Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Favela Funk Party

In the early part of the 19th century, the ruler of Brasil at the time decided to bring a wealth of hands from the country into Rio de Janeiro to help build new additions to the old capital. After the majority of the work was done, the people decided not to leave back to the country, but rather start their own communities up in the hills of Rio. In these hills, a large green plant we leaves called Favelas grew abundant. So, when the locals described their area of town, they would call it the Favela. This name has grown through the years, and has been taken over as the Portuguese term for `slum´. The name Rio de Janeiro was given by the Portuguese settlers who sailed into the bay and thought it was a river. Go figure, they came in the wonderful month of January.
The favelas in Rio have been hyped up a lot lately in news, movies and literature. There is a book, film and television series known as ´City of God,´ which is the name of a favela on the southern side of the city. The stories are mostly of gang violence, drug use and rape. Over the years, the favelas in Rio have become much more controlled with a great reduction in violence. However, like any large city, you need to be on the lookout in certain neighborhoods. So, Ted Carol and I decided we wanted a closer look, and signed up for the Favela Funk Party.
The bus left the hostel at midnight and headed south from Ipanema to the Favela. The discotheque was an old storage house painted black and vibrating from the bass of samba coming from inside. Walking into the club, we were patted down by security and warned not to buy drugs from locals. We were reserved the VIP balcony up top with its private cash bar selling 75 cent beers and 4 dollar whisky cokes, two of my favorites.
This place was bumping, and hot sweaty brown people were dancing with one thing in mind...sex! This samba Brasilian disco is a kind of hip hop and techno house mix where the dance moves are sexual gyrations. The women are stunning, piercing your heart with large brown eyes, amazing curvature, and little clothing. The traditional transvestites of Rio roamed the room looking for vulnerable males as the large gay bodybuilders waxed down an grinding each other, were stealing Carol´s attention. This place was hot, sexy and unlike anything in this world.
Fireworks lit up the room as 4,000 dancers grinded ass through the large warehouse. We all moved down stairs where the locals were making it happen up by the stage, as the fruity MC pulled 4 women and 4 men out of the crowd for a coitesque dance-off. One of the beautiful girls up on stage for the competition, was the same beautiful girl that came up to me, grabbing my crotch and asked me to buy her a beer. As I moved swiftly through the crowd for the bar, that is when the sparklers were lit, and she was invited on stage. What timing!
There is no way to describe the sexual appeal behind this night. If you know, then you know. However, the Favela Funk Party is unlike any party in the world.
Waking up at 10 the next morning after four hours of sleep, I looked down an notice that not one, but two of my testicles were a hue of blue.