Rio do Janiero

How to I explain this city to those who have yet to be held my it. I mean it this city held me and held me close. I can give you a few descriptive words; beach, sand, caipirinhas, samba, sunsets, sunrises, thongs, muscles, pobreza, riqueza, portuguese ( my new favorite language) suco do manga, sun and sun. I loved it all.

We stayed three blocks from the beach on which you could find yourself in a crowd of many different suits from bathing to business. As revealing and covered as you could possibly imagine. I met some of the most wonderful travelers that I hope to stay in touch with always.

The story that I want to share with you from my time in Rio is my experience going to the Favela. Our friend Alberto had met a guy on the beach who had invited him to his house in one of the Favelas (for those who dont know look it up) I was very hesitant but went in the end. At first the guy just seemed all too eager to take six foreigners to his home in the poorest sections of Rio where there technically are no laws where most Brasilians will not step foot.

He informed us that we were gonna have a BBQ at his house and we went to the store to purchase the meat and condiments. I wasnt sure what to think and began to doubt my surroundings. We began to discuss it more and more and came to the conclusion that there are risks to be taken in life and sometimes we just had to let go. Whatever was going to happen was going to happen. So we loaded up with the food and walked a ways to the base of the favela where we were to catch a mini bus that would take us about half way.

As I loopked around me at the other people in line I noticed the powerful difference in economic class from the business men I was used to seeing on the streets of Rio. I was not amongst the wealthy. Cleven our new guide chatted with us and I began to feel more comfortable. We got on the mini bus that took us up the only street fit for a car. We unlaoded and followed Cleven one by one through the complex maze of stairs, apartments and sidewalks. We followed him very much aware of how much we did not fit in until we arrived to a steep staircase that led up to his house.

He opened the door and directly inside was his wife witha huge grin on her face waiting to greet us. They welcomed each of us into their hoime with the two sons 5 and 2 yrs old. The 5yr old slept through the evening but Ingrid the mom and 2yr old son danced the night away with us. We climed even more stairs before arriving to his roof which had the most spectacular view of the city. Rio at its finest.

Directly above the highest buildings you could see for miles along the coast ever the buildings. We prepared the food and danced to Brasilian funk and Samba. We finally began eating delicious meat and garlic bread and grilled vegetables. Now the family didnt have much but they were more openly affectionate with each other than I see most couples and eager to share their lives with us.

We danced and ate and talked. I warmed up to the son and he rested on my shoulder as I danced. We watched the moon rise as a huge orange slice over the buildings. At about 11:30pm fireworks shot off into the sky due to the winning of a soccer game. We gathered out stuff around midnight and without a cent in our pockets after giving the family what we had left we found ourselves having to walk down through the favela to the safe security of the streets of copacabana.

With Cleven guiding us again though this time a bit drunk we found ourselves in a much less secure environment. The littel shops and walkways were filled with night inhabitants who were not too welcoming to a group of foreigners exploring their streets. Cleven ended up leading us through to another Favela where it got even more uncomfortable. Gringo was called out a few times and another guy was not about to let us go up his street. A few very large guns were seen on either side of the path.

At one very sketchy moment cleven told Alberto to wait there and he left. Alberto made the executive decision to continue down directly as possible. Without looking around we headed straight until we couldnt go down anymore. We hit the streets and breathed a bit easier. We had survived the Favela.

Well it was an experience that I will never forget and an eye opening one at that. I am learning a lot from the world and I think I can safely say that that is the one and only time that I shall venture into a Favela in Rio Do Janiero.