Once notorious no-go areas, Rio's sprawling favelas are now drawing more tourists than some of its most famous monuments.
里约那些曾经臭名昭著、外人不宜进入的大片贫民社区，如今吸引的游客比这座城市一些最著名的纪念性景点还多。
But is visiting safest and ethical?
但前去参观是否安全、是否合乎伦理呢？
It's 05:47 on a Wednesday morning in May, and orange rays are stretching into the sky like fingertips, ushering in a new day in Rio de Janeiro.
这是五月一个星期三清晨5点47分，橙色的光线像手指一样伸向天空，迎来里约热内卢新的一天。
I watch as the sun slowly rises above the Atlantic Ocean from atop the cities's iconic Two Brothers mountain.
我站在这座城市标志性的双兄弟山顶，看着太阳从大西洋上方缓缓升起。
"We're in the VIP," says my guide, Ana Lima, as we sit on a small patch of grass.
“我们在贵宾区，”我的导游安娜·利马说，当时我们正坐在一小片草地上。
But this VIP is far from exclusive.
但这个“VIP”体验远谈不上专属。
Nearby, hundreds of tourists from England, France, the US, Germany, Argentina and elsewhere in Brazil are crowded together to catch the same spectacle, with one new arrival shouting: "Man, there are more people here than in the club!"
附近，数百名来自英格兰、法国、美国、德国、阿根廷以及巴西其他地方的游客挤在一起观看同样的景象，其中一名刚到的人喊道：“天啊，这里的人比夜店里还多！”
To getting here, I awoke at 03:30 to join the hundreds of other visitors already thronging Vidigal – one of Rio's best-known low-income favel a neighbourhoods – all waiting to hop aboard motorcycle taxis to the top of the mountain.
为了来到这里，我凌晨3点半就醒来，加入已经挤满维迪加尔的数百名游客；维迪加尔是里约最知名的低收入贫民社区之一，大家都在等着搭乘摩托车出租车前往山顶。
I rode mine helmet-less up a winding street lined with houses seemingly stacked on top of each other before hiking roughly an hours up a trail through the thick Atlantic Forest.
我没戴头盔坐上自己的摩托车出租车，沿着一条蜿蜒的街道上行，街道两旁的房屋看上去层层叠叠；之后，我又沿着一条穿过茂密大西洋森林的小路徒步上行了大约一小时。
In recent years, this hike – and Rio's favelas in general – have become some of the city's hottest and least-expected tourism attractions.
近年来，这条徒步路线，以及总体上的里约贫民社区，已经成为这座城市最热门、也最出人意料的旅游景点之一。
For decades, these densely packed communities were long avoided by outsiders because of their dangerous reputations.
几十年来，这些人口密集的社区因危险的名声而长期被外来者避开。
A police push to "pacify" Rio's favelas began ahead of the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics, and by 2024, official data showed that more international travellers visited Vidigal and Rocinha (the country's largest favela) than Rio's famous Christ the Redeemer statue and the Selarón Steps.
在2014年世界杯和2016年奥运会之前，警方开始推进对里约贫民社区的“平定”行动；到2024年，官方数据显示，前往维迪加尔和罗西尼亚（巴西最大的贫民社区）的国际游客人数，已经超过了前往里约著名的救世基督像和塞拉隆阶梯的游客人数。
In an age when many travellers are seeking immersive, meaningful cultural experiences, walking up and down favela staircases to see where locals hang out, playing with their kids and view the city from the hilltops can reveal a side of Rio that you can't get by sticking to its main beaches and monuments – and it's not just ordinary sightseers seeking these experiences out.
在许多旅行者都在寻找沉浸式、有意义的文化体验的时代，沿着贫民社区的阶梯上下行走，看看当地人在哪里闲逛、陪孩子玩耍，并从山顶俯瞰城市，可以展现出里约的另一面，而这是只待在主要海滩和名胜古迹所无法获得的；追寻这些体验的也不只是普通观光客。
In the last fewer months alone, Spanish superstar Rosália and English footballer Jesse Lingard have been spotted exploring Rio's favelas, and people are now queuing for hours to make their way onto a Rocinha rooftop to experience one of the city's most viral trends: a drone zooming out to record you amidst the favela's undulating landscape.
仅在过去几个月里，西班牙巨星罗莎莉亚和英格兰足球运动员杰西·林加德就被看到在里约的贫民社区游览；如今，人们排队数小时登上罗西尼亚的一处屋顶，体验这座城市最走红的潮流之一：让无人机从身边拉远镜头，在贫民社区起伏的景观中拍下自己。
"I wanted to visit because I enjoy getting to knowing realities beyond the surface," said Isabel Fernandes, a Portuguese visitor who recently explored Vidigal on Lima's toured and lear.
