Last few days of Rio and on to Paraty...

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Oi!

I am writing to you from Paraty, a beautiful British Colonial town just three and a half hours bus ride West of Rio. (The t in Paraty is pronounced like a tc, so pronounced Paratchy). We arrived here last night at about 7pm. But I have skipped a couple of days, so here is what we have been up to :

On Thursday 4th I embarked upon a Favela Tour with Marcelo Armstrongs company. The tour was excellent. I felt shocked in two very different ways: the poverty and hardship some face in terms of working themselves and their families out of the favela is horrible, but the standard of living is much better than i thought it would be. The tour lasted three hours and we visited two favelas: Rocinha (biggest Favela in Rio) and Vila Canoas which is a smaller but more developed favela.
The guide was great, she was a gold mine of information. I am now an expert on information about Favela Drug Dealers and corrupt policemen! I learned way too much info to write here so I will summarise a couple of points:

1. Drug dealers hold the power in favelas. You do not cross them or you get shot. 2. There are three main gangs: Red Command, Third Command and AHA (Friends of the friends). They fight each other. 3. The policemen fight all gangs, but will accept money, bribes, to keep things quietish. 4. There are 5 rules for everyone in the favelas: i) no trouble making ii) no rape iii) no child abuse iv) no robbery v) no murder. If you break any of these rules the Drug Dealers will kill you. Not the policemen! The guide explained that most things are topsy turvy, or not how you would expect, in the favelas. For example it is the drug dealers who police the favelas (because they do not want to real police to come and intervene) and some drug dealers fund schools/churches (to breed loyalty and respect throughout the favela). The average life expectancy for a drug dealer is 27. The policemen are known to do nothing in a lot of situations. The locals say that if they see a policeman doing actual work, it means they want to earn a little extra money for the weekend (in bribes).

We visited a school in the second favela which was amazing. It was set up and is paid for by the tour I did. So that was really good to see the children start to really make something with their lives. The first 37 students from this Favela school are now going to University, which is a HUGE deal. There is so much more I could write about this but have no time. So ask me more when I get back.

In the evening of the 4th we went to see Sugar Loaf. AMAZING VIEWS. We saw it in the day, sunset and night. Truly beautiful. See my pics I uploaded.

On the 5th we spent the morning at the beach in ipanema, sunning ourselves. We then traveled in the city in the afternoon and went out with Ricardo for our last night in Ipanema. Funnily enough we managed to find the most European club in Rio; a massive contrast to the Favela Funk party! I am desperate to find a good Brazilian funk CD. We got home at 5.30am.

On the 6th we packed up, said goodbye to Ricardo and his daughter, and got on a bus at 4pm. We arrived at the hostel in Paraty to find a party going on! So we dug into the BBQ, had some Caiprinhas, and got chatting to the others staying here. The hostel is called Misti Chill and it has a fantastic atmosphere. The staff are amazing and the food is cheap! We have been lucky with both of our hostels so far, nice people and good beds.

Paraty is gorgeous. In the historic centre the houses are white with coloured windows and doors. There are little shops everywhere selling bits and bobs. I spent the day walking through the area with a couple of the other girls here. We had lunch really cheap and are about to have dinner for 10 Real (3 pounds). Score.

Apologies if I dont post very often over the next few days - might be hard to get on to the internet. But know I love you all and will speak soon. And apologies for rubbish paragraphing - the writing tool isnt too great!!

PS - change of plans, am leaving my travel buddy for longer than expected as I venture up to the Pantanal then to Iguacu falls. This was my choice and I think I will really enjoy some time travelling alone.

S xxxxx

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