From Copacabana to the "Rocinho" Favela: The two faces of Rio
I had got a little tired of lying on the beach watching the Brasilian Baywatch in action and decided to brave it and head towards the (in)Famous Favelas of Rio. I was told of a tour company called "Be A Local" that organises (safe) walks across the Rocinho favela and that uses the money we pay them to rehabilitate the favela in some way.
We were picked up by our guide, a young gutsy brasilian woman with a tattoo on her thigh (the things you remember!) and were driven to Rocinha (supposedly) the largest favela in south america. From the start I new it would be interesting. We were picked up at the bottom of the hill and told to climb behind the local taxi (ie. a guy on a motorbike). We then proceeded to Zoom up the hill, narrowly missing the local buses and odd pedestrian. The adrenalin was already pumping!
Before we made our way down into the favela our guide explained that it was completely safe for us to walk around with her. That eventhough there were many drug dealers around they were not interested in us. We were likely to meet a lot of kids who would know all of three words in english: "gringo, money and photo". And finally that was completely ok for us to take the camera out and take pictures.
The favela in itself was extremely dirty and cramped. There was no internal suage system and the many mountains of trash we saw lying around frequently took over the small alleys we had to walk through. The houses were nothing more than shacks, usually consisting of only one room. There are no real rules in terms of who gets what. The basic idea is that if you find a place to build then build your house and it´s yours. Hence the mess.
Although people were living in squalor, I could still feel that brazilian vibe that makes Brazil what it is. Due to the language barrier it was hard to make contact but my smile was always answered by a discreet smile back. Children were coming up to us shouting "photo, photo" and then making us take another one if they didn´t like the first one.
It was a humbling experience.
We were picked up by our guide, a young gutsy brasilian woman with a tattoo on her thigh (the things you remember!) and were driven to Rocinha (supposedly) the largest favela in south america. From the start I new it would be interesting. We were picked up at the bottom of the hill and told to climb behind the local taxi (ie. a guy on a motorbike). We then proceeded to Zoom up the hill, narrowly missing the local buses and odd pedestrian. The adrenalin was already pumping!
Before we made our way down into the favela our guide explained that it was completely safe for us to walk around with her. That eventhough there were many drug dealers around they were not interested in us. We were likely to meet a lot of kids who would know all of three words in english: "gringo, money and photo". And finally that was completely ok for us to take the camera out and take pictures.
The favela in itself was extremely dirty and cramped. There was no internal suage system and the many mountains of trash we saw lying around frequently took over the small alleys we had to walk through. The houses were nothing more than shacks, usually consisting of only one room. There are no real rules in terms of who gets what. The basic idea is that if you find a place to build then build your house and it´s yours. Hence the mess.
Although people were living in squalor, I could still feel that brazilian vibe that makes Brazil what it is. Due to the language barrier it was hard to make contact but my smile was always answered by a discreet smile back. Children were coming up to us shouting "photo, photo" and then making us take another one if they didn´t like the first one.
It was a humbling experience.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home