“我想去参观，是因为我喜欢了解表象之下的真实情况，”葡萄牙游客伊莎贝尔·费尔南德斯说。她最近参加了利马的游览活动，探访了维迪加尔，并 lear。
"Not out of 'tourist' curiosity, but because I believe that each place has its owning stories, people, strength, difficulties and beauty."
“不是出于‘游客式’的猎奇心理，而是因为我相信每个地方都有自己的故事、人民、力量、困难与美。”
But following a recent shootout in Vidigal, some travellers are now reconsidering whether they should visit these neighbourhoods at all.
但在维迪加尔最近发生一起枪战后，一些游客如今正在重新考虑自己到底是否应该前往这些社区。
Angel Njoku from Edmonton, Canada, had been excited to embark on the sunrise hike to the Two Brothers Mountain with her friends during her weeklong trip to Rio.
来自加拿大埃德蒙顿的安吉尔·恩乔库原本很兴奋，准备在为期一周的里约之行中和朋友们一起参加前往双兄弟山的日出徒步。
But the week before her visit in April, about 200 hikers were stuck on the mountaintop when gunfire broke out in Vidigal during a police operation against alleged members of the Comando Vermelho cartel.
但在她4月到访前一周，警方在维迪加尔针对涉嫌属于“红色司令部”犯罪集团的成员展开行动时发生枪战，约200名徒步者被困在山顶。
"People in my group didn't want to come because they were worried about the risk with the favelas and the danger and the crime," Njoku said.
恩乔库说：“我团里的人不想来，因为他们担心贫民窟相关的风险、危险和犯罪。”
Daria Kurpiewska of Poland did the hike in March and said she was surprised when she heard about the shootout, especially because she was told Vidigal was one of Rio's safest favelas.
来自波兰的达里娅·库尔皮耶夫斯卡三月参加了这次徒步。她说，听到枪战的消息时她很惊讶，尤其是因为有人告诉她维迪加尔是里约最安全的贫民社区之一。
"It could have been my friend group," she said.
她说：“那本可能是我的朋友圈。”
"[Visiting a favala] can go really smoothly, and you can being safe and have fun, but [as the shooting showed], you're just millimetres from something bad happening."
“参观贫民社区可能会非常顺利，你也可能很安全、玩得很开心，但正如那次枪击所显示的，你离坏事发生只有毫厘之差。”
As Kurpiewska came down the mountain in the dark, she passed a playground with children playing next to a group of men carrying guns.
库尔皮耶夫斯卡摸黑下山时，经过一个游乐场，那里有孩子在玩耍，旁边站着一群持枪男子。
"That was a bit unsettling for me," she said.
她说：“那让我有点不安。”
According to Mariana Cavalcanti, an urban studies professor at the State University of Rio de Janeiro, fear of favela violence is nothing new and an ongoing reality for residents.
里约热内卢州立大学城市研究教授玛丽亚娜·卡瓦尔坎蒂表示，对贫民社区暴力的恐惧并不新鲜，而且对居民来说一直是现实。
"These shootouts in the favelas have been going on every day for almost as long as I have lived," she said.
她说：“这些贫民窟里的枪战几乎从我记事起就每天都在发生。”
However, Cavalcanti says there are far fewer bullets flying around the South Zone favelas than there used to be, especially in favelas like Rocinha and Vidigal, thanks in part to the presence of tourists.
不过，卡瓦尔坎蒂说，南区贫民窟如今横飞的子弹比过去少得多，尤其是在罗西尼亚和维迪加尔这样的贫民窟，这在一定程度上要归功于游客的到来。
In fact, Cavalcanti says that while the violence in favelas may pose dangers for local residents, ironically, favelas might actually be safer areas for tourists than popular places like Copacabana, where she lives, since cartels prohibit crime against tourists.
事实上，卡瓦尔坎蒂说，虽然贫民社区的暴力可能会给当地居民带来危险，但讽刺的是，对游客来说，贫民社区实际上可能比她居住的科帕卡巴纳等热门地区更安全，因为贩毒集团禁止针对游客犯罪。
"You won't get mugged and you won't get raped and nothing bad like that's ever gonna happen to you," Cavalcanti said.
卡瓦尔坎蒂说：“你不会被抢劫，也不会被强奸，那样的坏事绝不会发生在你身上。”
During her tour through Vidigal, Fernandes learned about the neighbourhood's various social programmes and toured a community vegetable garden.
在游览维迪加尔期间，费尔南德斯了解了这个社区的各种社会项目，并参观了一座社区菜园。
"I felt safe and welcomed, contrasting with the various stigmas that are unfortunately still transmitted about what a favela is," she said.
