So for those of you that dont know, a flavela is a slum in the hills of rio. The crime and murder rate there is very high and it can be quite a scary place especially if you dont belong, no one really goes into them unless they reside there or have someone from the inside taking them there. If you seen the movie City of God, that is exactly how it is, in fact the actual flavela in that movie is located down here in rio.

There is this ghetto little bar on our corner that has become our spot to chill before going out. It can be a bit bad there, but very inviting and friendly as well. All the locals from the neighboring flavela kick it there. One of the locals befriended me and my buddy. He seemed like an all around good guy where everyone knows him and hes always smiling. Hes a cheerful good looking black dude. Anywho, he invited us to a funk party in his Flavela, of course I was a bit scared but at the same time I knew this would be a once in a life time experience. But hey this guy can really be a bad guy right? A fellow American from NY has been in Rio off and on since 97, he overheard our conversations with this guy and assured me and my buddy that this guy is a really good guy and this is an invitation that should not be passed up, not everyone gets invited to something like this. I was still scared and a bit worried and I already had my plans for the night, not to mention I was dressed up. We kindly declined the invite and were very thankful, he then offered us to meet again tomorow (which was sunday) for a BBQ block party proceeding yet anothere party in his Flavela, a funk party (thats what they call them, its booty shaking brasiliero hip hop, great beats and mc´s) We told him we´d meet him around 6 for the bbq.

I rallied about 5 of my buddies from my hostel, those that were brave enough and very excited to go to the flavela funk party. Met up with our boy got 2 cabs he brought another friend and we left. Was about a 4 minute cabbie. Entering the flavela you could see all the graffiti, crashed cars, people on streets, lil kids running around as couriers for cocain...Our Brasilian buddy, well lets just call him Jay, pointed out a fucked up cop car that the town had attacked during one of their wars, put it this way no more cops enter there flavela. Further up the hill you could here the beats of funk music and the mc on the mike, I was so excited. Jay was very nice he paid for the cabbie and we walked to the first little bar (looks like a lemonade stand). Shit! everyone was staring at us, I at least look Brasileira, but the boys I was with are all gringo. Jay bought a round of beers and we started to chill it was actually really cool. He introduced us to more of his pals, lets just call them Dorrito and Al. After tossing back a few beers he asked us if we were ready to enter the funk party, sure enough we all did. He told us to stay very close to him, him in the front me directly behind him, my friends and then Dorrito in the back.

We walked up numerous cement stairs into a huge warehous with two levels, a stage, turntables, and an mc, oh and did I forget to tell ya there was a few kids younger than me running around with their machine guns strapped over their shoulder. No worried, its standard there, just dont fuck with them. Its the young ones who you worry most about, they are the dealears and most dangerous is what Dorrito told me. The people were all beautiful, mainly black but also light skinned Brasilians. The girls were really hot wearing almost nothing and dancing like no other. The guys all danced there, some would form groups of 5,6...10 and do this dope ass type of line dance all in unison all perfect. It was kind of like STOPMP. Jay told us to always stick close to him, him and his boys acted as out guides and escorted us everywhere such as the bathroom and further into the dance floor. After about an hour and a half we were all having the time of our lives dancing and feeling comfortable. We had no problems what so ever and had a fabulous experience.

Jay is a great guy, everyone seemed to love him there and even on my street. One girl told me that they call him The King of Ipamema. Well if he´s a king he sure treated us like royalty. He introduced me to his beautiful girlfirend and allowed me to use his bathroom in his lil house, I was so grateful because the bathroom in the warehouse was so disgusting, I gagged about 4 times. We said our goodbyes around 5 am and Dorrito escorted us out of the Flavela, we walked this time no cab, very exciting. He provided us with some quality party favors and asked if we still wanted to party, 2 of my friends were tired and went home but me and my aussie and english friend (so hot) decided to keep it going. Went to a lil bar in Copacabana, walked around the lake, talked and talked (Dorrito speaks good English) and chilled. Got home around 8am.

This experience was by far my best yet in Rio, something that is a one of a kind of experience. I learned so much about their culture in the flavelas and how they live and celebrate life, I even saw the BOSS of the flavela, not met but saw. Yes the guns were scary and the stories Dorrito told us of when Rio goes to war, but all in all Im glad I did it.