Brazil - Goodtrippers

Explore Latin America’s largest favela in Rio, Brazil

With the 2014 World Cup and the forthcoming 2016 Olympic Games, all eyes are on Brazil right now – but what is its most famous city, Rio de Janeiro, really like?

A new walking tour of the city’s slum neighbourhoods aims to reveal a different side to Rio, while celebrating the spirit and vitality of the community that lives there. You’ll get to know the neighbourhood of Rochina (which itself houses many ‘barrios’), Latin America’s largest favela.

The tours have been set-up by the Rochina by Rochina Project, an iniative led by a small group of dedicated young people living in Rochina. Tourists can hear first hand what its like to live in the favela, plus get the chance to stop and buy souvenirs direct from local people and perhaps hear an impromptu samba performance. While this is a walking tour, part of the journey is taken by mototaxi (motorbike) to reach some of the steeper parts of the area and catch stunning views of Christ the Redeemer, the Sugar Loaf, the Lagoon Rodrigo de Freitas, and many beaches.

Project founder Erik Martins said, “We want to show what the culture of Rochina has to offer, and to give a true feeling of what it’s like to be part of the community. Our tours cover the recent initiatives that are improving the conditions of the slum, but also reveal the locations that still lack zeal.

“We don’t want to hide what saddens us but explain everything that is beautiful and culturally rich around us, and some fascinating panoramic views that fill us with pride.”

The tours are free but tourists are invited to pay what they like (and Goodtrippers believes that this positive initiative alone is worth some of your holiday money, let alone the time, effort and warm welcome given by each guide – give generously!). Rochina by Rochina guarantee that all donations go straight to the guide themselves, direct and uncut. And if you’re short of cash on the day, you can also pay by iZettle so guides can accept donations via smartphones and tablets.

For more information and to book a tour visit www.rochinabyrochina.com or email: tours@rochinabyrochina.com

Recommended for… Those who are social and love meeting local people

Be aware that… While mototaxis are on hand, streets are sometimes steep and narrow so leave your flip-flops and bring your walking shoes

‘Good’ credentials:

100% of your donation/tip goes to local guides
Supports local businesses and livelihoods
Shows the real side of Rio’s favelas

How responsible travellers get more from the Brazil World Cup

Guest blogger Cristina Nanni, of volunteering NGO Frontier, reveals some great ideas for responsible tourists visiting Brazil for this year’s football World Cup…

On the 12th June the world will wait with baited breath as the first match of the Brazil World Cup 2014 kicks off as host country Brazil faces underdogs Croatia. Fans will have the chance to watch football in the country where Pelé, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Socrates first kicked a ball, but for many, watching the players fight it out in the stadium will be the end of their cultural experience.

For those that are keen to get to know more about the country behind the football, adding a volunteering project as a chance to give back to Rio’s impoverished communities is a fantastic opportunity to give back. So if you want to turn your sport pilgrimage into a true adventure, make sure to take a look behind the city’s scenes…

An easy way to get a look at the ‘real’ Rio is to immerse yourself within the favela community. By partaking in an introductory or favela tour you’ll get an insight into the vibrant carnival culture which Rio is famous for.

Recommended for… Whoever wants to discover Rio’s soul.

Be aware that…You have to be in Rio de Janeiro on the same day as your tour. Tours run from 10am to 2pm on weekdays and 12pm to 4pm on weekends.

Good credentials… A percentage of the tour fee goes straight back into the favela community, directly helping to support a number of initiatives aimed at getting kids off the streets and people back into work.

If you have a longer stay planned in Rio, you might want to consider joining a community development volunteering project running for two weeks or more. Through a series of educational programs you can help impoverished local communities to acquire expertise and knowledge to expand their academic and career opportunities. By teaching and transferring skills, you will allow locals to be more competitive in the job market, and there is a wide range of activities you can be involved in: music and dance, graffiti art, sport, gardening, handcrafts for women and young people. If you have a basic level of Portuguese you could consider teaching English or IT, or offering tutoring services.

Recommended for… Anyone that wants to make the most of this World Cup experience

Be aware that… To take part to the project you have to commit for a minimum of two weeks and you will stay in a local hostel sharing a dorm room with your fellow volunteers.

Good credentials… This project will help you to gain valuable job experience in teaching while contributing to the sustainable development of a friendly and vibrant community in one of Rio’s largest favelas.

For more details, prices and booking visit www.frontier.ac.uk

About the author: Cristina Nanni works for Frontier, a non-profit international volunteering NGO that runs over 300 dedicated conservation, community, and adventure projects in 61 countries across the globe. Find out more about Frontier’s volunteer projects, ethical adventure trails and gap year planning.

You may also like… Positive favela tours in Rio de Janeiro

Positive favela tours launch in Brazil

To celebrate World Responsible Tourism Day on 6 November, guest blogger Andrew Thompson of responsible tourism operator and South America specialist Sumak Travel, describes a fascinating new initiative in Brazil…

Responsible tourism can help reduce poverty and support the creation of sustainable livelihoods pursued in harmony with the environment and local culture. In Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, for example, Sumak Travel has developed a different approach to the ethically suspect practice of ‘slum tourism’ where some tour operators take visitors around shanty towns in vehicles with security guards. Instead, by working with local partner Soul Brasileiro, we have started running a relaxed walking tour of Santa Marta, a favela (shanty town) inhabited by around 5,500 people.

