Rio de Janeiro in Brazil has a new tourist attraction. If you’re thinking of going to the city of Rio de Janeiro, as well as queuing for a photo under the Christ the Redeemer, taking the Sugar Loaf cable car or sitting on one of the steps of the Selarón Staircase, get ready to queue for the “Terrace of the Gate of Heaven”.
More than just an experience, it has become a trend on social media, where the aim is to climb up to a rooftop in Rio de Janeiro’s largest favela and pose for a drone that moves away, unveiling an impressive view of kilometres of favela intersecting with Rio de Janeiro’s glamorous coastline.
Queues can reach two hours, and the moment in the drone video costs between 25 and 33 euros (150 to 200 reais).
The initiative comes from the tourism company “Na Favela Turismo” and the founder, 42-year-old Renan Monteiro, told AFP that it all started with the intention of showing the “positive side of the favela”.
This is because you can only be part of the trend by signing up for a complete favela tour package. “They can only get there through a guided tour, travelling through a maze of narrow alleys while the residents carry on with their daily lives, stopping to visit local artists or watch a capoeira show,” Monteiro explained to AFP.
{{image align=”center” size=”fullwidth” ratio=”auto” id=”4515237″ src=”https://images.euronews.com/articles/stories/09/68/72/75/808x539_cmsv2_c4453361-68e7-5306-9e23-b760961060b7-9687275.jpg” url=”https://images.euronews.com/articles/stories/09/68/72/75/{{w}}x{{h}}_cmsv2_c4453361-68e7-5306-9e23-b760961060b7-9687275.jpg” caption=”A tourist sits on a chair to be filmed by a drone in the Rocinha favela, at a time when Rio de Janeiro has seen a record number of international tourists ” alt=”A tourist sits on a chair to be filmed by a drone in the Rocinha favela, at a time when Rio de Janeiro has seen a record number of international tourists. ” credit=”AP Photo” copyrightlink=”” sourcetext=”” sourcelink=”” calltoactiontext=”” calltoactionlink=”” naturalwidth=”2000″ naturalheight=”1333″ }}
The visits are accompanied by a tour guide, in a safe manner, since many tourists were walking “down the wrong paths” without any supervision, Monteiro explained to the French news agency.
In 2017, a Spanish tourist was shot dead during a confrontation between police and drug traffickers.
For this reason, the company has created a mobile phone application where guides and the community can exchange information in the event of a police operation, in order to cancel or postpone tours.
‘Romanticising poverty’
It didn’t take long for this trend to attract criticism, which accused its creators of “romanticising poverty” and fantasising about a place where drug lords are kings.
“We’re not romanticising poverty. We want to change the prejudice that exists in people’s minds,” Monteiro told AFP.
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The company also claims that it is concerned with changing the lives of people in the favela, creating jobs such as “300 local guides and 10 drone pilots”, he told AFP.
The owners of 26 terraces and penthouses in Rocinha and Vidigal, another of the favelas used, also receive extra income for allowing tourists to visit.
Pedro Lucas, a 19-year-old drone pilot, told AFP that this activity has opened up his horizons and allowed him to get a job. “It’s changed my life a lot. I earn a good salary and it would be great if more people from the favela had the same opportunity,” he confessed.
Trend has arrived in Portugal
As usual, social media trends transcend borders and, beyond the Rio favela and the country, this trend has crossed the ocean and reached Portugal, but in a slightly different way to Rocinha.
The Public Security Police (PSP) was one of the public bodies to adopt the trend and made a video, which has already gone viral, using the “Rocinha trend” technique to emphasise that the police are always there.
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“The Public Security Police are on the streets every day with the most diverse skills – from patrolling to public order, from neighbourhood policing to criminal investigation – always ready to respond to different realities and challenges,” reads the publication.
Curiously, not all internet users understood the joke or the association with the trend and criticised the choice of song. However, following a trend means replicating a popular theme or challenge and adapting it to your reality.
And that’s what many influencers and entertainment, lifestyle and tourism websites have already done.
Not incidentally, Brazil and Portugal have joined forces and it’s through the Travel & Lifestyle Instagram page “dofadoaosamba” that, south of the Tagus, the city of Barreiro, once known for its industry, is joining the trend and showing off one of its most emblematic and recently restored areas: the mills.
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FC Porto was one of the clubs to join in the fun and published a video in which they see their mascots entering the Estádio do Dragão and sitting on the seats, as if they were going to watch a match. The drone begins to move away and we see the pitch, the size of the stadium and its location in the city.
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The city of Porto and the north of the country have, for the moment, been one of the internet users’ favourite places for this trend, as shown in the video by Paulo Ribeiro, a photographer and videographer, who took the drone up in Ribeira, one of the most touristic areas of Invicta.
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Still to the north, digital content creator Viniamancio put Braga on the “Rocinha map”. It was from the Rua do Souto Arch, also known as Porta Nova, that the drone took to the heights, showing incredible aerial images of the city centre.
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The “Visite Leiria” website, the official website for promoting tourism and events in the municipality of Leiria, also joined in. It is from the top of a building that the drone takes off to show the beauty of a city rising after the storms that hit the centre of the country.
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From the favelas of Rio de Janeiro to Europe’s historic centres, the phenomenon has also gained worldwide expression. Once again, the internet proves it can do these things: turn a simple video into a huge digital community.