Jesus and a Favela

We just spent an hour typing out the last two days and this bleeping computer has deleted everything. Not happy! $#@% !!!

Yesterday (Sunday) we woke up early to see Jesus, aka Cristo Redentor. The forcast said the next 5 days are going to be cloudy and we REALLY wanted to make sure we got to see the views of the city! Corcovado is the biggest tourist attraction Rio has to offer ... as we saw when we were greeted by tour buses of eager beavers. It was actually kind of funny ... up until now it has been difficult to pick out the tourists in the crowds (Brazil is very multicultural), but when they're all having a party atop a mountain they stand out like sore thumbs (funny because we were there too, lol). However, we taxied up anyways (no tour bus for Trevor and Kristena), didn't feel the need to hang our camera around our necks and left our tourist hats at home! We spent some time with THE MAN himself (and the other 500 people there to see him too - Oy), and then spent the rest of our time taking in the views. The views from Corcovado are absolutelly beautiful (muito lindo = very beautiful)! And for the lazy tourist out there, there is even an escalator that one can take to Jesus. Quite amusing actually.

After that, we headed for the beach... IPANEMA BEACH!!! It's only about a 15 minute walk from Copacabana beach and oh geez, we fell in love! It is seriouslly the most AMAZING beach either of us have been to!!! The waves are easily 8-10 feet high, the sand is pristine, there is no garbage (Copacabana has trash that washes up in the surf and smells kinda funny), and there are no rocks or slimey green things in the water! We spent hours getting bashed around by the surf ... I got tired of it pretty quickly, but Trevor was a trooper and kept going back for more! It's rare to find people working on a Sunday in Rio ... not because they are at church or sleeping at home, but because they ALL went to Ipanema Beach!! Also very cool is that the market comes to you when you're sitting on the beach ... you can buy drinks, lotions, chairs, hats, jewelery, shoes, etc, etc etc, and what is awesome is that when you say no thank you, they just walk away! It is not like Mexico or Jamaica where they say "Really? Are you sure? Look again!" Ipanema beach also has "sections" where certain groups of people sit ... we found ourselves right on the line between the beauty section (lotsa bums and boobies) and the gay section (discovered that when we saw two men frolicking in the sand). There is also a ghetto section (where we were afraid to sit) and a family section (where little kids throw sand). We ended up walking back to our hostel along both beaches (interesting fact: it is not considered wierd if you wear your bathing suit/bikini/speedo downtown), and Trevor is pleased as pie because he can now officially say that he likes long walks on the beach! :P

This morning (Monday), we headed for a travel agent as soon as we got up so that we could book a flight to Belem (it is waaay up north and we haven't given ourselves enough time to get there). We had quite the adventure trying to find an English speaking agent (this is not Mexico, it's TRUE when they say no one speaks English!). It is one thing to fumble through "Where is the bathroom?" or "What kind of meat is in this pastry thing?," but in matters of airplane travel we wanted to understand and be understood! We ended up finding a man who could translate to the agent for us (bless his little heart). One hour later and 1200 Reais (Brazil currency, about $600 CAN) poorer (and a flight for tommorrow), we headed off to the mall to console our empty wallets. Taking the bus in Rio is surprisingly easy (in the more well off neighborhoods, which we are) ... it costs 2 Reais per person, and we get on and ask someone in our sad and broken Portuguese where we want to go (ie: if we want to go to West Edmonton Mall, we say "Ola, West Edmonton Mall?") and with our confused faces, they make a commotion for us when it's time to get off. Brasil is good. At the mall (which had about 7 stories!), Trevor got a futbol jersey and I got a purse. Voila, mission accomplished!

Sooo, the best (and most eye opening) part of the today was our tour through a favela. A favela is where many poor people live in South America, and Rio de Janiero has the largest one in Latin America (20% of Rio's 11 million people live in a favela). This one had 200,000 people living in it ... unbelievable!! It is like a city in itself, with it's own post office, medical centres (only 2, for all those people!), garbage collection, etc. Favela's are run by drug lords and gangs (this one was run by a gang known as ADA ... it stands for Amigos de Amigos), and is unsafe for just anyone to go into. Most people assume that EVERYONE who lives there are up to no good, but that is not so. Typically it is only about 10% of the population who are involved in the drugs/gangs. Surprisingly, we learned that life is relatively safe for those who do live there though, as the gangs do not allow "unneccesary" violence (rapes, murders, etc). Our guide explained that the time when things do become dangerous is when either a) another gang approaches (it's a turf war over land because favelas are where the majority of drugs are sold), or b) the police come. We learned that the military police are very corrupt and that about 5% of the gangs monthly income (about 1.5 million US!!!) goes to paying off the policia. At those times, there is often gunfire and that is when people die. The average monthly income for someone living in a favela is about 400 Reais (about $200CAN) and many of the people who live there work in ordinary jobs ... driving buses, shop clerks, etc. The people who live there do not pay taxes, and if they want to have their mail delivered, they must pay a fee to the post office because of the complexity of the walkways and homes. It is an incredible web of tangled stairways, corridors, little shops and houses built ontop of other houses, etc. There is no room to build sideways, so they build up. We were a little hesitant to do this tour (FYI, for anyone thinking of it, you NEED to go with a reputable company who has paid off the local gang in order to allow for a safe tour ... outsiders are not recieved with open arms), however, we had heard from others that it is a jaw dropping experience, AND that the money from our tour has gone back into the favela to do some good. They have opened a daycare centre which parents do not need to pay for, as well as teach the children to do productive things so that they do not need to beg for money (paintings, crafts, etc). The thing that we really "enjoyed" was realizing that even though these people are have almost nothing, they were still so happy!! After spending 4 days in the rich part of Rio, it was important to us to see the other side of the story. All in all, it was incredibly eye opening!

We leave you with some photos of the last few days ... and, for anyone interested in learning more about the favela's find a movie called "Tropa de Elite" (with English subtitles). Apparentlly it is alot like "City of God", but more shocking and graphic. We have been advised to wait until we leave Brazil to watch it!

Muito Lovo,
Trevor and Kristena

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