Under a state government programme launched in preparation for the World Cup and the Olympics, shanty town inhabitants have been trained as bilingual tour guides and can speak English, Spanish, French and several other languages. The cost of the tours is modest and fixed by the municipality, and between 15% and 20% of the revenues must be reinvested in local social and community programmes. The guides themselves are asked to spend their earnings inside the community.

Visitors can walk around, meet the locals, see the incredible views of the city and shop for locally made handcrafts at the market, including art made from recycled materials such as old tin cans. The tours are advertised across Rio, and favela residents are incredibly proud of the publicity generated for their community. After years of being ‘invisible,’ they are now protagonists, eager to tell Santa Marta’s story and show off its facilities.

Soul Brasileiro is a local tour group that describes itself as ‘nuts for Brazil!’. They believe responsible tourists should be given a chance to understand not only the beauty of the country but also its social problems: “this understanding is the only way to seek joint solutions and build a better Brazil every day” it says.

To that end it offers a whole range of community tours, nature treks, and hands-on encounters with local cooking, arts, and culture. They have a particularly exciting project called Nature, Kitchen and Culture which is developing an organic community garden.

We take a similar approach with less known shanty town projects in Sao Paulo and with Quilombos (hinterland settlements of people of African origin) in Paraty, in partnership with Brazilian responsible tour operator Aoka.

Click here for more information on Sumak Travel’s tours of Sao Paulo, Paraty and Rio de Janeiro. (All pictures courtesy of Sumak Travel).

About the author: Andrew Thompson is a freelance writer, blogger and management coach; he works for Sumak Travel. Brought up in Latin America, he has worked for BBC World Service and been a foreign correspondent in Mexico City (The Guardian), Buenos Aires (The Times), Rio de Janeiro (BBC) and Rome (Inter Press Service). As editor of a team that produced a radio documentary on social reform in Latin America, Andrew won the 1994 King of Spain Journalism Prize. Visit his blog at http://www.yorugastories.com/

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Sumak Travel adds Brazil, Bolivia and Colombia to eco trip roster

Social enterprise Sumak Travel, the specialist in Latin American community-based ecotourism, has now added three new countries to its itinerary.

Responsible travellers can now join tours of Brazil, Bolivia and Colombia – alongside its existing tours in Argentina and Chile. The tours, ranging from 7 to 15 days, are a combination of homestays within rural communities (with farmers, fishermen and other indigenous groups) and visits to Latin American cities and sites of special interest or outstanding natural beauty.

Transparent pricing

Sumak Travel works directly with community-based tour operators in their destination countries to ensure fair agreements (a breakdown of prices and commission fees are fully transparent so tourists can see exactly where their money is going). We like their easy-to-use website – a simple key shows you the ‘Comfort Level’ at a glance (something a surprising number of tour operators neglect to outline!), and what percentage of the overall holiday price goes to the local community (e.g. “at least 50%” of the £1,535 fee for 15 days on ‘Fascinating Brazil’ goes local).

Private groups

All trips are private and they can cater for groups of any size, promising “there won’t be anyone you don’t know travelling within your group” – they can even tailor trips for individuals who are looking for specific experiences. And all homestay hosts are verified by the team or local partners. You could find yourself trying your hand at ceramic crafts with your hosts in rural Argentina; staying with Aymara communities on Sun Island, Lake Titicaca, for a taste of traditional Andean culture; or sleeping in an eco-lodge run by an indigenous community in the Bolivian rainforest.

A sample of trips available:

Fascinating Brazil (15 days, £1,535) – Explore northeastern Brazil including the remote lands of the Tremembe people, the sand dune beaches of Prainha do Canto Verde, and the historical city of Fortezela. (Click for more)

Intrepid Colombia (14 days, £2,125) – Trek through flooded forest and jungle, reach the Colombian borders with Peru and Brazil along the Amazon River, and whale-watch and snorkel around Bahia Solano. (Click for more)

Essential Bolivia (12 day, £1,585) – Visit the Aymara communities of Lake Titicaca, journey to the salt flats of Uyuni, and stay with the Alcaya community, before trekking through Bolivian rainforest. (Click for more)

Other tours available include: ‘Mystic Chile’, two versions of ‘Rural Argentina’, San Pedro de Atacama (Chile), ‘Austral Chile’. View all tours here.

‘Good’ credentials:

As a social enterprise, Sumak Travel’s mission is: ‘To contribute to the empowerment of local communities in Latin America by running an ethical business that is also rewarding for responsible tourists.’
Partnered with Sustainable Pangea, a multilingual web platform that features community-based ecotourism destinations
Half of Sumak Travel’s profits are reinvested back into the social enterprise; the remaining half is invested in community-led projects within the Sustainable Pangea Network
The local communities they work with use tourism as a complementary source of income, allowing them to maintain their traditional way of life, while preserving their environment and community

Contact Sumak Travel via T: 0044 (0) 2036 424246, E: info@sumak-travel.org, visit the website www.sumak-travel.org, or follow on Twitter via @SumakTravel.

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