Being on a strict travel budget we quickly skipped the idea of going to Christ Redeemer and also Sugar Loaf Mountains. We though we could easily find cheaper alternatives where we would not have to share all the action with millions of tourists - we are savvy and skilled travelers after all, we thought.
But later we found out why these famous places are so famous and so visited in this violent city.
A friend of ours recommended hiking the mountain Dois Irmaos. Forget the Christ she said, "This is the best view of Rio de Janeiro"! Happy with a great recommendation that would get us off the beach and away from the noisy streets we planned a little excursion.
Getting to the Favela Rozinha was easy enough. We were greeted by a great party of heavily armed police officers and thought to ourselves, "What happened here?" We asked if safety was OK and the response was a confident nod. The adventure could begin.
Lucia jumped on the first mototaxi which quickly took off, she lost sight of Morten and accepted now that her fate could end in the notorious favela, and Morten beckoned the driver to go faster to not lose sight of his girlfriend! At every corner we saw more and more police officers and we realized that we might have had picked a bad day or that safety in the area must be really good.
Both drivers had no bad intentions and we arrived safely but lightly stirred to the end of the favela and the beginning of the trail. We made it, we thought, and asked around for directions while a 15 year old boy adjusted the pistol in his pants and smiled at us. The trail starts at a concrete football pitch and jolly we passed it to start the great day when a group of local kids ran up to us.
The first said, "are you crazy"?
The second said, "don't you watch the news?"
We answered smiling that we had not brought any valuables, they could rob of us nothing but the little money we brought for food.
The third said, "They will not rob your money, they will rob your lifes"!
Turns out that rival gangs had been shooting at each other during the night and one of these had now fled up the mountains to take refugee. Not really the kind of people we want to meet on our travels, but luckily we got warned.
Dissapointed but with our lifes intact we headed down the favela and enjoyed another day on the beaches of Rio de Janeiro. I guess it's not too bad.
The day after we tried for another excursion in the Parque Nacional de Tijuca. Waterfall Horto was the destination, and located closely to the botanical garden we thought it would be completely safe. We took the bus to the last stop and were alone with an elderly lady. She looked at us with a worried expression and asked, "are you going to the waterfalls?" Turns out the bandits from the day before also took refuge in the national park and the police was blocking all exits and entrances to get the bad guys!
"I guess the beach is alright for today, right, honey?"
We have traveled a lot in South America and you always have to be conscious about safety but never in have I had so many places off limits as in Rio de Janeiro. There is a reason everyone visits the Christ and Sugar Loaf mountain: because you do not get killed doing it.
Stay tuned for our next sunshine story about how we got robbed, lost the contacts and address of our AirBnB host but managed to stay safe with the help of amazing locals!
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