Keep in mind, this was written while living in Niterói, (near two unknown, non-UPP favelas) while I currently live in a popular, UPP-designated favela (more on that to come).

I live in between two favelas and I’d like to share what it’s like to live here. At no time have I felt like my life was in danger but I’m told it’s not smart to go walking at night where the favelas end and the “regular part” begins. In fact, once I was standing next to my then-girlfriend waiting for a late-night bus to drive by and she told me to keep vigilant and to not stand close to her so we don’t look like a couple. I suppose the thinking behind that is that one ‘target’ is easier than two. That being said, I’ve never felt threatened in the 12-13 months of my life I’ve spent here.

Unlike most ideas of favelas being violent places, living in or near one is one of the safer places to be. If any petty thief were to rob someone who lives here, he might not wake up tomorrow because no favela boss wants to attract the police or any extra attention. It is quite important that business (ie, drug trafficking) continues as normal and that the middle to high-income customers have a safe place to buy. I suppose this safety factor is one of the perks of favela life, both for said customers and for its residents.

There is one exception to the rule and that’s when one favela is trying to take over the other for more power, prestige and money. If that were to happen here, it’d be a little too NSFL (Not Safe For Life) for my liking. From what I’ve been told, such a scenario played itself out here 10 or 15 years ago. These days, Rio’s favelas are getting the UPP (Pacified Police Force) treatment and while that’s good for those favelas in particular, the risk is that other favelas will endure hightened struggles for power and control, thereby becoming not safe to live near.

As for my daily life and how the favelas up the street affect me, it’s mostly in the noise department, as I hinted upon in a previous article about sounds in Brazil. Mornings are owned by the local wildlife (birds) and the portable gas delivery men. Weekend nights fill my ears with funk music from the local bailes. The evenings, in most cases, bring about sound-only fireworks from the hills and ‘open mic night’ from makeshift evangelical churches while nights generally go to random gunfire (a few shots here or there, every other night). Best I can guess, they’re guns being fired into the air, on account of being told by locals that this area is pretty chill.

In terms of street life, there’s the oh-so-famous street corner, attracting people from near and far, young and old, drunk and sober, all seemingly happy folk. As I wrote about on my blog, I’ve never seen so many people, on a consistent basis, on one corner in my life. Night or day, that corner is chock-full. While I go for the local shops, it seems most people go for the conversation. The idea of making time to chat with the guy who sells the news or the guy who sells the bread is part of Brazil that I have yet to adopt. I just want to get in and out and perhaps that makes me more of a foreigner than my accent.

If you are looking to live outside the fancy parts of town and are in search of a more realistic environment, I’d recommend trying to find a place near a favela, at least for a few months. It’s a sure fire way to gain perspective and when people ask you if Brazil is just partying and going to the beach, you can tell them Brazil is not just an idea, it’s real life…and you’ve lived it.

For the last month, I’ve been on the lookout for rooms to rent at a reasonable price. Finding that middle ground is tough, especially when most people rent out their rooms for prices that are crazy-high or suspiciously-low. Living in Niterói, across the bay from Rio, should have its perks, in that it’s just far enough away to offer lower rent. Not so, I find.

Scouring over the half dozen rental sites, plus a few social networking sites, I see prices set at R$1,000 per month or more. Ok, so sometimes it’s a little less but not by much. On the sites, most renters require me to be a female, though I seem to be missing a chromosome for that. The same sites almost always ask for people who study or work outside the residence, which creates a problem for me since Brazil doesn’t have the kind of work-from-a-cafe culture that the US has…and I work from my laptop.

On the social sites I check, ads are placed every few days (or at least once a week), yet no one lists the price they are asking. I can’t make heads or tails of this practice because the price point is, um, kind of important. In frustration, I started my own practice of asking “how much?” on every ad, to know for the sake of knowing but also to make a point. Perhaps it’s like jelly beans in a jar. I just need to make a guess and if I’m correct they’ll rent it to me for free or at least for that price. For the few that do respond, they inevitably throw the R$1,000 price at me.

No matter what the price, there’s always extra costs to be added on. Sometimes that cost is entirely expected (gas, electricity, water) and other times it’s a surprise to the unsuspecting foreigner (the “condomínio” tax). Roughly-speaking, the condo tax is to pay for the security guard and the building’s upkeep, while potentially increasing the cost of renting by a hundred or three hundred reais. For example, if renting an apartment is R$500 (good luck in a big city), the condo tax is almost R$300.

