5. Praia Boa Viagem
Praia da Boa Viagem is the beach located in the most fashionable district of Recife, capital of the state of Pernanbuco, situated in the Northeastern coast of Brazil. The beaches there are beautiful and the weather is always nice and warm, inviting swimmers and surfers to get in the water—but don’t be misled by that! Even in shallow waters, death can be stalking you in the shape of a Bull Shark! Boa Viagem beach has earned the reputation as one of the most dangerous beaches for swimmers. Many deaths were reported and most of the victims that survived the attacks lost parts of their bodies like legs, arms, and hands.
4. Cracolandia
Cracolandia means “Crackland”, and it’s a very sad, dark and dirty place. Located in São Paulo’s downtown, Cracolandia is crowded by crack addicts. You see all kinds of freaks there, fucked-up people hallucinating, even kids and pregnant women are seen smoking crack there. Like zombies in the streets dying for a rock, they get so crazy that you can see people touching the ground looking for the little white rocks. The local authorities took down Cracolandia and cleaned the place some years ago, but then Cracolandia was reborn from the ashes and re-established in some other dark alley downtown. Like a virus that never ceases to grow, this social problem never ends. The band Ratos de Porão has a song called “Exercito de Zumbis” which means “Army of Zombies”, and that’s exactly what you see in Cracolandia, an army of zombies living among the rats.
3. Treme Treme
Treme Treme is a famous complex of three buildings located in Bexiga neighbourhood near São Paulo’s downtown. The nickname Treme Treme means “shake-shake”, because this complex is a hell of a place! Inhabited mainly by prostitutes, drug dealers, homeless people, outlaws, and bad guys of all sorts, this place used to be in constant battle. There were reports of people throwing big gas containers out of their windows on top of police cars, people shooting people on holidays like New Year’s Eve and Christmas, people shooting with their guns out of their windows. Unless you wanna buy drugs or hook up with some skanky prostitute, you don’t wanna go to Treme Treme. Luckily for the neighbourhood, the police shut down the Treme Treme, and they closed business some years ago.
2. Ilha da queimada grande
Known as the Snake Island, Ilha da queimada grande is located 20 miles off the south shore of the state of São Paulo and is untouched by human developers. The Brazilian Navy has expressly forbidden anyone from landing on the island—the reason: the island is home to the Golden Lancehead Viper, which is one of the most venomous snakes in the world. It’s estimated that there’s more than one snake per square meter on the island. The Lancehead snakes are responsible for 90% of Brazilian snakebite-related fatalities. The Golden Lanceheads that occupy the island possess a powerful, fast-acting poison that melts the flesh around their bites. So if you go to the Ilha da queimada grande, watch out, you are never more than three feet away from certain death!
1. Favela Vila Cruzeiro
Situated in the slums of Rio de Janeiro hills, Favela Vila Cruzeiro was considered to be one of the most dangerous favelas in Brazil. The place used to be ruled and controlled by the drug cartel and some of the most wanted criminals in the country. Skinny kids, only wearing shorts and sandals, carrying machine guns were seen guarding strategic places on the top of the hill, watching for police intrusion. Often fierce gun battles between police force, traffickers and rival drug gangs burst out, and heavy weaponry opened fire, bringing death and terror to the innocent families who live there. Even police helicopters were shot down by bazookas a couple of times. Last year, a group of more than a thousand cops and military soldiers, backed-up by tanks and air force, took over the Vila Cruzeiro, and after more than 40 hours of shooting, more than 50 people were dead and 200 arrested.
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