Click here to view the embedded video.

Upon seeing Iguazu, the United States’ First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt reportedly exclaimed “Poor Niagara!” As for me, upon seeing Iguazu, I said “Well this is pretty cool”. But Eleanor was right in that Niagra Falls or even Angel Falls in Venezuela pale in comparison to this shortlisted world wonder.

“Legend has it that a god planned to marry a beautiful aborigine named Naipí, who fled with her mortal lover Tarobá in a canoe. In rage, the god sliced the river creating the waterfalls, condemning the lovers to an eternal fall.”

So now we have this!

One friday evening I left with friends from my residence. All together we were a strange bunch representing the United States, Mexico, Honduras, Austria, Germany, and Holland. We took the most luxurious 18 hour bus ride complete with a server pouring us wine on demand and being served meals and snacks. The movies weren’t that bad either.

We arrived in Iguazu, a small town close to the waterfalls 18 hours later and found our hostel pretty easily.

It’s not just the gigantic drops of water that make this place special. It’s also happens to be located in a tropical paradise.

This was the closest I had come to an actual beach despite having been in South America for over 3 months at that point.

Mind tricks

I mentioned earlier that Brazil was close by. Close enough that we crossed the border the next day to visit Brazil.

Over there in the distance is Argentina

The Brazilian side definitely offered  better views  than the Argentine side.

A few hours later we crossed from Brazil back to Argentina

for another 18 hour bus ride back to Buenos Aires.

I spent some time in Rio De Janeiro and one the most memorable experiences was walking around a favela with a Rio Favela Slum Tour. Favelas are the shantytowns usually on hilltops where the land is considered unsafe and the settlements are illegal. The movie City of God is about life in a Rio Favela, if any of you have seen it.

My purpose in posting this is to share a unique experience. I do not think the drug lords are good guys. I posted this believing there is a general acknowledgment that people who kill are bad and so I focused on why the residents and its drug lords make Rocinha such an interesting place. They do this through creating their own sense of order. But this entire topic can be a bit touchy as favela life is not so simple. I am not making any moral claims…just showing my brief experience with Rio Favelas. For a great detailed explanation you can read this article.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa…tBody;col1

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We began the tour at the bottom of the favela where we hopped on the back of some motorcyle taxis to ride to the top of the favela, a city within a city of more than 200,000 people.

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We exited and were met with this monstrosity. Apparently most people just make there own tappings on to the overhead lines for electricty.

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The water is also turned on every 3 hours so that people who can not afford water can fill up for free.

The favela we visited, Rocinha, is the largest favela in Rio and we were told was run by different gangs involved in drugs.

We began our walk down the narrow alleys.

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Visited a neat art studio

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Some kids banging on cans for some extra money

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Our group walking single file down the streets

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I have no idea what this girl was on about?

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Dinner!

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As you can see I made some nice friends

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Chickens running amok

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Kites were pretty popular. children flying kites used to be a common sight in the favelas as a way to communicate with drug dealers. They don’t need to rely on kites anymore, because they have cell phones, radios and firecrackers. Firecrackers are used as the first warning signal, which I heard once while we were there.

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Open sewers

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Corner Store

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Friendly Carioca

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This was an overall positive experience and a fascinating opportunity to see something completely different.

It didn’t end there though.

Another day I attended a July party with some friends and a woman we met through Couchsurfing. A July party is more of a traditional neighborhood block party with favela music. Everyone from the neighborhood goes to theirs, held in their neighborhood Samba school. They eat traditional food like Fejioa, drink capirinhas, and dance to live music.

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Still not over….

I led a group of 12 tourists into a favela to go to a big funk party in the favela. To give some perspective, tourists pay a tour company over $50 for this service.

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The sparklers always catch everyone’s attention, creating a fog that makes it nearly impossible to see 5 feet in front. At the same moment the DJ blasts the music even louder playing a series of catchy dance songs followed by Brasilian funk music.

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At one point during the night, the MC collects a mix of 20 people and stops the music. Each person is individually forced on stage and the MC forces each to put on a show. Some strip down to their panties and bra to perform the type of dance one expects in a go-go bar.

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My two favorite performances consisted of an awkward Irish guy forcefully grabbing the microphone from the MC to rap. In the middle of it all he falls flat on his face as he tries out a new dance move he events on the spot.

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Men dancing without shirts in their undies was a normal sight.

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So that is pretty much my experience with the favelas in Rio. If anyone has any questions I am happy to answer them.

