The traveller in Latin America is aware of all the British Foreign Office reports warning them of abductions and violence where there is a FARC presence in Colombia. Indeed, this country is considered a no-go by many as the perceived risk is simply not worth it. However, it is arguable that the most dangerous place in Latin America is Rio de Janeiro. Like Colombia it is a part of the world that one might never escape, however, the reason for this is ostensibly that it is impossible to justify leaving. Unlike Colombia where the tourist is pulled out of his bus and captured, Rio simply captivates the tourist and pulls him in.
My arrival in Rio coincided with the worst rains that the city has ever suffered. These rains caused a couple of hundred deaths mostly due to landslides in the favelas (slums). Naturally, the tourist is cocooned from such a travesty staying in the more affluent beach neighbourhoods of Ipanema and Copacabana. Indeed, while people were dying and mourning the tourist pushed on with the task of having a good time. If one can't visit what are arguably the best city beaches in the world due to rain-delay, then inevitably the boredom seeps into the bar of the party-hostel where happy-hour begins at 5pm. For somebody who loves lemonade (and I mean the refreshing American kind as opposed to the red/white Irish TK variety), an alcoholic limeade is a stroke of genius. The bitterness of the limes is lost amidst all the sweetness of the sugar and such is the potency of the taste that you falsely believe in the impotence of the drink. Needless to say caipirinhas are laced and are the basis of many a great night out in the city and of course, it was the night-life that I was there to explore.
Rio was a useful holiday for me as it seemed the perfect antidote to a lot of quiet nights spent in the middle of the Argentinian countryside. Argentina is a bit of a frustrating place on the night-life front. This is due to a few reasons. Firstly, they don't really go out until 2am and this is only to the bar, the clubs don't start to fill until after 3am. Nights like these are exhausting for the northern-European. It is impossible to see where the night is going and 2am is a considerable investment of both time and money to discover what may happen. In Buenos Aires it's not so much a gamble because you are guaranteed a crowd any night of the week. However, Rio on the other hand would prove to keep a lot more sociable hours in that people generally head out to the clubs at mid-night. In addition, the preferred music in Argentina is reggaeton. This variation of hip-hop is absolutely woeful and does nothing for me in a club unlike the very cool and funky samba beats of Rio. What's more, the Portuguese-speaking Cariocas could understand my Spanish better than the Argentinian girls can. The final point to mention is that in Argentina the girls generally dance in a closed-circle. This forces the Argy guy to grab them on the ass, which they hate and this inevitably makes the circle even more impenetrable. In contrast, the girls in Rio are so friendly and polite that they dance with you even if they don't like you. This was very confusing for me as you'd see a hot Carioca dancing with a guy and you'd presume they were together, only to see them with different people at the end of the night. While I may have taken a liking to caipirinhas I still had enough faculties to observe how desperate the tourist is in a city like Rio. The reputation of Brazilian girls is such that the tourist thinks it's his divine right to have whomever he fancies. Seeing tourists literally queuing up just to have their shot dancing with a hot girl was all a bit much for me. I'm not one for a competition based on appearances. Indeed, the dance-floor would become a mini world war. I will never forget the disgust of the guy from Barcelona losing out on the hottest chick of the night to some blonde blue-eyed muscle-pumped German kid. Having lived in Munich for two years this Catalan had managed to refine his very real hatred of the Arian race such that they were 'all' Arschlochs.
