Why we stayed in a favela

There is one question that we've been asked a lot: When visiting Rio de Janeiro, the marvellous city - why choose to spend a couple of months inside one of its favelas?

We have several answers.

One is the answer you can give when asked about climbing a mountain. Because it's there! Because you want to find out if it's climbable and more important: If YOU can climb it.

To find out if it's at all possible for two senior Scandinavian gringos (with hardly any knowledge of Portuguese and with no prior experience of travelling in Latin America) to live in a Brazilian favela.

But a more important answer:

The favelas of Rio have for many years been notorious as sites of drug wars and disenfranchisement, but they are also known as the vibrant cradles of much of the Brazilian culture and in the last few years several of the favelas have undergone an immense transformation. They have blossomed into vibrant communities and a few are even on the threshold of gentrification.

We read exciting stuff about  some of the favelas back in Denmark, but we decided against experiencing them through one of the guided  tours,which are offered to Rio visitors. We felt this could make us into some kind of slumdog tourists,  who for a few hours turn slum life into a kind of safari experience, where the trophy is to come back with some nice snapshots of picturesque misery (actually, during our stay, we hardly ever took photos of faveleans we hadn't met socially, because we didn't want to look like poverty voyeurs!).

We wanted to take the more anthropological approach - trying to get into a respectful dialogue and trying to live as close to  a daily life as possible. We wanted to engage us in this life by meeting residents, shopping locally and supporting the local economy.

And did we succeed?

It IS of course a community, where many neighbors are quite poor and where some abandoned plots and derelict buildings are filled with piles of waste and garbage.

Living here, you have to get used to the sour smell of sun baked garbage and learn to look out for whatever you're setting your foot into. And you have to get used to a few occasional power blackouts.

But not once did we feel personally threatened or even insecure, although we did meet  gruff policemen from UPP (the pacifying police unit) sneaking down the alleys, dressed in bullet proof vests and with drawn handguns.

We even, on some nights, heard what sounded as distant gun fire.

We didn't feel threatened at all, though, because  we, everywhere we went, day or night, experienced friendliness from strangers, a kind 'Olá', a wave or a thumbs-up.

 

 

 

What we really WILL remember from our stay in Vidigal:

• Sitting many evenings on our rooftop, drinking caipirinhas with friends of the house - enjoying the spectacular view of  the vast ocean  and listening to the roar of the waves crashing against the rocks deep below.
• Visiting the local bars, surrounded by jeering  fans in their black and red jerseys, while the local favorites, the Flamengo team, went all the way to win the Carioca Championship.
• Being  invited to a private birthday party and experiencing wonderful hospitality - with piles of barbecued meat, lots of cool beer and people swaying to exciting  samba rhythms.
• Watching young men and boys, just outside our window, guiding their soaring kites high into the evening sky above the darkening favela.
• Participating in wonderful festivities on the community’s Human Rights Plaza, where hundreds are dancing, while local musicians play well into the night. 
• Climbing the vast, jungle clad mountain slopes above the favela, where monkeys are swinging in the trees (and where we at one time almost stepped upon a meter long red, black and yellow striped snake!)
• Shopping at surprisingly well stocked supermarkets and having wonderful meals on small local restaurants or street kitchens, tucked away in secluded alleys or stairwells.
• And....the list can go on and on.

So, put in one sentence: Not only did we survive Vidigal (family and friends probably feared we might not!) - the city on the Two Brothers Mountain and its residents actually gave us a lovely, exhilarating  time, far from anything we've experienced in our entire life.

Photo: Rio tourism

• Vidigal is a favela built on the slopes of the famous Dois Irmãos mountains just west of the Leblon and Ipanema beaches.
• It  had at  the last census (in 2010) about 4.500 households and  12.000 inhabitants.
• The first shacks were built in 1940, and for many decades the crime ridden township was considered one of the most dangerous places in all of Rio.
• In January  2012, the community was pacified when the UPP (Pacifying Police Unit) began patrolling the streets and alleys.
• In the coming years, many locals fear the favela, offering some of the best views in all of Rio, will be gentrified and unaffordable for the current residents. There are even now rumours of David Bechham and Madonna having bought properties in Vidigal

Some tips from our stay, which might be usable for newcomers to Vidigal:

• We lived in a private apartment, but there are several hostels inside Vidigal. We visited 'Laje do Neguinho' and 'Alto Vidigal', which both looked ok ( if you can endure their occasional weekend rooftop raves!)
• Traffic can only enter Vidigal at one entrance, the Human Rights Plaza next to Avenue Niemeyer. From there a single, major road leads up,  like the back spine through the community . You can either walk up  or take one of the mini vans (they leave ,when they are filled with passengers) or  the myriad of motor cycles. When walking up or down (it's really steep), we normally took the back alleys and stairwells , as the main road seems quite dangerous because of its heavy, often quite crazy traffic!
• Inside Vidigal you find several nice restaurants (we recommend especially BarLaCubaco and the cozy  'Chez YoYo Bistro' on the main street - and  our good friend Angela runs 'Tabuleiro de Baiana' in one of the alleys, where you can dine on a rooftop terrace with one of the best views in all of Vidigal). We've also heard 'Laje Da Tia Lea' should be wonderful, but we never found it open.
• If you want to go out for music , the jazz pianist Hugo Braule's runs a tiny bar 'O jazz & O Samba' which is well worth a visit. At the top of the favela, the trendy bars 'Alto Vidigal' and 'Bar da Laje' draws cariocans from all over the city to their splendid rooftop parties with views of Rio, which are absolutely  second to none.
• We had no problems getting our daily groceries inside Vidigal. We shopped mostly at the two very well assorted  supermarkets on the small square Largo do Santinho, which was close to our apartment
• You can easily walk to the top of the Two Brothers Mountain, even though it seems impossible steep, when you look at it from Ipanema Beach.  You find the path at the corner of the Vidigal soccer field (campo de futebol) almost at the top of the favela and the trip takes about 90 minutes up and down.
• Just next to Vidigal, you have a very nice beach (if you don't mind sharing it with the inhabitants of  the posh 'Sheraton Grand Rio Hotel')
• Lastly - but this is actually the biggest problem we encountered: Vidigal is within easy walking distance of the famous Leblon and Ipanema beaches, but it IS situated on the western edge of Rio proper and as the city center is at the other side of the city, you have a long way to go by bus, whenever you want to visit other parts of Rio or enjoy its night life. Some city buses (104 and 109 take different routes to and from Centre) stop at the entrance to Vidigal.

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