visiting a (gentrified) favela

[+ José Soplanucas]

I guess you all have heard about Vidigal, a favela next to Leblon that used to be dangerous many years ago. It has been gentrified for a long time now, you can even find Airbnbs at 1K USD per month.

Besides keeping many traces of its interesting history, there are a few bars and restaurants at the top that deliver an amazing view (check the pictures I took last August).

This post is to let you know that a friend of mine, who used to live there, is now working as a guide. His name is Patrick and this is his Instagram:

Patrick Ptk (@tpk_008) • Instagram photos and videos

WWW.INSTAGRAM.COM

---

405 Followers, 1,462 Following, 18 Posts - Patrick Ptk (@tpk_008) on Instagram: "' palavras. vale mais que Atitudes ❤ #jornalista #empresario"

I recommend him with no hesitation. Patrick is knowledgeable, fun, and will deliver an authentic  and safe Vidigal experience. He is still working on his English, but language will not be an obstacle to enjoy his personal charm and this beautiful Carioca location. Contact him if you want to learn about the life in a favela and enjoy amazing views.

 

 

[+ SirBillybob]

There’s something exquisitely perverse about boarding a climate-controlled tour bus to experience just enough reduced poverty and just enough well deserved life quality improvement to label as gentrified while stepping over people already living it on the sidewalk outside your lodgings. Apparently, cardboard pad walkway and alley dwellers and sleepers in tourist zones don’t equally count as “authentic,” so they’re edited out of the narrative in favour of a scheduled, guided, photo-approved version of thinly veiled deprivation. 

This particular favela tour promises insight on what contrasts with overall favela zone city reality, but delivers something closer to a poverty safari if astute: observe branded suffering voyeuristically at a safe distance, learn just enough context to feel informed, then retreat for lunch with friends with a geographic view that serendipitously further sanitizes the unscripted and inconvenient misery outside the bus or along the way, or actually at stay base, because it asks uncomfortable questions that can’t be answered with a headset and a fun fact, albeit a leg up for a tour guide making an honest living.

It’s a remarkable bit of moral choreography: avert your eyes from the homeless man on Avenida Atlântica environs or the many living sunburnt on concrete in Glória and Flamengo so you can later feel enlightened about whitewashed inequality—on time, on budget, and back at the hotel by sunset.

One doesn’t have to uptake a scripted information tour, ticking off bucket list favela when the option to absorb unfiltered reality is in one’s face. 

Options: theme film, YouTube, spend ticket amount on true organized poverty attenuation activities or the lifeless appearing body you could easily trip over. Or better yet, both …  and. U do you. 

Edited 9 hours ago by SirBillybob

[+ José Soplanucas]

Ignore the trolls. This is a great experience.

[+ SirBillybob]

34 minutes ago, José Soplanucas said:

Ignore the trolls. This is a great experience.

Thanks for your concern and your response whose worth stands at 0 stars, but it’s legal to have a sociocultural opinion.

That the outing has appeal is really partly what I was getting at. Why wouldn’t it be an OK activity for what a proportion of evaluators would nevertheless label metaphorically sheep shepherded in within the frame of a boilerplate list of visitor activities?

That doesn’t mean you get to dictate how it’s conceptualized from different vantage points. It doesn’t mean that your recommendations are to be taken as gospel. There is a broader context within which the legitimacy of self-appointed guidance expertise is viewed. Your post thread here is just a slice of your overall content and I would expect that you value it all being noticed and rated collectively, as long as nobody sprinkles a shower on your parade.

I do think you have occasionally entered recommendations that don’t get my hackles up. Others are cringeworthy and get my ethics juices flowing. More on that to come, but I think it might be good for you and the group. Stock up on Wheaties. 

My evaluation of overall content is whether a visit’s sched or activity uptake put together as a whole by one particular individual would inspire me to draw on that guidance. Yours does not. Not everybody is cut out for it and that goes for any occupation and hobby in which somebody seeks influencer status. 

If you resent 360-degree feedback then you always have the prerogative to slingshoot yourself out of the trajectory at any given angle.

Edited 7 hours ago by SirBillybob

[+ Lucky]

I once took a guided walking tour of another favela. It was quite interesting and I am glad I saw things up close.  I do agree that making favela tours akin to a sightseeing bus trip does less good. All in all, I want to see favela life improve.

[+ SirBillybob]

22 minutes ago, Lucky said:

All in all, I want to see favela life improve.

🙏🏼
”Gentrification” is not all good for all inhabitants. Your account suggests the activity was relatively innocuous for locals, you grasp the nuances of the sociocultural footprints you leave behind that are not uniformly salutary, and is not framed within influencer endeavour.

