Carnaval Round One - February 2014 Part 2

February 2014 - Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro - Part 2

Then after the blocos and Carnaval offically ended we did a few of the touristy things - The Christ, Sugar Loaf and toured a favela.




Thunderstorm was rolling in and it made our hair stand up! 


 A favela is known as the slum and originated when soldiers built on the hill because they had nowhere else to go. One of the favela's we toured was Rocina which is the largest hill favela in Rio. I don't remember much about the information the tour guide gave us. I should really carry a notebook with me. He talked about how the favelas are controlled by gangs but the police are trying to go in and take control,but many people don't trust the government or police. I remember feeling nervous about touring the favelas because I felt like I was being a noisy tourist and invading their privacy, but the people we saw seemed to proud to show their homes and their life to us. 















The walkways "streets" were very narrow. It reminded me of a maze. The walkways are not named and the houses do not have numbers on them. The people build everything themselves. 
Directly across the street from the favela was this gigantic house. What a visual reminder of the striking separation between rich and poor here. 


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