I have read some of Tamashin's article so I would like his advice as well .

Keep in mind that I'm a blonde and have blue eyes, the gringa look I guess, but I am fluent...anyways just wanna know if this something to not do, or what precautions to take and stuff..

I've worked in two very small favelas before and had no problem, but that was in Minas...this one would be in Rio.. I wouldn't be alone, I would be with a group.

 

Well done, you have summed it up very well. Please read a similar post from a few weeks ago as Sven makes some good observations.

When I first went to the favela in Northern Rio, it was with a group of people from Switzerland, Italy, Germany and of course yours truly.

I spoke no Portuguese and German (not English) was the common language between us. I used a phrase book to get by and as is my nature, I intergrated very well with the people. In fact the phrase book was the key to getting by as many people wanted to know the English equivalent of what I was trying to say in Portuguese. I made friends for life.

However, it was difficult living there. Suspect hygiene routines made eating and drinking hazardous. Personal safety is your responsibility not theirs. In fact you draw attention to their home when you are living there.

Which ever way you look at it you are a foreigner and you must be rich and have something worth taking. Thats what puts the family at risk with you being there. I stayed at the priests house as his guest. However, a lot of things go on regardless of you being there and being caught in the cross fire of some dispute is no fun.

I have many stories so the following two wont go amiss.

 

I had been invited to a 15 birthday party in our street. The proud father was dishing out the beer and food and welcomed me like a long lost brother. all was going well,  music too loud so they turned it up even louder till the speakers popped. After several hours of trying to copy the local dance and trying to master a language while downing caipirinha and brama for the first time, it was time to go. Jet lag was taking its toll too as was the Rio heat.

As I was leaving the party I met two surly looking gentlemen. They were looking for the fathers brother (such as I could assume from my command of the language) They were sucked into the crowd and I made my way home. No sooner had I reached the gate, shots were fired.

It turned out that they were there to settle a score with the brother but he wasnt there and rather than waste the trip the two men fired indisciminately into the crowd.

 

I was staying at the lower end of the favela away from the hill. One particular evening I had decided to stay in rather than go up to the church compound. I was suffering from a combination of heat stroke and jelly belly and sweating profusely. I couldnt really move very far. All of a sudden there was chaos. The housekeeper was running around screaming as were the children. Outside the high walled house someone was taking a terrible beating. I was terrified by the noise of what sounded like soggy timber being hacked up. In my heart I knew what was happening but was so weak and frightened, I didnt want to look out the window. Then I heard the front gate being pushed open, I thought "O God" and I thought my time was coming. The women and children were still shouting , incongruosly the churches around the favela were still shouting out their message to the faithful and not so faithful and closer to home I could hear footsteps running up the concrete steps to my room on the first floor. You will never know the sense of hopelessness I felt on that bed.

The metal screen door burst open and in rushed the priest with a helper. They picked me up and took me to a neighbouring village. Outside the house we crossed a line of dismembered body parts stretched across the road. The parts were from young drug dealers who had tried to encroach into someone elses area. The line of body parts was a demarcation line. As a further indignity, the genitals had been removed. The next few days were horrendous as gangs fought it out with each other.

 

So why did I go back. Another post maybe, just be careful. If your hosts say dont go to a certain area, then dont go. If you are asked to explain your presence there, do so and as often as is necessary. It would be too simple to say use your common sense.

 

Crossed my mind too!

 

Sven, I'm not sure which favela...just know that it's in Rio. And it's for shooting a documentary...I'm not even sure if I'm going yet...