Edited 6 hours ago by SirBillybob

[jjlucky]

For folks who are interested in actual details about Patrick's tours, as opposed to troll commentary:

[+ SirBillybob]

15 minutes ago, jjlucky said:

For folks who are interested in actual details about Patrick's tours, as opposed to troll commentary:

You lost me both at your explicit troll commentary and the type of activity window dressing that underpins a broader critique of the range of implications of Looky-Lou tourism.

It’s up to the mods to categorize a poster’s content as befitting ‘troll’ categorization; they are the resident ‘something burgers’ in that domain. I think you’re new and there is hope that you can catch on. 

Edited 6 hours ago by SirBillybob

[+ José Soplanucas]

38 minutes ago, Lucky said:

I do agree that making favela tours akin to a sightseeing bus trip does less good

That would be a good point if it were true. I invite you to read the info shared by another poster. Ultimately, if we are concerned about poverty in favelas or anywhere else, we could support the local businesses and drop some of our extra dollars. This is organized by favela inhabitants, in their own benefit.

I still hope to see you in Rio, Lucky.

[CuriousByNature]

1 hour ago, SirBillybob said:

You lost me both at your explicit troll commentary and the type of activity window dressing that underpins a broader critique of the range of implications of Looky-Lou tourism.

It’s up to the mods to categorize a poster’s content as befitting ‘troll’ categorization; they are the resident ‘something burgers’ in that domain. I think you’re new and there is hope that you can catch on. 

I share your concern about looky-loo tourism that profits from the misfortune of others.  But this seems to be different - at the very least because the favela residents themselves are involved and are benefitted by the venture.  Not everyone may be benefitted, I'm sure, but enough to reasonably conclude that this isn't really the same as looky-loo tourism.  Looky-loo tourism doesn't build community connection, but this seems to show potential for that.

[+ SirBillybob]

2 hours ago, CuriousByNature said:

I share your concern about looky-loo tourism that profits from the misfortune of others.  But this seems to be different - at the very least because the favela residents themselves are involved and are benefitted by the venture.  Not everyone may be benefitted, I'm sure, but enough to reasonably conclude that this isn't really the same as looky-loo tourism.  Looky-loo tourism doesn't build community connection, but this seems to show potential for that.

Thanks, but I’m not living under a rock, have been visiting long periods for over a decade, and Vidigal has always been comparatively advantaged by virtue of its proximity to wealthier areas. The “gentrification” has made it palatable for tourism but the trickle-down effect of subsequent benefit is not uniform and some categories of longterm residents may be displaced by property values soaring. Obviously some people benefit by the opportunity to provide tourists with the false proclamation that they actually have an experiential grasp of the reality of urban favela life. In this sense ‘favela’ becomes a misnomer. The superficiality of pretty tourism promotion is not a valid proxy for discounting the downsides of change. I merely presented an established summary of counterpoint that I only drew from entities far more equipped for critical appraisal on this topic than most of us. That and the reality that my career was predominantly centred among the vastly disenfranchised.

Prolly nothing from the rank and file here to ‘learn’ me, though your interaction style is appreciated. 

Also not lost on me is the sense that low-paid underprivileged favela youth are favoured by a subcategory of punters visiting Rio. What might one expect other than minimal degrees of separation between justification for favela tourism and the defense of slinflint trade compensation that is purported to be of benefit given that, after all, resource acquisition is impoverished and what a boost is conferred when offering accessible for high- health risk sexual favours, including condomless bottoming within the “negotiated” choreography? It’s not just the what of the debate; it’s the who. 🤮

Edited 2 hours ago by SirBillybob

[jjlucky]

I am not in the habit of commenting on posts like this -- life is short. But since this poster seems open to learning, I'll give it a shot. 

By way of introduction I am an American who has been working and vacationing in Brazil for more than 25 years. I am a cultural anthropologist and a journalist by trade, with a profound love and respect for Brazil, its people and its potential. Over the years I have lived in Rocinha (the largest favela in South America), currently live across the street from Tabajara, do volunteer work at a school in PPG, and am working with a business incubator in Vidigal. My boyfriend is a cria, and most of my closest Brazilian friends -- like 80% of the rest of the population -- lives in the favela. I am sure there are gringos who know more about favela life...but I have not met one yet.

Vidigal is interesting and unique in a number of ways, and not because it is close to Leblon. In fact, Vidigal is the favela that led the community resistance movement AGAINST gentrification. And in doing so, Vidigal established a pattern, and legal precedent, that many other communities in Brazil followed. Vidigal helped assure that the favela communities across Brazil retained internal empowerment and control against economic forces trying to erase them.

