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Tags: Rio Field Trip / Rio Travel / Olympics Travel / Favelas / Poverty Tourism / Slum Tourism / → All Tags

A Controversial 'To Do' in Rio: Touring the Favelas

If you're Brazilian, or, a Cariocaphile (a Rio lover) then you've already started the countdown for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Back in October, we were down in the "Marvelous City" and right smack in the middle of Copacabana Beach with the rest of Rio for the world announcement. Don't worry, our writer Shira Levine cased the joint to check things out for those of you considering getting your Olympic Games on in, uhhh six and half years. Questions or suggestions? Let us know.

Slum Tourism has its place in travel for the voyeuristicly curious vacationing in a post "City of God" and "Slumdog Millionaire" world. While it's a controversial alternative to the crashpad, there are some safe, noteworthy and creative partnerships that bring business and business opportunities to the lovely people living in the slums while also giving tourists a chance to see another side of Rio.

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Tags: Thanksgiving Alternatives / Thanksgiving Travel / New York City / Rio de Janeiro Travel / → All Tags

Skip The Macy's Parade For Four Nights In Rio This Thanksgiving

If it's good enough for Madonna and Jesus, then it's good enough for you. As we reported today, the transformative Queen of Pop recently landed in Rio de Janiero for "humanitarian" work and quite possibly to meet her boyfriend's parents. We're not sure if this contributes to Rio's international appeal or detracts from it, but we did happen to stumble across a four-night travel package, airfare included, for Thanksgiving travel to the Brazilian city.

Travelzoo recently posted a $699 (base price) all-inclusive deal which includes roundtrip travel from New York City, daily breakfast, four nights accommodations, and the option to tack tour extras onto your package. The catch is, as we mentioned, the date that you'll have to depart—either dangerously close to Thanksgiving on the 19th, or the day itself. So, you'll have to decide whether forgoing turkey, football, and that yearly screening of the MACY*S parade is worth the $700 pricetag.

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Madonna Touches Down In Rio For The Poor And For Jesus

Madonna landed in Rio de Janeiro yesterday for a week long trip that may include meeting her boyfriend's mother and speaking with government officials about poverty.

Several reports are saying that the superstar is nervous about meeting Jesus Luz' family for the first time and that it may be a sign things are heating up between them. But Madge told Page Six the rumors aren't true and she is "there strictly for fundraising and humanitarian purposes.” We find it suspect that she would visit her boyfriend's hometown with him and not stop by to say hi to his moms. Maybe it's the age difference that is keeping her away, and we're not talking about the age difference between her and Jesus. Madonna also happens to be 14 years older than his mother!

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Tags: Olympics / Olympics Travel / 2016 Rio Olympics / Rio de Janeiro / Brazil Travel / Video / Sports / → All Tags

Thinking of a Master Plan: Snazzy Video Nabs 2016 Olympics for Rio

As an American, I was disappointed that Chicago didn't win the 2016 Summer Olympics, but I've got to admit that Rio looks like a pretty spectacular choice. I've never been, but watching their official candidate commercial yesterday moved it to the top of my list of dream trips. Today I happened upon the city's master plan pitch, and it really looks like Brazilian officials have thought this thing through. I'm not surprised the I.O.C. believed that South America in general, and Rio in particular, would be the perfect host for the games.

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And The 2016 Olympic City Is...Rio de Janeiro!

It's time to break out the Mardi Gras beads and barely-there bustiers and learn how to spell "Rio de Janeiro" without hesitating, because Rio is indeed the host city of the 2016 Olympic Games. All this morning and early afternoon, the world was glued to their TVs and Twitter as the Olympic Committee first heard final pleas from the delegations from Chicago (Prez Obama was there), Rio, Tokyo and Madrid and then announced their decision in favor of the first Olympics to be held in South America.

While people rush onto Copacabana and Ipanema beaches to celebrate, we can already imagine the tour operators and airlines brainstorming their deals for travel to Brazil in 2016 and even these next few years as the city strengthen its infrastructure and emerges as a true hot destination.

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Rio de Janeiro Sambas Into Bike Sharing

If cities like Milan, Shanghai, and Mexico City can enjoy successful bike rental programs, then we've been wondering when a South American capital would climb aboard the eco-friendly trend. As it turns out, Rio de Janeiro quietly launched their own bike sharing program last November, which welcomes tourists with open arms (or handlebars).

Appropriately named Samba, which in Portuguese conveniently means "Alternative Mobility Solution though Bike Renting," Samba is using this spring and summer to build up to 42 stations with 500 total bikes by the end of the year; it's a small number compared to Paris' Velib and its 20,600+ bicycles, but nonetheless a great start.

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Tags: New Year's Eve / Iemanjá / Religious Festival Travel / → All Tags

The Holy Beach Of Rio

Everyone should spend at least one New Year's Eve mingling on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro. Despite the massive crowds and the often underwhelming concerts, the cheers at midnight are joyous and the sights are fantastic. But if you're in town earlier in the evening, take a walk on the beach to catch the offerings to Iemanjá, a folk tradition honored at the end of every year on the beach.