…days there: 89

…countries I visited: 3

…cities I spent at least one night in: 14

…days my stomach wanted to jump out of my body: 2

…times I used a laundry place: around 9

…bridges I jumped off: 1

…nights I drank alcohol: 65

…posts I wrote for this blog: 70

…nights spent camping: 0

…haircuts: 4

…times I got robbed: 0

…longest continuous bus ride: 17 hours

…fights I’ve seen between at least two South American men: 4

…car/motorcycles crashes I saw: 3

…times I rode on the back of a motorcycle: 3

…Beaches I swam at: 3

…hospitals I’ve stepped foot in: 0

…drug or vaccine injections: 0

…times I was awaken by dorm-mates having sex: 2

…girls I met that I’d consider dating long term: 1

…pairs of glasses I broke: 2

…books I read: 3

…times I thought I may not make it out of South America alive: 3

…South American countries I have visited: 5

…hostel room in a small Cusco, Peru: $4

…hostel room in a small Sao Paulo, Brazil: $25

…hostel room in a small Bogota, Colombia: $7.50

…Highest city visited: 10,800 ft.

…Islands visited: 2

…money spent calling the United States: $17.00

…money I spent in South America: $8,500.00

…money I earned in South America: $6,500.00

…money I would have spent had I gone now with so many economies in the shitter: $6,000.00

…price of my plane ticket from Philadelphia – Atlanta – Bogotá – Lima – Sao Paulo – Atlanta – Philadelphia: $1025

…regrets: 0

In a backpacking culture where the most time a traveler will spend in one place is rarely more than 1 week, I became a veteran backpacker of Rio entering my second week. But during my third week I became an expert. Almost a native.

No, I do not take myself and what I just said to seriously but really, in El Misti hostel, I quickly became a longtimer and the resident tour guide.

“Jason, which bus do we take to get to Christ the Redeemer?”

“Hey, Is it safe to bring a camera out tonight?”

“Is it safe going on our own to the football game or should we go with the tour company?”

On this Sunday night I did the unthinkable. I led a group of 12 tourists into a favela to go to a big funk party in the favela. To give some perspective, tourists pay a tour company over $50 for this service.

Remember, favelas are shanty towns with their own government ruled by gangsters.

Police rarely venture inside them . The only time they do is with their guns blazing. It is a place where the residents have so little they resort to stealing electricity by plugging in their own wires as seen in this photo.

I, a 5’6 under 140 lb. foreigner speaking no Portuguese organized everything and lead a group of 12 other gringos into a place that one would think we clearly do not belong.

“Let’s go guys. Follow me”, I said as I hailed three taxis off the street next to our hostel.

I confidently shouted (in Spanish) “Vamos a Castela Das Pedras en Rio De Pedras” to the first driver. He nodded that he understood.

“Usas el taxi metro, ok?” After hearing another half nod si, I push 4 from our group into the taxi while handing one of the guys a piece of paper with the name of where we are going, just in case.

I moved along to the next taxi repeating the same thing and shoved another four into the taxi.

The 5 of us left consisted of 4 mostly attractive 23 year old women from London who made me promise to be in their taxi! The four of them just graduated from law school and are vacationing in Rio for a few weeks before starting their careers. On paper, these law school graduates must seem like they have a good head on their shoulders. The exact opposite is true. The four of them are the really girly type that take a few hours to get ready, expect people to fulfill their every need…almost as if they are queens.

Just the type of women I like!

“Jason, are you sure its going to be safe there.”

“It’s actually quite dangerous there. The other week I saw a fight between these two girls fighting over this guy and the one girl shot the other in the face.”

Over the past 3 months I learned that sarcasm and teasing is the only way to deal with girls like this.

The taxi driver was a hell of guy and I really enjoyed our conversation and how well it flowed despite him speaking Portuguese and me speaking Spanish. He didn’t give us any bullshit like not using the meter or asking for additional money like past drivers. Instead, he told me all about Rio and that he works as a police officer during the day, driving taxis at night.

This is his first time driving to this particular favela and he can not understand for the life of him why a bunch of gringos want to party in a favela. Clearly this man has never been!

As I continue to speak with this driver I am constantly hounded my the girls squished together in the back. Although I kind of wish I was back there squished between the four of them, I do my best to ignore their worrisome questions and comments.

“Are we lost?”

“Are you sure we won’t get killed here”

“What is the driver saying about us?”

Soon enough we approached the favela and the surroundings became more familiar. This is also when all three of our taxis realized they are lost and so we pulled over a few times to inquire about the location of the warehouse we want to party at. The fear in eyes of these four girls is priceless.

We reach the place and I gather the 13 of us together and explain whats going on next.

“Listen, girls are getting in free so you guys should go wait in line over there. We (the guys) need to go buy tickets and then wait in the guys line. We will all meet up in the front once we get inside. Ready? Break on three! ONE!”

And that is when I quickly pulled the guys aside and told them to watch the girls’ frightened faces!