In my experience, no two favelas are the same. Some are, in fact, desperate and unsafe due to the influence of organized crime. Others are full of the kind of vibrant energy and creativity that Brazil is famous for. What is true about all of them: They are full of families who are trying to thrive, and also individuals with big dreams. In this respect, they are exactly like any community anywhere. In my opinion, visiting a favela can be a mind-expanding, even life-changing experience. It absolutely was for me. It all depends on how you onboard what you see, what you feel, how you connect, and most importantly -- how you go forward.  

As a gringo, I try to resist the urge to pontificate on what is, or is not, good for the favela and the people who live there. I've found my own answer, and it involves helping to create economic and educational opportunities for the people who live and work in these extraordinary communities. "Favela tourism" is an easy thing to bark about, and to dismiss. But the truth on the ground is vastly more nuanced. Supporting local tours that have a community-first values system is just one way that anyone can give back to the community when they visit Rio. And maybe the experience will give something back to you? 

[+ SirBillybob]

1 hour ago, jjlucky said:

I am not in the habit of commenting on posts like this -- life is short. But since this poster seems open to learning, I'll give it a shot. 

By way of introduction I am an American who has been working and vacationing in Brazil for more than 25 years. I am a cultural anthropologist and a journalist by trade, with a profound love and respect for Brazil, its people and its potential. Over the years I have lived in Rocinha (the largest favela in South America), currently live across the street from Tabajara, do volunteer work at a school in PPG, and am working with a business incubator in Vidigal. My boyfriend is a cria, and most of my closest Brazilian friends -- like 80% of the rest of the population -- lives in the favela. I am sure there are gringos who know more about favela life...but I have not met one yet.

Vidigal is interesting and unique in a number of ways, and not because it is close to Leblon. In fact, Vidigal is the favela that led the community resistance movement AGAINST gentrification. And in doing so, Vidigal established a pattern, and legal precedent, that many other communities in Brazil followed. Vidigal helped assure that the favela communities across Brazil retained internal empowerment and control against economic forces trying to erase them.

In my experience, no two favelas are the same. Some are, in fact, desperate and unsafe due to the influence of organized crime. Others are full of the kind of vibrant energy and creativity that Brazil is famous for. What is true about all of them: They are full of families who are trying to thrive, and also individuals with big dreams. In this respect, they are exactly like any community anywhere. In my opinion, visiting a favela can be a mind-expanding, even life-changing experience. It absolutely was for me. It all depends on how you onboard what you see, what you feel, how you connect, and most importantly -- how you go forward.  

As a gringo, I try to resist the urge to pontificate on what is, or is not, good for the favela and the people who live there. I've found my own answer, and it involves helping to create economic and educational opportunities for the people who live and work in these extraordinary communities. "Favela tourism" is an easy thing to bark about, and to dismiss. But the truth on the ground is vastly more nuanced. Supporting local tours that have a community-first values system is just one way that anyone can give back to the community when they visit Rio. And maybe the experience will give something back to you? 

Thanks for the input. It moved the dial. Although I was not unaware of the expanded and interesting rhetoric you put forth. I also commenced my years of visits with family stays. 

Some of us are negatively predisposed to recommendations from punters who, within the same platform, neglect … compared to our guidelines … to adequate construct blog guardrails for young or vulnerable people who may not fully grasp the permanence of online sexual content, to which they “consent” where asymmetry of power turns documentation into commodification. In contrast to conventional ad platforms where subscription determines image shelf life, if they cannot opt out of ad images, including anal sphincter photos, for example, on their own prerogative without middleman control I’m not going to buy in. The justification put forward so far is that people like sex (true ‘nuff) and the binary of commercial sex work legality need be the sole consideration. Not nuanced at all.  

What feels temporary and expedient for a socioeconomically disadvantaged Colombian or Brazilian at 18+ can become costly at 30 —>->, what have you. The ethics playbook of one agenda will inadvertently spill into perceptions of exploitation in relation to the very context in which naïve young people are plucked for dehumanizing masked as erotic expression. Surely somebody as intelligent as you can understand. And we can both get, with personal histories of ‘pro bono’ community contribution, that the fantasy this fellow maintains about magnanimous advocacy and his gluttonous desire for influencer status recognition within the legit yet complex field of prostitution collapses under the weight of narcissism. 

But take a look yourself and you and your associates can draw your own conclusions. Beware the antagonism to which you may be subject should you fail to drink the Koolaid.

If I were to tour Vidigal it would likely still be contaminated by the association. His contributions are that ubiquitous while often offputting. All I require is that I be right about it for me. 

Edited 12 minutes ago by SirBillybob