I have had this post mostly written up on my kindle for the last few days but this weekend has been a whirlwind and time has run away with us! On Friday we visited a favela and we had such a great day!
A Swiss lady staying in our hostel knows a man who, for ten years ran the largest favela in Rio de Janeiro; Roscinha. I will direct you to this website (http://soulbrasileiro.com/main/rio-de-janeiro/favelas/rocinha/rocinha/) if you want to read about it and also this blog post because I think it is interesting- http://travelhits.com.au/2011/02/rocinha-favela-rios-largest-shanty-town/
His name is Paulo but is known around the favela as Peanuts. And when I say known it’s not a hi here or there, it’s every person in the community calling his name, shaking his hand, kissing him on the cheek, my friend my friend. And he was blowing kisses in all directions. Such a lovely guy. He took us into the main street of the favela. It is connected by public busses but the main form of transport in Roscinha is motar taxi. You just hop on the back and they will save you the aching legs that the steep slopes give you. Alas on this trip we didn’t use these but opted for the climb on foot. Luckily Rio has been a little cooler – around 32 degrees and so it wasn’t too unbearable. We even had a thunder storm yesterday! And rain! Never did I think I would be happy to see rain. But it is not english rain. It smells of warm but fresh air and greenery. Such a beautiful smell.
Rocinha has three banks, countless shops and restaurants and since 2011, its members have been registered. This is both good and bad for the people. It means they have the rights to live there, it means they must pay tax and that houses must be bought or rented and contrary to what you might think, they are quite expensive. This is the most organised favela in Rio and the largest in South America it is believed.
There is art everywhere. Beautiful graffiti colouring the sides of buildings and in the area called- the roots, there are wires almost as tangled as when I visited the area of Kolkata with many bookshops and universities. But, everything works. What, from an outsiders perspective may be chaos, is organised and working perfectly.
We also had a short lesson from some local guys to some dancing and a martial art (maybe tai chi although I am sure it began with a c..) I will try to insert some photos. There is nothing so beautiful as a Brazilian smile!
As we progressed up the hill, it felt like the view got more and more beautiful until we reached this forested area- almost rainforest- where we drunk in the beauty of Rio for a while, also appreciating how cool it was.
The photo above is of Zoe and I and some of the people who are living in our hostel- such lovely people! This was taken on the balcony of a couple who live in the favela and kindly invited us into their beautiful home.
We landed up having a double tour and so instead of getting the bus back to Santa Teresa, we walked down the hill through some much smaller streets. This is where all of the drug movements go on. It is so strange to see a pistol at the hip of someone with such kind eyes.
All in all, we are gradually gaining more of an idea as to how Rio works, although I’m not sure if we will ever reach more than the surface!
I hope you have had a fantastic day!
Love Esther
Esther's Blog 