Hanging out in the Favela

Morning on Ipanema Beach

a person standing on the beach with a large wave crashing in front of him

Today is Graham’s last day with us. He heads back to Sao Paulo tonight. I try not to think of it. However he will return to Canada at the end of June.

two men sitting at a table on the beach watching a volleyball game Throughout the night it rained and the wind was pretty strong. In the morning the wind is still strong and it is only 18 degrees Celsius when we head out to walk Ipanema Beach. Large waves are crashing on the beach.

We stop for a drink (coconut water for me, Capirinha for John, water for Graham) and watch people playing no hands volleyball on the beach.

Views from Arpoador Rock

View of a beach with crashing waves with lush vegetation in front
The sun comes out and the heat rises. We climb to the top of Arpoador Rock and get some gorgeous views of the beach.

Copacabana Beach Walk

sand sculpture of women lying on their fronts

We head back for a quick stop and some lunch at the apartment before walking three kms down Copacabana Beach in the sun to meet up in front of the Copacabana Palace Hotel for our tour of the Rocinha favela.

Rocinha Favela Tour

woman in a very narrow steep alley woman walking down steps in a narrow alley

a man taking a picture of a sprawling favela with the bay far below in the distance A van takes us to the favela which is home to 160,000 people. Our guide lives in the favela and says most of the movies are not accurate about real favela life…the violence is exaggerated. He said that we are fine to keep our phones out in the favela.

motor bikes parked in front of tile art of sharks on the wall The houses are close together on steep hillsides with narrow alleyways. Lots of phone and electrical wires are strung about. The favela has gorgeous views of Rio spread out below. These may be low income homes but some have million dollar views.

Mural of a toucan Most traffic is by motorbike and there are a few cars. There are lots of family type people walking around. I don’t feel the least bit threatened.

There is a lot of art work painted on walls around the favela. Some of it is quite lovely.

motor bikes parked in front of graffitti picture of the last supper

There are a number of businesses, restaurant and bars. There are even four banks which according to our guide have never been robbed.

a mural of the last supper with local people in it
The golden beige simple favela church Most people in this favela work in Rio.

We stop at a snack shop for refreshments and bathroom breaks. Prices are a lot cheaper in the favela.

many many wires running past favela buildings
Graham did some volunteer work in Heliopolis favela in Sao Paulo. He said over 200,000 live there. They have a burger place there called *MecFavela” where you get large burgers for a small price. It used to be called “McFavela” but they had to add the e due to pressure from McDonald’s.

There are a lot of narrow and steep stairs going up and down through the favela. People cannot drink the tap water, they have to drink bottled water but that is also the case even in the nicer parts of Rio.

We saw the area where parts of The Fast and the Furious 5 was filmed.

The funny thing was that throughout our whole time in the favela, not once did I smell stale urine like I have in other parts of Brazil.

man in a very narrow alley
main street with some painted buildings in a favela
It was a really interesting tour and I would recommend doing it if you are in Rio.

Sunset at Arpoador Rock

sun setting with silhouettes of mountains in the background and a beach in the foreground
We get back into the van and are dropped off near our apartment. It is getting cooler again.

An open-sided truck with a band inside is performing for people outside of the modern church near our apartment. Its Easter Friday and the church is packed.

We head out to watch the sunset from Arpoador Rock, buy a few groceries for supper.

On the way back to the apartment, we see that the truck with the band is still playing as it slowly travels down the road, followed by over a hundred people…a Good Friday parade I assume.