Experience the Favelas

I recently traveled to Rio with four friends and we had the pleasure of spending two days hanging out with Alex aka Dan Blanquito. Alex was gracious enough to take us on a tour through his favela, which is perched above Copacabana. It was a fascinating experience and we had the opportunity to interact with many locals as well as take in the incredible sights. Alex is an affable guy and made us feel right at home. We even had lunch at his apartment. The next night, Alex hosted us at a local nightclub where he and some other musicians were performing. This was by far one of the highlights of our trip and few tourists have the opportunity to experience the "real" Rio. If you find yourself in Rio looking for a real cultural experience, give Alex a call. He will make your trip!

Where to begin, Alex should be listed on every travel site as a "must-do" in Rio. Myself and three friends were wrapping up a couple weeks in South America, (Lima, Cuzco, Machu Picchu, Florianopolis, and ending in Rio;) keeping with the spirit of the trip we wanted to SEE the places we were visiting, not just the sights offered up on postcards. Enter Don Blanquito! Any apprehension we had about visiting the Favelas with an American was immediately dispelled within our first few minutes. Zig-zagging through the narrow streets, we came across a group of 10 or so guys. Before I was able to realize two of them were sporting Don Blonquito tank-tops, we heard the shouts of praise, "BLONQUITTTTTOOOO!" The man has earned the respect of his neighbors, and in doing so can take you through an area most visitors don't get to experience. We never once felt unsafe, unwelcome, or as though we were the standard tourist. He shared insightful knowledge of his favela, the evolution of favela's in Rio, a bit of his own personal experience and how he arrived there (fascinating,) and struck a perfect balance of intelligent and funny. We were so pleased with the tour, we agreed to have Alex take us Lapa that evening. For those unaware, Lapa is an area in Rio where people take the party from bars and clubs to the streets. I presume some foreigners venture there themselves, but it definitely was a HUGE advantage having Alex there with us. He explained the "scene," worked with vendors and bartenders getting us drinks (mannnny drinks,) took us to a bunch of different spots we would not have known about, and again made the experience SO MUCH more pleasurable in feeling completely safe the entire time. In summation, no matter how long your trip to Rio, or what you planned on doing, find a way to take advantage of Alex's services. He is the reason your travel, meeting new, interesting, and cool people in new, interesting, and cool places. Thanks again Don Juan!

First of all, Alex also called Don Blanquito, is a great person to meet. He is nice, open and very welcoming and also I felt super safe with him. On top of it, he is a great singer (rap) & we were lucky & got a CD of his songs :) Besides, the Favelas tour was great. We did it on our first day in Brazil and I recommend it :) It was real. We didnt feel like tourists who come and "visit" or "observe" how is the favela (some tours operator do it like they would visit a zoo) but we really felt like we were meeting with a friend who was living there; we had food there and met locals. Besides, favelas are not as dangerous as they used to be in the past so we really didnt fell scared at all anytime. Conclusion: alex is great, the tour is great too & it's not possible to get a better view of Rio than from a Favela ! Merci Don Blanquito. Johanna from Paris