| Last day in Rio |
[May. 1st, 2008|09:00 am] |
I had a lovely 9 hour bus ride to Rio in which I watched some movie that I actually wanted to see but could not understand due to Portuguese dubbing and Spanish subtitles. Stoopid non-multilingual me. I headed back into the center of Rio by bus and, of course, missed my intended bus stop by two miles. I hate buses! Trains have to stay on the track and every station has a sign so you know where you are but buses? Buses can go wherever they want, there's nothing telling you the route and if you don't know what your bus stop looks like you'll mark yourself as a tourist by peering out the windows trying in vain to identify street names. End of rant against buses. So I sighed and, since I didn't know the number of a bus that would take me back and feared ending up even further off course, pulled the rain cover over my backpack and started walking.
It was raining A LOT so by the time I got to the youth-hostel infected area I was soaked. I wandered up to a hostel marked in Lonely Planet and asked how much for a bed. R$45, they said. 30USD? For a bed in a dorm? I raised my eyebrows in reply and the guy shrugged apologetically. I wandered off. As I was walking past a courtyard gate I heard someone say, "Bed? Bed? You want a bed?". Yes, I did want a bed. In fact, I really just wanted a roof. So I looked in and saw a bunch of flags hanging outside a small terraced house. Aha. A new hostel. And only R$25 for a night. I was very apologetic as I and my bag dripped 6 litres of water on the floor but the worker was lovely, showed me where everything was and then let me have breakfast for free.
I changed, met the American guys I was sharing my room with (the funniest Americans I've ever met) and headed out to arrange hang-gliding for the next day. Fortuitously, the guys that did the hang-gliding were based just across the courtyard in another hostel. They told me the weather forecast was not good and did I still want to go if it was a bit cloudy? Given the cost of hang-gliding I decided to wait for sunny weather, meaning I'll have to do it on another trip somewhere else. Instead, I booked a place on a tour of one of the favelas (slums) in Rio. At first I was a bit dubious of the idea of paying to view poor people but the leaflet claimed "Not voyeuristic!" and I had heard good reviews from other backpackers along the gringo trail. So that was booked for tomorrow and I spent the rest of the day munching on lots of things from the bakery and wandering around parks. Oh, and drinking with the Americans. Of course.
My guide for the favela tour picked me up from the hostel and we set off for Rosinho, Rio's oldest and largest favela. It is home for over 300,000 people. The homes are built in a steep valley, landslides are a common problem since none of the homes have real foundations - amazing when you realize that most of them are upwards of 3 stories high. Once someone has built a property in Rosinho they own the land and to make a quick buck, they will sell their roof space to another family so that another home can be built on top. In turn that family will sell their roof etc. etc.
We each jumped on the back of a motorbike to be ferried up to the top of the favela. From there we would walk down, through the makeshift streets. The bikeriders were insane, driving so quickly and so close to *oncoming* traffic that several of the girls were shrieking and I was clutching onto the handholds for dear life. That said, it was fantastic. I'm not sure if they drive like that normally, perhaps it was just to scare the gringos. The riders run sort of a taxi service, takng people up and down the valley for R$3. While the favela was initially just cheap housing, it now has many small businesses, a government-funded health center, a daycare for kiddos and even a post-office.
We reached the top in one piece and immediately I noticed the illegal electricity hookups, with cables stretching from building to building. Our guide told us that they have taken it one step further now with many homes also having free (illegally obtained) cable and internet access. At this point we were on the main road - the reason for the location of Rosinho. The tour guide has an arrangement with the druglords who run the favela - part of our money pays for the daycare center and in return the tourists have to follow these rules:
Don't buy drugs from anyone here - the police generally stay out of the favelas but would have to come in if they caught a tourist with drugs from one of the favelas.
Don't take a picture of anyone with a gun
Don't take a picture of anyone with a walkie talkie - these are watchers and are responsible for monitoring who goes in and out of the favela.
We walked past a couple of teenage watchers into the favela. The "street" was extremely narrow, no more than 2ft wide. As we walked down the conditions worsened. Rainfall washes debris, sewage and trash down the valley and into the houses. Thus, the rent for a house at the top of Rosinho is higher than for a house at the bottom. We stopped at a bakery (and put a little money into the Rosinho economy) then walked to a kids' music center. Some of the kids did a drum show for us using empty buckets. They weren't exactly good...or even rhythmic but they perform in Carnival every year. Their hearts were in it, at least. We were told that, while there are no schools in Rosinho, the kids get free bus rides as long as they are wearing school uniforms so they can get to and from school each day.
We finished by walking through an open air market. Why does every Brazilian market sell remote controls? I almost bought one as a joke gift for someone but by this point I was very close to having to exchange another travellers' cheque which is always a pain. See a previous post for complaints about exchanging money in Rio. The tour was undoubtedly the best thing I did in Rio. It was great to see in person all those things you learn about in school, and to see the work being done by both charities and the government in the poorer areas of Rio.
I spent the rest of the day attempting to withdraw R$20 so I could pay for both a taxi to the airport and my bed (I only had enough for one). It took 4 ATMS and 3 credit cards but I finally found a combination that works. Word of advice for anyone going to Brazil: take cash and travellers' cheques.
Off to airport then home!
Until the next trip,
Rach
 |
|
|
| Comments: |
From: (Anonymous)
2008-08-31 11:30 pm (UTC)
That... | (Link)
|
...sounds quite extraordinary.
Glad you survived. Looking forward to the Chile blog. | |
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
rach150384's journal
