotel and paid R$75 each to their hotel. We were told this by our tour guide who asked me and the other person on the tour who booked directly. Eight is the max size of the tour. Also they pick up at hotels. They didn't pick up at the hostel I was staying at, but I met them 3 blocks away at the Caesar Hotel.

There are close to 550 favelas in Rio, most of which have been erected on former public land and have clawed themselves onto the slopes of the city’s steep hillsides. Emerging during the last 30 years, Rio’s favelas are now home to 20 percent of the city’s population. However, they remain a mystery for most visitors travelling independent of watchful local guides.

Let's face it - no matter how many honest, hard working people live in favelas, they are dominated by drug factions.

When you go on favela tours, funk ball tours or any similar activity, the tour operators pay "fees" to the drug factions for visiting rights and to ensure safety.

Please do not support the drug culture that opress a lot of the population.

Besides, think of how the local people feel, having tourists gape at their houses. Would you like it if a loud jeep fool of foreigners pulled up in front of where you live and started taking photos.

Please don't tell me how nice everyone was - there is a lot of pressure for these tours to work and the opertors know who to avoid.

it's a nice to check out how the life in favela is, but really it can be a tourist trap too, because they shouw to u the biggest favela in south america, the most touristic favela, and the touristic part, so don't think the life in every favela it like to this one, this is a favela but it get a lot of money by the tour operation which organize the tour, and the popuolation receive money to survive from narcotraficant man...., so don't have a wrong idea about the life in this favela, u can think..., all the same the life in this favela is good, but there are others favelas which are really poor...
anyway dont' try to go there alone, but if u want to go there , go with a guide...!!!