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The Bollywood to South Beach Voyage - Regent Seven Seas Voyager, October 29-December 18, 2009

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Twenty-nine

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December 4 (Friday, Day 37, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) -

Favelas on the Rio hills

We woke up to rain and clouds and temps in the low 80s. Our first shore excursion was a tour of two of the 550 favelas in Rio. The favelas are the slums that emerged around 30 years ago haphazardly built on the steep hillsides of Rio. 20% of the city’s population live in the favelas. They are ruled by organized crime organizations and are little cities on their own with stores, banks, restaurants and schools. Our first stop was at Favela da Rocinha and we bought another little painting for our travel wall for $2.87. Snookums didn’t even try to barter. Favela da Rocinha has 80,000 people living in it and our guide told us not to take photos of certain areas due to the organized crime people not liking it (probably because of drug deals). Snookums thinks the tour is allowed to come to this favela since our first stop was at an area with vendors selling souvenirs. Most of the uneducated people in Rio live in favelas and most of them are employed as maids, garbage collectors, nannies, gardeners and doormen. Rio’s unemployment is 10%. Most of these people came to Rio from the much poorer northeast area of Brazil. Snookums and Filbert thought the conditions were quite “nice” compared to what they’ve seen in Vietnam, China, India, Mexico, Jamaica and Africa. The houses were small but were made out of concrete or brick and have electricity and cable TV that is stolen. The government didn’t bother doing anything about these squatters when they started building these houses 30 years ago and it’s way too late to do anything about them now. Our second stop was at Canoas Village which is a favela with 3,000 people in it.

More after the jump . . .

The Favelas, up close

Rainy, drizzly day

A boisterous confusion of humanity

We stopped at an incredibly tiny one-room “after school club” where 65 kids spend their non-school time. School is only held for 4 hours per day and most parents are gone from home for at least 10 hours for their jobs so this little room provides some type of organized activity for the 65 kids that are lucky enough to come here. We also stopped at a bar and Filbert bought a can of Antarctica beer for $1.15. It was raining off and on all morning and traffic back to the ship was horrendous due to the weather and since it was a Friday and people were starting their weekends early. We got back 1¼ hours later than expected which meant we had 45 minutes before our next shore excursion so we ate lunch fast!

Antarctica beer: a good idea in Rio

Our afternoon shore excursion was to Sugar Loaf Mountain, 1,300 feet above the sea. Unfortunately, the weather was so bad that we didn’t see anything from the top except fog and rain and some strange monkeys in the concession area.

When in Rio, go to the top of Sugar Loaf!

Stunning, panoramic view of Rio

Chin straps: a good idea in Rio

Scurrying monkey

The good news was that so many people canceled out of this tour that there was only one other couple besides us on the large tour bus. And, after seeing Sugar Loaf the other couple decided to take a taxi to a shopping mall. So, we told the guide to have the bus driver take the most direct route back to the ship and ended up getting to the ship 1¾ hours earlier than expected. Everyone was happy – the driver and guide started their weekend earlier than expected and we did, too!

Brazilian sand castles:

Next: Are you a turtle?