I've never been in Sao Paolo, but I've been in Rio many years ago during the Carnival season.
I've never been inside a favela, but I was like 1 or 2 blocks away from the entrance. I had no problems. Perhaps being a young cheap Argentinian tourist not carrying luggage at the moment makes the situation very different.
Anyway, during the Carnival, the city [Rio] is totally crazy. There are "blocos" every few blocks, where someone just install a big sounds speaker and everyone dance. Perhaps a hundred persons, every few blocks, every night, all month long. Did they have a big sound speaker? And there are some bigger and bigger and bigger events, from a hundred persons to a million.
> The street was dark and people were hanging out at the cross-sections.
Did they have a big sound speaker? Were they dancing?
Another possibility is that during a hot summer night, they had no air conditioner and were just in the open street to get some wind and hang out with friends. I think it's not so uncommon.
I agree that some areas are very dangerous, both in Brazil and here in Argentina too. I don't recommend to go clueless to some parts of the city. But without a few photos, a video, and perhaps looking at the situation in person it's very difficult to be sure that they were dangerous.
Anyway, better safe than sorry. If you don't understand the local culture, sometimes it's better to bail out.
I've never been inside a favela, but I was like 1 or 2 blocks away from the entrance. I had no problems. Perhaps being a young cheap Argentinian tourist not carrying luggage at the moment makes the situation very different.
Anyway, during the Carnival, the city [Rio] is totally crazy. There are "blocos" every few blocks, where someone just install a big sounds speaker and everyone dance. Perhaps a hundred persons, every few blocks, every night, all month long. Did they have a big sound speaker? And there are some bigger and bigger and bigger events, from a hundred persons to a million.
> The street was dark and people were hanging out at the cross-sections.
Did they have a big sound speaker? Were they dancing?
Another possibility is that during a hot summer night, they had no air conditioner and were just in the open street to get some wind and hang out with friends. I think it's not so uncommon.
I agree that some areas are very dangerous, both in Brazil and here in Argentina too. I don't recommend to go clueless to some parts of the city. But without a few photos, a video, and perhaps looking at the situation in person it's very difficult to be sure that they were dangerous.
Anyway, better safe than sorry. If you don't understand the local culture, sometimes it's better to bail out.