The best way to beat the system (ie, the high price points) is to live at least an hour or two outside the big city or to move to a less popular big city…basically, to move out of Rio or São Paulo and go elsewhere. In my search, I found many room rentals in two capital cities, Belo Horizonte and Salvador, for between R$200 and R$450 per month. From living 2 hours outside of Rio once, as well as in Belém, I can say that is on par with what I paid previously. So for everyone who thinks Brazil is automatically cheaper to live in, it really just depends. Sticking with the candy-themed analogy I made earlier, perhaps jelly beans have nothing to do with it. Renting here can be more like a box of chocolates.

I have since found a place in Rocinha, through a friend and for a good price.

Far from any coastline, in Brazil’s Central-West, lies a proverbial gold-mine of beauty. Just in case such an allusion slips the visitor’s mind, the name of the city says it all: Bonito.

Located in Mato Grosso do Sul, near the border with Paraguay, the city lies within the valley of a plateau and is the self-proclaimed “capital of eco-tourism”. The ground is made principally of limestone, meaning the water from the rivers of the region passes through a natural filtering process, making it crystal clear.

For nature-lovers, Bonito has a little bit of everything, including: snorkeling, diving, rappelling, tree-top rope courses, light rafting and horseback riding. There are also natural spas, waterfalls and caves to visit (check out a small picture gallery here). The discerning tourist might also want to keep an eye open for fig trees in the region as there’s a chance of striking it rich. A local legend says that Paraguayan soldiers in the late 1800’s, on their way to fight in Brazil, hid gold under fig trees. Some even say the ghosts of those who never made it home roam about in search of their lost treasure.

With all that Bonito offers, and in order to preserve the natural beauty, one of the local laws limits the daily number of tourists that can take guided tours of the activities offered. Any type of visitation of the region’s main attractions requires a local guide accredited by EMBRATUR, Brazil’s official tourism board, so it may be beneficial to shop around for the best prices. Between December and March, one will find the most tourists and therefore the highest prices for hotel rooms and tours. On the flip side, this period is also during the wet season and therefore everything is greener, animals are out and about and the rivers are full.

If ease and comfort are what the visitor needs, there are ways to experience a lot of what the region provides just by visiting Praia da Figueira (and Parque das Cachoeiras). Admission varies depending on the season and on the number of activities one does but, in general, it doesn’t get too expensive.

No matter how the days unfold in Bonito, there’s something for everyone (as long as that “everyone” likes nature, of course). I imagine it’s best to try a little of everything in light of the fact that a direct roundtrip ticket from Rio de Janeiro to Campo Grande (the location of the nearest airport, 3 hours out) is around US$300 for a mid-October flight.

It was 1984 and the southern city of Blumenau had recently been sunk in 50 feet of water by heavy flooding, a repeat of the events of the year before. The city and its residents were once more in shock and grief. Meanwhile, the mayor at the time, Dalto dos Reis, had been looking to put together a Brazilian version of Germany’s popular Oktoberfest for the last two years, but the floods washed away the initial hope that the event would take place that year. He looked at how the general sadness could be turned into a celebration of life. The following excerpt is from a 2006 interview with the ex-mayor:

— I spent many nights not being able to sleep, tormented by the dilemma of having the festival or not — he recalls.

Reflecting back, Dalto says he remembered something about the natural tragedies that happened in the Ukraine, causing many deaths.

— I remembered that the Ukranians, many times victims of natural disasters, would get together and drink for several days, as a way to reinvigorate themselves. I thought we should do the same, as it wouldn’t convey a lack of respect — he says.

Every year since then, for half of the month of October, the city of Blumenau has hosted the largest German party in Latin America. In international terms, it only loses out to the original Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany and the second biggest in Ontario, Canada.

In 2010, an estimated 600,000 people attended the Blumenau festival, and although 22% less people showed up than in 2009, they drank 25% more alcohol. According to last year’s numbers, each person drank around one liter of beer, an average that’s on par with the event’s bigger brother in Germany.

While the alcohol is the fuel that keeps the party going, “Oktober” (as it’s known in Blumenau) is also about wearing things like lederhosen*, the parading of clubs and custom-made vehicles, displays of marksmanship, traditional dances and tasting German food.

If you are interested in the 2011 celebration, it starts on October 6th and goes until the 23rd. Here’s the official site.

* – actually indicative of Bavarian clothing, not German, though it’s a popularly believed misconception throughout the world.