Favelas in Rio de Janeiro are largely stateless, marginalized places mostly controlled by drug gangs. A number of filmmakers have explored the inequality and violence found there, and the result has made for powerful and, at times, controversial movies. Such is the case with the recent Brazilian film “Tropa De Elite” ("Elite Squad"). The award-winning film is told from the point of view of a fictional cop, Captain Nascimento, who is a member of Rio’s police special-forces unit. With a child on the way, Nascimento wants to survive his last mission: pacifying a favela before the Pope arrives. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been widely released, and it isn’t available with English subtitles on DVD, but here are three great films you can easily find:

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Turns out the alleged never-been-contacted tribe in Brazil has been known to the world since 1910. According to the Guardian, the man behind the infamous image of the red-painted tribesmen says he “planned the publicity to protect them and other tribes in similar danger of losing the habitat in which they have flourished for hundreds of years.”

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* Jungle Paparazzo in Airplane Photographs ‘Uncontacted’ Tribe in Brazil

Wild story. I’m guessing an adventure travel outfitter is already organizing an Amazon trek, complete with an overnight stay with the never-before-contacted tribe.

Since January, more than 70,000 people have been infected with dengue fever in the Brazilian state of Rio. At least 80 people have died. Now, the growing health crisis is “taking a toll on tourism,” reports the International Herald Tribune. A number of foreign embassies have warned citizens about the outbreak, including the U.S. Embassy. 

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The subject of our latest nearly up-to-the-minute interview with a traveler somewhere in the world: writer Carl Hoffman, a contributing editor to Wired and National Geographic Traveler. His response landed in our inbox minutes ago.

Where in the world are you?

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The New York Times is the latest publication to contemplate the phenomenon.

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* Illuminating ‘Dark Travel’
* Welcome to Khmer Rouge Land!
* In Brazil, Favela Tourism Rising
* Poverty Tourism: Exploration or Exploitation?

You don’t have to be near Mavericks, or even an ocean, to enjoy some wild surfing action. Surfers have been riding waves in rivers for years—the Amazon’s Pororoca in Brazil just might be the most dramatic example. But there are options in Europe, too. The Atlantic magazine recently covered surfing Munich’s Eisbach, a tributary of the Isar River where a standing wave has “created an enclave of borrowed California culture in the heart of Bavaria.”

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Seriously. Matt Groening, are you taking notes?

After 18 months of voting, the New7Wonders organization announced its seven new wonders of the world this weekend. They are: Chichén Itzá, Mexico; Christ Redeemer, Brazil; the Great Wall, China; Machu Picchu, Peru; Petra, Jordan; the Colosseum, Italy; and the Taj Mahal, India. Last week, we named the seven wonders of the shrinking planet.

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Photo by markbarkaway via Flickr, (Creative Commons).

It’s a publicity stunt, sure, but one that might help JetBlue get back some of its mojo after its February meltdown. As part of the massive hype for the upcoming The Simpsons Movie, C. Montgomery Burns—known best as Homer Simpson’s boss at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant—has taken over the blog of former JetBlue CEO David Neeleman. From his first entry: “Smithers entered my chambers this morning, toting wretched tales of congenial customer service and overly indulgent amenities on your JetBlue Airways. And for what… your precious passengers? Soon, the riff raff will demand ‘fair treatment’ from all corporate overlords, like myself. Well, not in my chemically prolonged life-time.”

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As we noted last week, the New 7 Wonders of the World will be announced July 7. Sure, the final list may not mean a whole lot more than bragging rights, but voting for the pageant sponsored by the NewOpenWorld Foundation ends in 11 days and competition among the finalists is heating up. How much? “In Brazil, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva recently used his weekly radio address to urge people to vote for the Christ the Redeemer statue,” notes the San Francisco Chronicle. “Jordan’s royal family has publicly lobbied for Petra, and the government of Peru set up free computer terminals so its citizens could vote for Machu Picchu.”

Related on World Hum:
* The Seven Wonders of Canada, or More Proof the Country Isn’t Boring
* 21 Attractions Short Listed for New Seven Wonders of the World*
* Seven New Wonders of the World Fever: Catch It
* USA Today’s Seven New Wonders of the World
* Egypt: We Don’t Need Your Vote to be Among the New Seven Wonders

Photo by markbarkaway via Flickr, (Creative Commons).

For every cruise ship full of pleasure-seekers tempted to travel by spa treatments, gourmet cuisine, and the occasional shore excursion, there is a tougher sort of tourist in search of a little hardship. Some people go for the controlled experience, forking over $18 for a simulated illegal border-crossing at Parque EcoAlberto in Mexico. Others, as the Christian Science Monitor reported earlier this week, prefer a more authentic kind of cultural exposure. Describing a small but growing trend among Americans and Europeans visiting Rio de Janeiro, Andrew Downie writes: “To many Brazilians, favelas are dirty, violent, frightening places. But to many foreigners, they are exciting, interesting, and romantic. More and more outsiders are coming from overseas to live, work, and just visit favelas, observers say. In doing so they are highlighting the difference between Brazilians who regard favelas with fear, rejection, and even disgust, and foreigners who embrace them as vibrant crucibles of modern Brazilian culture.”

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