We are there early and not much is doing yet inside. I point towards the drink ticket vendor and tell the guys we ought to purchase the drink tickets now because we if we wait any longer it will be a 30 minute wait in line.

The line moves quickly and I purchase 5 drink tickets at about $1 each. We maneuver our way to the bar and spot the girls. They are hounded by men, both with and without shirts. Clearly, they love the attention.

All of a sudden the sparklers catch everyone’s attention, creating a fog that makes it nearly impossible to see 5 feet in front. At the same moment the DJ blasts the music even louder playing a series of catchy dance songs.

I go wild. I rip off my shirt, grab the closest girl, and show off my newly learned dance moves. Kidding. But in reality the bunch of us do go crazy and for the next 10 minutes one would look at us and assume we had just taken lots of ecstasy pills.

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The music and crowd made for an amazing atmosphere. Just watch this video if my words are not convincing enough.

Click here to view the embedded video.

At one point during the night, the MC collects a mix of 20 people and stops the music. Each person is individually forced on stage and the MC forces each to put on a show. Some strip down to their panties and bra to perform the type of dance one expects in a go-go bar.

Can you imagine normal people willingly choosing to do this in front of a few thousand strangers?

My two favorite performances consisted of an awkward Irish guy forcefully grabbing the microphone from the MC to rap. In the middle of it all he falls flat on his face as he tries out a new dance move he events on the spot.

My second favorite is this cartwheel performance!

Click here to view the embedded video.

One girl from our group also went up.

The end of the night came surprisingly too fast and once again I went back to work, making sure we all get home safely.

I find a few people and tell them to wait next to a nearby building. Two by two I find more people until we are all finally together.

I lead everyone to the drunk food vendors and we all purchase fish on a stick, which turns out to be chicken once we realize we are eating food thats only half cooked.

Just as the last of us come to this realization I grab three taxis and shove everyone inside. These drivers are all asses and refuse to use the taxi meter, hoping to scam another $20 from us.

I won’t have any of this and yell at everyone to jump out so we can find new and honest drivers. The driver stops me and obliges with my demands to use the meter. Fine with me.

Our driver bolts it out of there and the speedometer reads 100 km/hour. The girls in the back seat urge me to tell him to slow down. I yell out, “mas rapido, por favor” and the driver speeds it up. At this point our driver understands the game and the two of us scare the shit out of these four girls for the next 30 minutes of the ride. Two of the girls continue to pop their heads up front and demand that he slow down.

The driver and I make eye contact and laugh some more. He tells me that these girls are beautiful and look even better scared out of their minds. I quickly agree with him!

Back at the hostel everyone thanks me for a great night and tells me that this night goes down as one of the top highlights of their trip. This means a lot to me considering some have been traveling over 6 months already.

Click here to view the embedded video.

In Brazil, and maybe all of South America, cigarette packages look like this. It makes you want to think twice about smoking. I would feel outraged if I were a cigarette company because of having to put a big gross warning on every cigarette package.

My flight back to Rio went uneventful. I immeadiately caught the bus back to Copacabana and attempted to check into a new hostel, Walk On The Beach, which was full. The staff there was nice and recommended another hostel, El Misti, a few blocks away which turned out to be one of my favorites.

Staying in a good hostel is important. It will make or break the enjoyment of your stay. My criteria for a good hostel goes like this:

-friendly atmosphere where guests and staff mingle
-a small and intimate common area to facilitate mingling (hopefully the common area is a bar)
-good location near to nightlife
-helpful staff that know the area
-clean and comfortable beds
-internet

El Misti met all of the criteria and so I really enjoyed my last few weeks in Brazil.

A bunch of us (English, Australian, German, etc.) went out to Lapa (remember…street part I described in earlier posts) .

This is a view from the famous steps of lapa.

At the end of the night around 5am, we bought our drunk food and ate by the dumpsters. Classy!

Another night I went out with another bunch from the hostel (Peruvian, Brazilian, Argentinian, US) and got to practice my Spanish a bunch. I was also the Rio veteran and ended up leading the group on a bus to Lapa again, where we settled on this club.

After hours of dancing and drinking we bused it back in one the crazy vans that roam the streets and ended up jumping out on Copacabana beach.

Another night I met a clone of myself, another American college student traveling alone. I say clone because he is the only one I met not traveling after a study abroad program. Just traveling because he chose to travel for the sake of loving it…like me.

We grabbed some beers and watched a soccer game at one of the lanchete’s (snack bars). It was delusional with a mix of odd characters including an old man with no teeth offering up his huge plate of sandwiches (just turkey..nothing else) to everyone, scary guys with huge tattoos, little kids, etc.

I should also probably mention that yes, I did do things during the day. Most days I took the van to Ipanema beach, post #9, to listen to my music and audio books while admiring the stunning figures.

Great times in Rio!