By telling us your country of residence we are able to provide you with the most relevant travel insurance information.
Please note that not all content is translated or available to residents of all countries. Contact us for full details.
Shares
Last year I went to Brazil to travel for 8 months and I wanted to tell you about one of my experiences there. During my stay in Rio de Janeiro I volunteered in a local NGO in the Favela of Cantagalo, a local community where I taught English to young students that had risk of social exclusion. That way I got to know really well the community and be a part of it, residents let me get in and out as I wanted and I got to live a different way of live. As traveling and living for such a long time in Brazil wasn't as cheap as I expected I started to look for a place to live in the favela, were everything was way cheaper but as well way more dangerous. I started to live as a local as soon as I move in, they accepted me very well and I got to be known as "the gringa that lived in the favela". I got to take the kids into fieldtrips to the beach and museums, things that didn't allowed me to do before. I also got involved in the community in a project of surfers from the favela, where I imparted surf lessons to kids and enjoy all types of surfboards. It was truly amazing. In Ipanema beach, the closest beach to the favela you could see the fraternity and good vibes created just from surf's positivity and friendliness, it doesn't matter where you are from, what you do, what you look like, they all form a beautiful family full of love and care for one another. You could breathe positivity, to go to the beach every day and enjoy the sunset while you were enjoying your time on the warm water on top of your surfboard it was the best feeling that I have ever lived. As for living in the favela, sometimes was scary, you could see from a really close perspective how drug dealers and cartels work, how the system in the favela was built so that no policeman could get there. Dealers walk around the community full of weapons, you could see they were only lost kids, that couldn't find their path in live and poverty had consume their dreams and taken there that way. Only by getting inside the favela you could truly see the real Brazil, were there is no carnival or parties, were there is crime, poverty and death. But also there are people, life, laughs, happiness with so little that is touching. The majority of people that live in the favela are not involved in drug trafficking, but they have to live with it every day, it has been going on for so long that people tend to ignore it and live their best live as they can. That is why you see so much happiness in the favela; they get all the bad and transform it in pure love. As everybody knew me my house was always full of people, my neighbors cooked for me every day and told me the best stories, you never feel alone in the favela. Breakfast was always a meeting point, everybody took out their "cafezinho" outdoors and chatted so much, they always laughed with me and my strange accent that they sometimes couldn't even understand. To give the kids something to think about other than the cartel, parents really encouraged their children to surf and put so much effort on it, you could see families that had nothing invest on a surfboard for their kids with such joy; the sport was something to take their mind off and focus at the same time. Many professional surfers came from the favela, as they spend all day practicing and living inside the sport. I got to train really young promises that with 10 years old could easily surf better than me. Brazil taught me so much, I am really happy I choose the country as my destination to spend almost a year, it is so diverse from one point to the opposite in the country that I got to see so many different cultures, people and livestyles, I am truly glad for the experience.