Posted on 03/03/2006 6:33:52 PM PST by sully777
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (Reuters) - Breathtaking views high above Rio de Janeiro's beaches and mountains can be yours for just a few dollars a day -- if you skip pricey hotels and sleep in a slum.
Rio's slums, or favelas, are infamous for drug and gang violence. But a new hostel called "The Little Slum Inn" is attracting adventurous tourists, mainly from Germany, France and the United States, who dare to live amid the grit and poverty.
"This place isn't for wimps. If you are uptight, you can go stay at the Copacabana Palace," said co-owner and shantytown dweller Andreia Martins, 31, referring to the luxury beachfront hotel where the Rolling Stones stayed last month when they played a free concert for more than 1 million people.
You can only get to the jungle-covered hillside slum of Pereira da Silva on foot. Most of its 1,900 residents live in unpainted brick hovels they built themselves on irregular lots.
But the hostel owners say staying in the slum is safe. It has buried its violent past and gained a reputation as one of Rio's calmest favelas since police killed a neighborhood drug lord in a shootout seven years ago. A police squad also trains there, so gangs avoid the slum.
Residents of most of Rio's 600 shantytowns are not so lucky. Thugs employed by drug traffickers walk narrow streets with AK-47 assault rifles on their shoulders. Bloody clashes with police and rival gangs are common. Slum dwellers who work long hours for low pay as maids or gas station attendants then have to come home to a slum where they risk getting caught in gunfights.
Martins' clients at the Pousada Favelinha, as it is called in Portuguese, are tourists who pride themselves on avoiding glitzy tourist haunts and traveling off the beaten path to remote places like Laos and Cambodia.
Each room in the white, three-story inn has expansive terraces overlooking Rio's bay and cozy furnishings.
The tiny hostel's five rooms were booked solid during Rio's famous Carnival this week, even though the inn has no telephone and only accepts reservation requests by e-mail.
"I've had to turn people away," she said.
A room with a double bed costs about $35 a night. It costs $15 a head to sleep in a large room for single backpackers.
Her neighbors like the inn because it brings money into the community. Martins is working with the community association to set up a free health clinic staffed by visiting foreign doctors.
She employs two residents from the slum to run errands and clean and refers guests who like lots of beer to bars at the base of the hillside community. Martins says she is making decent money but complains of long hours.
"I still have to cook, clean and wash clothes. I'm not living the life of a rich lady yet."
The privy is conveniently located in the street, the side of the house, down the hill, or anywhere the feeling hits you. Guarenteed that the feeling will hit you after you dine at our fabulous in-house restaurant/kitchen/privy
Don't get around much do you ?
http://favelinha.com/en/index.php
Apparently not, but considering the write-up could you blame me?
Either the writer is exagerating or the pictures that you linked are like the pictures one finds of a fleabag dive that advertises a olympic sized pool, etc..
Have you stayed at such an inn? If so, please Freep a response. I try to watch travel shows and they paint a mixed view of Brazil.
Thats so Funny, look at the expresson on the Guests Faces ! LMAO!
Thanks
http://favelinha.com/gallery/cat_2005-PousadaOpening/IMG_8425.JPG
Khurkris, I always wanted to visit Taiwan. What's it like? The country looks beautiful. And the ocean looks great to swim in.
I've met a number of Taiwanese. They are usually brilliant and workaholics. The ones that are not brilliant workaholics are merely on break.
One day...
WOW! Those are Biggins!
Yes...yes they are.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.