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Favela Tourism in Rio de Janeiro

For decades, many of Rio's mountainside favelas were off limits, but some are now safe and welcome tourists, offering them a unique view of the city. Dom Phillips reports from three of them.

Santa Marta

They are proud of the bronze Michael Jackson statue that stands on the edge of a little square in the Santa Marta favela in Rio de Janeiro. "It's the only one in Rio," said 32-year-old Thiago Firmino, DJ, local resident and our tour guide. Its arms stretch out to embrace a dizzying view of Rio, and of the shanty town that tumbles down the hillside below. On the wall behind it is a Michael Jackson mosaic.

It was here that director Spike Lee filmed scenes for the video to Jackson's 1996 hit They Don't Care About Us. Rio authorities originally opposed the video because they felt filming in a favela would show a negative side of the city, which at the time was bidding to host the 2004 Olympics. Nearly two decades later, with both the 2014 World Cup final and the 2016 Olympics set to be staged here, Rio is no longer quite so ashamed of its favelas. Officially, it has 763 of them, (according to the 2010 census), and they are home to almost 1.4 million people, or 22% of the city's population.

In 2008, Santa Marta was the first favela in Rio to be "pacified", or cleaned up, under a state programme to kick out its drug gangs. Since then, another 34 favelas have been pacified. Santa Marta is held up as the model and has become a stop-off for visiting celebrities, Madonna, Beyoncé and Alicia Keys included.

They come to see the effects of pacification: new houses, concrete steps instead of treacherous muddy tracks, and a free tram that glides up the mountainside to help its 6,500 residents get up and down what is essentially a 1,000 m mountain just below the Christ the Redeemer statue.

In what used to be one of Rio's most violent slums, residents are turning to tourism. That day, Thiago's clients were two Dutch tourists. They wandered wide-eyed through the favela.

"I like it very much," said Mirko van Denderen, 33, a teacher. "The strange buildings …"

Both peeked into Thiago's house, impressed by the contrast between its rugged raw-brick exterior, and its neat living room, fitted kitchen and flat-screen TV.

Tours like Thiago's offer a glimpse of another side of Brazilian life. But tourists should be aware that these are tours of places where very poor people live – which some might find difficult. It's very useful to have guide who lives in the area: they'll be accepted by local people, and are unlikely to gloss over issues the favela faces.

This used to be one of Rio's most violent slums, and was controlled by the Commando Vermelho (Red Command) drug gang. Now, like Thiago, residents of pacified favelas such as this are turning to tourism.

Roberto de Conceição, 48, was carrying his shopping up the hill. He likes the tours, he said: "We meet new people. Thiago is from here," he said. Paulo Roberto, 45, was selling mobile phone cases, pens and Santa Marta T-shirts designed by his 11-year-old son, on a little stall. "We are more and more involved. I live from this now," he smiled.

The alleyways got narrower as we descended. Chickens clucked in a drain. Purple flowers sprouted near bags of gravel. Children in flip-flops pushed past talking football. An old woman was carried past on a chair. Humanity teemed in the narrow alleys. Everything was tiny: a barber shop, an electrical products stall, a bedroom with three small bunk beds.

The building behind which traffickers used to hide is now used for boxing and judo.

At the foot of the favela, outside the Bar Cheiro Bom (Good Smell Bar) Pedro pointed out bullet holes in a wall.

"This was a conflict zone," said Thiago. "Now there is always a police car and a camera."

The Dutch visitors were taken back up the hill on the tram. "It feels a little strange to be wandering around taking pictures," concluded tourist Willem van Duuren, 41. "You feel like a voyeur, seeing how poor the people are, but it is part of the country."

Vidigal

Vidigal is Rio's most foreigner-friendly favela, with pousadas (guesthouses), bars, restaurants and even a sushi joint aimed at the tourist market. It is relatively small and picturesque, with spectacular views over the Atlantic, and an hour-long walking trail that winds from its upper limits to the top of the Dois Irmãos (Two Brothers) mountain.

When pacified in 2012, Vidigal was already popular with artists, young Brazilians and foreigners.

Today Vidigal is undergoing a gentrification process, and the property prices are rising. The area has become known for its nightclubs and dance halls. Several clubs have all-night electronic music parties that overlook the beautiful beaches of Rio. Young tourists line up for the motorbike taxis to take them up the hill to dance and drink the night away.

Complexo do Alemão

Mariluce was our guide to the Complexo do Alemão favela in north Rio. When soldiers and police invaded in 2010, a TV helicopter showed dramatic live footage of bandits brandishing rifles and machine guns as they fled up a dirt track from advancing security forces. Now there is a cable car that has become a tourist attraction. The little gondolas glide silently over the concrete roofs, water tanks and satellite dishes of this vast favela, while sounds of dogs and chickens drift upwards. The teleférico, as it is called, opened in 2011 and a ride costs a few dollars for tourists (residents pay just 28p).

At the cable car's last stop, resident Jackson Menezes, 74, was sitting in the sun. "God blessed all the residents who live here who use the cable car. It really helps the community," he said. Menezes supported pacification, but said that the drug trade for which Alemão was notorious continues on the down low: "It doesn't stop. It never stops. It stays hidden."

Beside him a boy was selling water. He said in English that he was 11 and his name was João. He was barefoot. João said he goes to school in the mornings and sells at the station in the afternoons. "It's good. It's profitable," he said.

Cleber Araújo, 36, was minding his souvenir store. "I am against cable-car tourism," he said. "It is a safari. They come to watch us like we are animals to gawk at."

Out here in Rio's gritty, dirty, industrial Zona Norte (North Zone), far from the beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema, the community is clearly much poorer. Many roads are just dirt. Three rangy horses were grazing on waste ground. Children passed with a horse and cart. Mariluce advised us not to take photographs as we looped through one alleyway in a part of the favela called Inferno Verde (Green Hell).

Tourist Alejandro Barreneche, 31, from Colombia, stopped to buy beer at a dive bar. "It's like going into a reality TV show," he said, "like a zoo feeling. But again, it allows you to be closer to reality."

Bartender Leoni Franco, 24, shrugged: "It's good that tourists come. After pacification it is 100% better here."

Police were patrolling the streets, hands on the triggers of their automatic weapons, like an occupying army. Residents watched the police and us, the tourists.

For decades, the people of Rio's favelas lived in gang-controlled isolation. Fear of the drugs trade that dominated so many of these neighbourhoods kept middle-class Brazilians away. Now that is changing. And the rest of the world is arriving.

"We didn't have all these visitors," said the owner of a tiny shop. "But no one gets annoyed. It is good for business. I hope it continues."

Favela Article Questions

1. Why is there a statue of Michael Jackson in the Santa Marta favela?

2. How many favelas are there in Rio, and how many people live in them?

3. What are 5 changes that pacification has brought to the favela?

4. Why is the favela tourism both a good thing and a bad thing?

5. Why do a lot of young tourists go to the Vidigal favela?

6. What happened to the drug trade that so dominated life in the favelas a few decades ago?

7. Does it sound like most favela residents are supportive or opposed to the pacification process?

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