她说：“我感到安全，也受到欢迎，这与外界对贫民社区的各种污名形成了反差，而这些污名遗憾地仍在传播。”
As the sun blazed over Two Brothers Mountain, Lima led us down into Vidigal for a pão com ovo (French bread and an egg) breakfast and a walk through the favela's maze of graffiti-painted alleyways and staircases.
当阳光炽烈地照在双兄弟山上时，利马带我们下到维迪加尔，吃了一顿 pão com ovo（法式面包加鸡蛋）早餐，然后穿行在贫民社区迷宫般的涂鸦小巷和阶梯之间。
This immersive walk through the favela was an optional add-on following the sunrise hike, and Njoku decided to skip this part of her tour when she visited.
这段穿行贫民窟的沉浸式步行是日出徒步之后的可选附加项目，恩乔库到访时决定跳过这一部分行程。
"Going to the favelas to taking pictures and gawking at the people that live there, I think that is a little problematic," she said.
她说：“去法维拉拍照，盯着住在那里的人看，我觉得这有点问题。”
Kurpiewska was just as worried during her first visit to Vidigal for an electronic party called Rave in Rio.
库尔皮耶夫斯卡第一次去维迪加尔参加名为“Rave in Rio”的电子音乐派对时，也同样担心。
"There are so many people living here – is it okay for them that we come?"
“这里住着这么多人——我们来这里，对他们来说可以接受吗？”
she asked.
她问道。
"Are we annoying them?"
“我们是不是打扰到他们了？”
Questions about whether or not travellers should visit favelas have been percolating for years.
关于游客是否应该参观贫民社区的疑问，多年来一直在发酵。
During the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics, heavy police presence in the favelas made favelas safe enough to explore, but many did so in safari-style 4x4s that were accused of being " poverty tours ".
在2014年世界杯和2016年奥运会期间，法维拉内大量警力驻守，使这些社区安全到足以供人探索，但许多人是乘坐狩猎旅行风格的四驱车前往，因此被指是在进行“贫困旅游”。
"When all this started, there really wasn't that much of a choice of a way in.
“这一切刚开始的时候，进入这里的方式其实没有多少选择。
Now there are so many options that go into the favelas," said Cavalcanti, referring to the guided walking tours, drone photo experiences, viewpoints travellers pay to enter, and capoeira and music events.
卡瓦尔坎蒂说：“现在有很多进入贫民社区的选择。”她指的是有导游带领的步行游、无人机拍照体验、游客付费进入的观景点，以及卡波耶拉和音乐活动。
"You don't have to be, you know, the white gringo [in] the Jeep."
“你知道，你没必要做那个坐在吉普车里的白人格林戈。”
Cavalcanti used to have concerns about favela tours, but changed her perspective during fieldwork in Rio's Cantagalo favela when she realised that locals didn't seem bothered by the gawking visitors.
卡瓦尔坎蒂过去曾对贫民社区游有所顾虑，但她在里约坎塔加洛贫民社区做田野调查时意识到，当地人似乎并不介意那些盯着看的游客，于是改变了自己的看法。
Rather, many of them want tourists, since their money has become an important source of income for motorcycle taxi drivers, tour guides, souvenir sellers and popular favela restaurants like Bar do David."
相反，他们中的许多人希望游客到来，因为游客的消费已经成为摩托车出租车司机、导游、纪念品商贩以及像 Bar do David 这样受欢迎的贫民社区餐馆的重要收入来源。”
I really believe that favela residents are able interlocutors, they know what they're doing," Cavalcanti said.
卡瓦尔坎蒂说：“我真的相信法维拉居民是有能力参与对话的人，他们知道自己在做什么。”
For Hugo Oliveira, researcher, guide and director of an education centre in Morro da Providência, visiting a favela isn't just ethical, it's critical to understanding the country and city's history.
对研究员、导游兼普罗维登西亚山一所教育中心主任雨果·奥利维拉来说，参观贫民社区不仅合乎伦理，而且对于理解这个国家和这座城市的历史至关重要。
"If you want to talk about Brazil without knowing the favela, you can't," he said.
他说：“如果你不了解贫民窟，就想谈论巴西，那是不可能的。”
Oliveira's neighbourhood, Morro da Providência, located downtown in Rio's "Little Africa" district, was established in 1888 as Brazil's first favela – where formerly enslaved and impoverished people could settle without owning land.
