When I told people I was going on a favela tour in Rio de Janeiro, I received a lot of strange looks. After all, those aren’t two words you often hear together. Reactions ranged from, “Why would you want to do that?” to “They are just people living in a different situation. Why go exploit them?”
From doing Google searches and coming across threads like this one on Lonely Planet’s Thorntree Forum, I knew it was going to be controversial. In a way, though, that was part of the reason why the description about Marcelo Armstrong’s tour in the Lonely Planet book was appealing:
The pioneer of favela tourism, Marcelo takes small groups to visit the favelas of Rocinha and Vila Canoas near São Conrado, where he does an excellent job explaining the social and political context of the favela in relation to greater Rio de Janeiro. Marcelo’s outfit donates a portion of its profits to favela social projects.
I wanted to go because I was curious, especially after reading fellow blogger Jamie Worms‘ insightful posts into favela life. I didn’t want to just spend time on the beaches in Copacabana and Ipanema without ever knowing what more than half of Rio’s population lived like. I wanted to learn more.
But I admit I was initially hesitant. I was worried that it would be a voyeuristic gawking at the poor, and I would be stuck with loud travelers who would make ignorant and inappropriate comments. It turned out to be neither.
Instead of Marcelo, the very knowledgeable Simone was our English-speaking guide, and she set a respectful tone from the outset. (There was one American who joked,”I need to put my wallet away before it gets robbed,” and she quickly gave him a look. There were no more jokes after that.) We all got in a large van and went first to Vila Canoas, a smaller favela, where we were allowed to get out and walk around.
It was what you would expect – houses upon houses on top of each other and narrow alleyways right across the street from an affluent neighborhood. I don’t know Portuguese so unfortunately I couldn’t speak to any of the residents, but it was cool just to be able to walk around in their footsteps, albeit briefly. I was most struck by a mural of the garbage collectors which was painted as a homage to their hard work, some of which includes making sure trash doesn’t clog up the dam in a small river that randomly runs through the favela. We also had the chance to visit Para Ti, a school that has already sent an unprecedented 70 kids to university, thanks in part to proceeds from the tour.
Our next and final stop was the Rocinha favela, the largest out of the 800 favelas that are related to the drug trade. Some interesting facts I learned while standing on a rooftop overlooking the community:
* The drug lord has been in the game for over 20 years now, and moves houses every eight days.
* He WANTS the tour. So do many other drug lords. That way, it shows favelas are safe. In fact, every Saturday night there is a Baile Funk party for cariocas and residents alike.
* And you know what? For the most part they are. Well, so they say. The drug lords are determined to make sure that the drug hand-offs happen only at the gate, where people from different social classes come to get their fix.
* The police stand next to the gates and often, turn the other cheek. Anybody who has watched Season 3 of HBO’s The Wire and remembers Hamsterdam knows what I’m talking about.
* Speaking of The Wire, there is a hierarchial system that involves managers, watchers, and dealers who are the drug lord’s eyes, ears and hands. Kids as young as ten years old will be watchers and the problem is, once they’re in they can’t get it out. Sadly, they’re in the game for life because they know the faces of all of the players.
* If you see different colored fireworks set off in the favelas, something is up: Green = Marijuana shipment; White = Cocaine shipment; Red = Gang war.
Of course, it’s not all about the drugs. The city government, for one, is currently building a large hospital in Rocinha. And there are a ton of awesome social projects created by the communities themselves that are positively addressing problems in the favelas.
At the end of the day, I can’t say that I know what it’s like to live in a favela. I couldn’t communicate and really learn about what daily life was like, something I loved as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guyana. But the tour was informative, interesting and useful – and I left not only eager to learn more but wanting to do something, anything, to contribute to the communities I visited.
What do you think? Do tours such as these hurt or help the favelas?
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Excellent question! In debriefing my short-term experience volunteering in a barrio in Argentina, I told my project coordinator that one of the roles I felt I could play is to witness the lives and dreams of the people I worked with. It may be a small difference to some between witnessing and voyeurism, but I appreciate adding another pair of eyes and ears to communities many are too afraid to see.