LAST BLOG – number eight

Sitting in Houston airport writing this and will leave for Calgary in an hour. Overnight flight from Rio 9 pm to 5 am… 10 hours. Flew on the new 787 Dreamliner, seats were very hard and uncomfortable. Houston airport has the most efficient “people processing” facilities we have ever seen.

Yesterday, Ataida picked us up at our hotel for the walking tour of the favela. He lives in Copacabana and it took him an hour to get to our hotel. He asked us why we chose this hotel… we told him “we didn’t know any better”.  From a city map, the hotel was near the GIG airport, the cruise pier and on  direct metro line to centro. Little did we know that all the action takes place in Copacabana, Leblon and Ipanama in the Barra on the south side of Rio. While our hotel is within the confines of the Nova America mall, the complex is surrounded by a very large favela and it is unsafe to “walk about” and the young locals are well armed. Ataida spoke several languages and lived in the US for many years, his ex-wife and daughters live in the US. Great guide and a wonderful sense of humor.

It took us 2 hours to get to Santa Marta the favela we walked through… so glad we had a guide. Michael Jackson made a video here. Right beside the new police station is a concrete wall newly painted but riddled with bullet holes. Ataida told us there were about 1000 locals killed there in drug gang executions. Bullet holes have been painted over by graffiti art.

The "new" police station is directly above the wall. Santa Marta is the only favela with its own police station.

 

 

 

Cristo redemptor looking out for favelans

 

Beautiful view from favela

Sambo drome where Carnival is held.

We took the funicular up to the top and walked down thru the favella back to his car. He wore his tour guide badge to indicate to the locals we were on a guided tour. Would NOT want to be here without a local. Bought a nice souvenir on the way down made by local artists. Poverty and squalor cannot be described. Minimum wage is 800 Reals (approx. $300 CAD). Lots of idle youth; am reminded of Leon Uris' synopsis that describes the youth despair that accompanies idleness. Similar circumstances in many cultures around the world including youth in parts of Canada.

Tonite we sleep in our own bed… Yahoo