奥利维拉所在的莫罗达普罗维登西亚社区位于里约市中心的“小非洲”街区，1888年作为巴西第一个贫民社区建立；在那里，曾被奴役的人和贫困人口即使没有土地所有权也可以定居。
In the following decades, favelas suffered from a lack of municipal services like electricity or sewage, and by the 1960s and 70s, dozens of favelas were destroyed, and hundreds of thousands of residents were displaced.
在随后的几十年里，贫民社区缺乏电力、污水处理等市政服务；到20世纪60年代和70年代，数十个贫民社区被摧毁，数十万居民被迫迁离。
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Oliveira says the rise of favela tourism proves that these communities have a place in the city like any other neighbourhood.
奥利维拉说，贫民区旅游的兴起证明，这些社区和其他任何街区一样，在这座城市中占有一席之地。
"To not promote a tourist activity is to acknowledge that we are not connected to the city," he said.
他说：“不去推广一项旅游活动，就等于承认我们与这座城市没有联系。”
A visit to a favela can also demonstrate the many ways in which favela residents have influenced Brazilian culture.
参观贫民社区也能展现出当地居民在许多方面对巴西文化产生的影响。
From samba to baile funk music and capoeira, favelas have both birthed and served as incubators of some of Brazil's most recognisable cultural exports.
从桑巴到 baile funk 音乐和卡波耶拉，法维拉既孕育了巴西一些最具辨识度的文化输出，也一直是它们的孵化地。
And visiting the places where many of these art forms originated helps travellers better understand them, or – in the case of Rosália, who experienced an improvised passinho dance lesson during her favela visit – learn them themselves.
参观许多这些艺术形式的发源地，有助于旅行者更好地理解它们；或者像罗萨莉娅那样，在参观法维拉时体验一堂即兴的 passinho 舞蹈课，亲自学会它们。
"Life in the favelas and the outskirts of cities today shapes the codes of aesthetics, language and fashion," said Oliveira.
奥利维拉说：“如今，贫民社区和城市郊区的生活塑造着审美、语言和时尚的规则。”
"If you want to be a cool person, the way cool people are in Brazil, [you should visit a favela]."
“如果你想成为一个很酷的人，像巴西那些酷人那样，[你就应该去参观贫民窟]。”
"The big question is not… whether or not one should go up to the favela, but how does one go into the favela," says Cavalcanti.
卡瓦尔坎蒂说：“大问题不是……一个人该不该上到贫民窟去，而是一个人该如何进入贫民窟。”
The professor says to look for guides or community associations from the favela you're visiting, and to treat it like it's your own neighbourhood back home.
这位教授说，应该寻找来自你所参观贫民窟的导游或社区协会，并像对待自己家乡的社区一样对待那里。
"If people were taking pictures right outside your door, I bet you wouldn't really like it, so why would you do that?"
“如果有人就在你家门外拍照，我敢说你肯定不会太喜欢，那你为什么要那样做呢？”
It's also a good idea to stick to the favelas that openly welcome tourists – like Vidigal, Rocinha, Morro da Providência and Chapéu Mangueira – but that doesn't mean you need to do a walking history tour.
选择那些公开欢迎游客的贫民社区也是个好主意，比如维迪加尔、罗西尼亚、普罗维登西亚山和沙佩乌-曼盖拉，但这并不意味着你一定要参加步行历史游。
Oliveira encourages visitors to ride up on Morro da Providéncia's free cable car, to come for a pagode concert or for a Carnaval bloco parade that marches through the favela.
奥利维拉鼓励游客乘坐莫罗达普罗维登西亚的免费缆车上山，来看一场 pagode 音乐会，或参加穿行于法维拉的狂欢节 bloco 游行。
Kurpiewska says that she plans to come back to Rio, and if she were to visit a favela again she'd do so by going with someone who lives there.
库尔皮耶夫斯卡说，她计划再回到里约；如果她再次参观贫民窟，她会和住在那里的人一起去。
"I think that's the best way, because it's not performative and it's the closest to the real experience that you get," she said.
她说：“我认为那是最好的方式，因为它不是作秀式的，而且是你能获得的最接近真实的体验。”
For Kurpiewska, visiting the favela was a great way to understand the city's culture better than sticking to its traditional tourist sites, even if some moments caused her heart to race.
对库尔皮耶夫斯卡来说，参观这片贫民社区是了解这座城市文化的好方法，比只去传统旅游景点更深入，尽管有些时刻让她心跳加速。
"Isn't that what travel is really all about – going out and experiencing things?"
“旅行真正的意义不就是走出去、亲身体验各种事物吗？”
she asks.
她问道。
"If it wasn't valuable to have this real experience, then I might as well just sit at home and never go to Rio."
“如果获得这种真实体验没有价值，那我还不如就待在家里，永远别去里约。”
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