There is of course more to Rio than fun pretty girls ... although not much more to be honest. It is an incredibly beautiful city due in the most part to the unbelievable beaches with amazing views of hill-sides towering up all around them. The most interesting part of the trip was probably my visit to the favela of Rocinha. Some people object to the commercialisation of poverty especially in neighbourhoods where they perceive that the tourist's money is going to the local drug-lord. However, the reality is that such backpackers are hypocrites as they themselves indulge in drugs - a far more direct means of supporting the gang-culture in Rio. If the people of the favela did not want me there then I would not have gone but in fact they are very welcoming and keen that tourists see that their favela is not just about drugs. There are three rival gangs in Rio and they have carved up all 1024 favelas between them. One would think that such an oligopoly would promote a reasonable amount of harmony but unfortunately every drug-lord dreams of controlling the whole of Rio. Thus, much like in the business world such fierce competition brings about casualties. Rocinha is governed by a twenty-three year old. This is old in the drugs game as anyone who has watched the movie 'City of God' is aware. I passed one guy with his shirt off who had a 15" scar across his chest, a bullet hole in his clavicle and a knife wound in his rib-cage. To think that this guy was in some crazy situation where he almost died for drugs. The Rocinha favela processes tonnes and tonnes of cocaine in its laboratories for distribution to international markets every day. Indeed, such is the sheer scale of production that it makes little sense for the police to raid the favelas as the most they will get their hands on is a few kilos of the white stuff. This is due to the topography of the favelas built into the hill-sides as they are. The land at the top of the favela is more desirable as all the rain-water washes all the dirt and rubbish down to the bottom. Naturally, the top of the favela is more advantageous from a security point of view so by the time the police arrive at the bottom, the chain of kids who sit on the vantage points of houses as 'watchers' are already calling up the the hill-side. This allows sufficient time for the drug-lord to take evasive action. Naturally the gang-members in the favelas know the narrow streets better than the police and so there is no point in the police risking their lives in a shoot-out for what will be a tiny drugs seizure in the greater scheme of things. Indeed the gangs are very well equipped with government issued arms from all over the world and so can pretty much rule the favela without any outside interference. A few years ago they shot a police helicopter out of the sky with a rocket-launcher. The mistake they then made was to throw a party in the favela to celebrate the policemen's deaths. This caused a great deal of aggravation for that gang. Indeed, it is not unusual to see heavily armed civilians at the entrance to the favela ... these are not plain-clothes officers etc. The reality is that the drugs problem in the favela is relatively isolated. At least 80% of the people in the favela if not 90% have absolutely no connection with drugs be it consumption or distribution. These people are far too poor to be able to afford them and they are all far too aware of friends or relatives who have lost their lives due to drug-debts. The vast majority of people in the favela are just trying to make a living like the rest of us. The dwellers of Rocinha actually have an advantage over other favelas in that Rocinha is centrally located. By law Brazilian companies have to pay for the transport costs of their employees. Thus, the people from Rocinha are cheaper than those of the slums on the out-skirts of the city where somebody might need to take four bus connections just to get to work. There remains a temptation to deal however; a person selling drugs in the more affluent neighbourhoods can make as much in one night dealing as they can in one month on the straight and narrow. The well-off pay a premium so that they don't have to go down to the favelas, which they deem to be unsafe. Funnily enough the favela was the safest place for me. Tourists can't be touched there and while we can only be there under the supervision of a guide it was the only place in Rio where I was able to take my fancy camera.
While I experienced no problems in Rio other than dodgy taxi-drivers (the scum of the earth by all accounts), other people I knew did. There is a fair amount of petty crime and I have to say I hate having to be wise to such things. Having to leave my camera and my wallet in the hostel and having to walk around town with pocket-change is nothing but frustrating. Petty-crime is a fact of life in any city (but for Tokyo) be it New York, Barcelona or Dublin. However, the problem I have in Rio is that I am the white-man and so I am more susceptible to being a target. This goes against the grain as I pretty much like to wander wherever I like, especially in cities as it is off the main thoroughfares that the best people-watching occurs and thus, a better understanding of a city is gleaned. I pretty much still went where I pleased even stumbling unawares into a drug-bust and having to be frisked by the cops who presumed I was purchasing. Perhaps I was lucky but my French friend Manu, although equipped with Portuguese due to living on the Brazilian border of French Guyana, did manage to get badly mugged one night. He had met a girl the night before in a club and had arranged a date the next night. Naturally he left with enough money for dinner and a nice night out with the lady, only for him to be roughed up within five minutes of meeting her. Needless to say that was the end of the date as he drew the obvious conclusion that she set him up. Whether this was the case or not, it is really annoying not to be able to patrol the city freely.
Regardless of the potential scams, Rio has to rank as one of the best cities in the world. I can't think of anywhere else where the locals are so at ease. They are so friendly and the vibe of the city is very much about having fun as opposed to working hard and getting ahead. Be it on the beach at Ipanema or on the streets of Lapa, people just want to have fun. The Cariocas are famously friendly and welcoming. They really set the tone for a city that can't but get under your skin. While not all the girls were amazing, when they were they were incredible. Sydney was very impressive for talent but here they actually stopped me dead in my tracks. It is amazing how many random Brazilian girls made my day by sharing the same street as me. I think it is just their sheer lack of attitude and sense of play that made me fall in love with them. It gets even more exciting when you start chatting them up. Of course, it might have been the caipirinhas coursing through my veins which made Rio seem such an incredibly fun, seductive and intoxicating city. I'm still not sure why I left ... if it hadn't been for the confusion of a hangover and my life-long yearning to see Colorado I don't think I would have.
'til soon
Marco
ps - I'm on too slow a connect to post my photos of Rio ... such is life above 3000ms in the Andes. I'll post as soon as I can.
pps - if you want to see a great flick on Rio then check out Tropa Elita (Elite Squad) ... the Cariocas consider this to be a very good portrayal of the favela. Yes, it's subtitled but so is most of the good stuff!
Copacabana from the Sugar-loaf