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Rio de Janeiro Travel
Rio de Janeiro, Drug Lord Style
June 19, 2007 at 12:27 PM | 1 Comment
If you've seen the cult film City of God (Cidade de Deus), or talked to any middle class Brazilians, then the infamous favelas, or shanty towns, of Rio de Janeiro won't be top on your list of places to go. Considering, however, that an estimated 20 per cent of Rio de Janeiro's population live in the 750 or so favelas distributed not only around the outskirts but within the city centre, and considering that many of the maids cleaning your hotel room or the bellboys carrying your luggage will have come from a favela that morning, you'll be missing out on a huge part of Rio's cultural mix if you ignore them completely.