In the Afro-Brazilian Umbanda religion, Iemanjá is the goddess of the sea and the protectress of women and fertility. Umbanda practicants dress in white to bring flowers, build altars and set out floating candles for Iemanjá, a rite practiced on New Year's Eve in Rio but a few weeks earlier in Salvador de Bahia and in February in Rio Vermelho, where the local Catholic church has rededicated her as Our Lady of the Seafarers. The cachaça will wait, we promise.

Related Stories:
· Rolling Stones Hit The Great Wall [Jaunted]
· Copacabana Palace Still Rules Rio [Jaunted]
· Rio's Saucy Postcards Over [Jaunted]

[Photo: zeiger]

Tags: Traveling Alone / Celeb Travel / Madonna / Guy Ritchie / → All Tags

The Price Of Guy Ritchie's Silence

Think you've had a bad week? Not only did Madonna fall onstage last night, but she also saw her bank accounts depleted when the settlement of her divorce from Guy Ritchie was leaked.

The British-American power couple announced they were splitting earlier this fall amid rumors that she had cheated on him with Alex Rodriguez. While that was never proven, the couple gave each other a wide berth, with Ritchie staying in London to work on his Sherlock Holmes movie and Madonna keeping to her New York City apartment (which predates the marriage) when she wasn't on tour. The settlement is rumored to give Ritchie, who never signed a prenup, almost $92 million.

Madonna took the couple's son Rocco to Rio de Janeiro with her, but hopefully he wasn't watching when she slipped and fell at the Maracanã stadium (best known for hosting the World Cup in the '70s). Well, we all have those weeks.

Related Stories:
· Despite Bad Taste, Madonna And A-Rod Move Forward [Jaunted]
· Madonna To Attend But Not Perform At Hall of Fame Induction [Jaunted]
· Celeb Travel coverage [Jaunted]

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Dangerous Travel: Watch for Caimans in Rio

Police making what a local newspaper called a "mega-operation" on the Rio favela of Coréia discovered two caimans, which they say drug traffickers used to intimidate enemies--and dispose of bodies. Says one cop:

The caimans are a symbol of power of the traffickers. When they catch a rival, they kill him and give him to the caimans.

The crocodile-like reptiles aren't exactly big, but we still wouldn't want to get near 'em--or the drug lords that put the critters to work. Still, a two-foot-long caiman has got to be less intimidating than a ninja gangster.

Related Stories:
· Police Seize Caimans, Weapons and Drugs in Rio Slum [O Globo, in Portuguese]
· Brazil: Police Seize Gang's Reptiles [NYT]
· Oh Rio! Dead Baby Penguins Make Us Sad [Jaunted]

[Photo: O Globo]

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Oh Noes! Travel: Dead Baby Penguins Make Us Sad

What a beach bummer: Hundreds of baby penguins have washed up on the famous sands of Rio de Janeiro, sparking a debate about how we might be affecting the livelihood of adorable fuzzy animals.

Typically some penguins every year get caught in currents off Patagonia and Antarctica and wind up dead hundreds of miles away, but this has been a particularly bad year for the Cute Overload crowd. Suspects include overfishing, which forces penguins to swim farther for their food, and immunity-damaging pollution, but it could also be the result of changing weather patterns at the Strait of Magellan.

Luckily, the Brazilian Coast Guard has been keeping a special watch on the coast, rescuing penguins and bringing them to Rio's Niteroi Zoo to recuperate.

Related Stories:
· Dead Penguins Washing Up In Brazil [TIME]
· Penguin and Polar Bear Problems [Jaunted]

[Photo: winklerw]

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Carmen Miranda Travel: Seeking Tutti-Frutti Hats in Rio de Janeiro

It's curious how much our perceptions of other countries are informed by the most outlandish of pop culture references. Even if we know better than to believe the exaggerations and patent misrepresentations, certain images simply become ingrained into our consciousness, and, for better or worse, we arrive in these countries expecting things to play out like they do in the movie version. Such is the case with Brazil, as the recent release of the five-DVD collection of Carmen Miranda musical films illustrates quite clearly. Though her influence is beginning to fade a half-century after her death, the flamboyant Portuguese-Brazilian bombshell led generations of fans in both hemispheres to envision life in Rio as a series of spontaneous dance numbers amid verdant palm and banana groves. And somewhere along the line, a girl would no doubt emerge with a giant Tutti-Frutti Hat to sing a song about the importance of taking a breezy attitude towards life.

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Rio Slums Overrun with Ninja Gangsters

The Brazillian government is cracking down on masked militias after an incident last month where several journalists were tortured for more than six hours by a gang of armed thugs wearing ninja hoods. The reporters had gone undercover in one of Rio de Janeiro's infamous favelas to investigate the "illegal economy" in the notorious slums.

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