PoPville T-Shirts continue to Travel the Globe – Brazil

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by Prince Of Petworth January 12, 2017 at 10:01 pm 9 Comments

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An old school edition too! “from the top of the Vidigal favela in Rio de Janeiro”

bvc500

I lost my old school shirt and I miss it.
Emmaleigh504

Nice view!
TX2DC

I stood in that same spot while in Rio for the Olympics last Aug. Great view!
Cranky Old Bastard

I hate favela tours. They fetishize poverty and treat the people who live there in constant fear of both the drug traffickers and the police the same way a safari treats wild animals.

But it is a beautiful view.
- Jal
  
  I originally felt the same way, but this one is a passified favella (permanent police stations for security) with bars, hostels, and hiking trails so they encourage tourism and make money from it.
  - Cranky Old Bastard
    
    Deeming the community as “pacified” (again, as if the feral people are tamed) hardly makes it better.
- mvs
  
  Have you ever been on a favela tour, visited a favela, or even talked to someone who lives in one? I had the same reflexive reaction as you — that such tours were exploitative “poverty tourism.” But when I learned that 20% of Rio’s population lives in favelas, I wondered if ignoring them wasn’t worse. I visited Santa Marta, one of the first favelas to be “pacified,” and famous for it’s brightly painted buildings. I assure you, the only thing gawked at was the amazing view of the city below and the remarkable way the houses are built on the mountainside. The residents are working class people who are proud of their neighborhood, and they welcome tourists- not just for the revenue they bring, but for public relations — they don’t want their neighborhood to be perceived as a crime-ridden slum.
pa2nova

I didn’t know it got cold in Brazil.
- Anonymous
  
  It doesn’t, it’s just a very exciting place.

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