Rio de janeiro day one.Aug 4, 2010
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| Today was my first whole day in rio de janeiro. I started my morning off with a delicious breakfas of ham and cheese on bread with good strong coffee juice and fruit. The coffee is finally good. I had booked a tour of the slums of rio. The slums arecalled the favellas. Gangs run the slums and it is suppose to be super dangerous. My hostel said that it was actually one of the safest places in rio as the gangs protect the area and they do a far better job than the police. On the tour I got a different story. Apparently if police even enter the area a war between the police and gangs errupt with guns and granades. The gangs carry around ak47 and granade belts. They are the drug lords and make some million dollars a month in drugs trafficing and selling. The drugs are not made here but are smuggled from Bolivia and Peru. The slums make up 30% of the rio population and the slum I went into is the biggest slum in rio. It sits just above the most wealthy part or rio, iponema. The houses in the slum sell for between 2,500 us dollars and 25,000 dollars depending on the size. There are no taxes in the slum but somehow it has a government and public health and schools. The schools are over crowded and the president of rio ignores the fact of that. They are building new health centers and post offices. The government has recently started trying to make the outside of the slums look nice as an election is coming up. The first row of houses you see onthe street are pretty and painted nice. One block in begins the actual houses which are hidden from view when you pass by. We entered from the outside on moto taxis. Yes motorcycles. We each hopped on back and they zoomed up the hill. Parts of the drive felt like a race between the other moto drivers and the corners were cut tight. My driver passed cars when there was an oncoming bus. It squeezed through cars and came way too close to other bikes. I even saw one bike purposfully hit the back of a car to make it squeeze by a bus. We weaved in and out for what felt like an hour. I held on so tight as I was super scared. Did I mention it was raining he whole way up the hill? Eeek. We were not allowed to take pictures because if pictures of the drug lords get to the press it is a big problem. The first half was in the drug lord territory sonwe were not at all alowed. Once we got off the main road and into the housing areas we were allowed to take pictures. On the way up the hill we passed one drug lord with ak47 and grenades. Before gettig into the housng area we went passed a watch post where they have fireworks and setff fireworks when they see police coming. This gives the drug lords time to hide. The place was a maze as there is only a few main streets that go through and the rest is all in sidewalk type alley ways weaving in all directions. There are four main alley ways called one two three and four. The side streets off them also have names like fourty three etc. We went into annart gallery to look at some local art. Some of it was amazing and made me feel a bit depressed as it depicted the vioence. Apparently if gang and police encouter it ends up in a gun grenade war and there are many deaths. On average four people a day die in the favellas in rio. That is more than the number of people that die in Iraq Afghanistan daily. Our guide says he has only ever had one encounter in six years and it was more a problem with police than with gangs. The police were confused what the local was doing in there with tourists and well they followed the police directions and were fine. We saw some young boys playing musc on plastic and metal bins. Our guide works with local kids to teach them to produce something for money such as music or art. We also stopped into a bakery that had the yummiest chocolate doughnut. We went into a preschool facility which the tour company helps support. We got to play with the kids and help out a bit. The alley ways were dirty and narrow. The electic wires hang around and were a mess at changing points. The alley ways were falling apart and some ofthese sewer was even open. The rubbish service doesn't go to the Alleys so people have to bring it to the main streets to be picked up. There was a house that had skid down the mountain from the rain a few weeks ago. The government won't help and the woman just has to re build it if she has the money for suppies. Kids smiled and people were friendly. There was grafitti around but no gang wars seemed apparent. Even though there are four different gangs in rio they are spread between different slums. As we almost ended our tour the guide yelled no more pictures from now on. It was weird cause he said we could take pics he whole second half. I quicky realized why no pictures. We passed a man with an ak47 and then another man with grenades and an ak47. Shortly after we passed another with an ak47 and I saw an ear bud in his ear. Our guide later told us there must have been an executive of the gang as these guys seemed to have their eye out and guarding someone. It makes me think about the middle east and people hiding in mountains from the us military findin them. We exited and went into a small market where they sold food and other items. The whole slum was huge and unreal but then again very real. The people after in the car were shocked where I think this is life and this is survival. You do what you can to survive with the money you have and this is how they have to survive. Everyone on the tour was very friendly and warm and accepting. It made me grateful for what I have. I returned to the hostel soaking wet and hungry. I had some food and went to get waxed. It was rediculously cheap and a nice place. Leg was 9 bucks. Lip wax 2 bucks. Soooo cheap!!! I'm glad I grew my leg hair out the whole trip for here!!! Now the rain is gone and I am back relaxing at the hostel which is a converted old house. I have a balcany overlooking the street. Our own bathroom and only 6 bunks all girls. There are two kitchens. Living room areas. A pool. And a beautiful garden. It's relaxing to sit on my balcany in a hammock. What a perfect way to end a hectic summer. U ate Mexican food for dinner. Yum. And a margarita! Met some Dutch boys and had a bit of |
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