But that's not the whole of Rio. The city is built around a series of hills and on every hillside, stretching down to the flatter land between, are the favelas. These are often described as "slums" or "shantytowns" but having been to Rocinha I'd argue against the use of either term. They're communities, they're unregulated and unplanned and look like they're in a constant state of being built with bare brickwork common, but "slum" to me suggests something much more chaotic and basic than what we experienced in Rocinha.
We met our guide, Sandro, at the entrance to the favela. Rocinha sits above one of the two main roads which run out from Rio towards Barra di Tijuca, where the Olympic Park is located and where there are hundreds of gated condominium communities along a wide, consumer-centric avenue. Very close by is the beach at Sao Conrado and one of the most exclusive areas in the whole city, and above it, Rocinha.
Sandro told us that at current estimates 250,000+ people live in Rocinha, although officially the number is more like 70,000. He wasn't sure what the area covered by the favela is; Wikipedia says it's 143.7 hectares, equating to a density of around 48,000 people/square kilometre, or 120,000 per square mile.
The favela is governed, insofar as it is governed, by the gangs. Currently the guy in charge is called Rogerio, and although he's a fugitive from the police he's still the boss. Until a few years ago the favela was run by a man called Nem, who encouraged tourism - something which still continues, we saw a number of other tour groups and a sign for a guesthouse while we were there.
Sandro is half-English, half-Italian (Sardinian, to be precise) and he works for an Italian NGO called Il Sorriso dei miei Bimbi (The smile of my children). The NGO runs a number of social projects in Rocinha and Sandro's been there five months - a relatively short time, but he seemed to know a lot of people. As well as seeing the favela we also saw all four of the projects, which was interesting.
Most people enter Rocinha from the bottom along the Via Apia da Rocinha, a fairly wide street running pretty much straight uphill and lined with shops. There are a lot of shops all over Rocinha covering every need possible: supermarkets, butchers, hairdressers, toy shops, clothes shops, second-hand electrical goods, bakeries selling beautifully-decorated cakes, a shop selling elegant glassware next to one which seemed to be a junk shop, pet shops ... Sandro told us Rocinha had an unusually high number of businesses for a favela. Basically, you don't need to go anywhere else for your everyday items.
It was just off the Via Apia where we saw the first of Il Sorriso's projects, a primary school. A class of kids aged between three and six were having their mid-morning snack when we popped in, and they seemed happy to see us. Sandro teaches them English on Thursday mornings so there was lots of "hello!" and "bye" from all the class. The school tries to educate children for free but parents with incomes are asked to contribute some fees. As well as normal lessons they get taught about gardening with a little garden on the roof, and also have capoeira lessons (capoeira is a Brazilian martial art). The school is trying to encourage them to improve their diets and health as well as their minds.
We then jumped in a van to go to the top of Rocinha. The whole place is on a hill and there are two ways to get to the top; minivans, or motortaxi. The theory of the vans appears to be you hail, climb in, hand over R$3.60 (about 85p) and then jump out when you reach your destination. It was busy with several people standing.
Up a short hill from where we climbed out we were treated to an exceptional view over towards Christ the Redeemer, the Lagoa, Ipanema Beach and beyond. Below us was an American school which Sandro told us charged fees of around US $2,500 a month. I can't imagine what that equates to in terms of the average salary for a Rocinha resident and its location, on the other side of the hill from the favela, just helped drive home the inequalities in Rio.
Back down the hill Sandro took us on a winding route through the narrow alley-like streets of the favela. There's barely room for two people to pass down most of these, and at every turn there's a flight of stairs leading to another alleyway or into a house or shop. Sometimes you can hear rushing water, which isn't water at all; it's raw sewage as the favelas don't have proper sanitation. This is one of the things causing the pollution problems which have hit the headlines around the Olympics. If you have 250,000 people's sewage heading down a hill with the sea nearby it's difficult to catch it and treat it before it gets into the ocean, sadly.
Electricity is similarly disorganised. As in Vietnam cables run above the streets in large, complicated bundles. I would not like to be a favela electrician. TV aerials are connected in a similar fashion but everyone also has Sky satellite dishes.
Eventually we wound up climbing a steep flight of steps to a balcony with a truly stunning view over the favela towards the big rock called Pedro da Gavea, around which there was a flock of paragliders circling. You could see down to Sao Conrado and the highway too. The balcony is newly-constructed by Il Sorriso, and features a decent-sized garden area with chillies, tomatoes, herbs, lettuce and other plants donated by another social project, Favela Verde. The balcony will serve as an outdoor classroom to help teach kids about sustainability. with board which act as barriers but also blackboards. Sandro helped build the area earlier this year, and the team carried up all their materials - metal and concrete - from the bigger street below. Like many other buildings in the favela it doesn't technically have planning permission, as you're not supposed to build anything in Rocinha, but what happens in practice is that you make friends with your neighbours and get their permission (and help, and in this case, coffee) for new constructions.
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| Balcony view |
Heading back towards Via Apia we passed through a street of brightly-coloured buildings - purple, green, orange, blue - which had recently been regenerated. But we also passed by a drug dealer, sitting on a plastic chair waiting for customers. Sandro asked us not to take pictures at that point, but it was the only time in the whole tour.
Drugs are obviously a big problem in the favela, and it's impossible to pretend it's all peace and quiet there all the time - shootouts happen regularly and there is violence. But there are also people just trying to have a normal life, make the best of what they have, and there's an incredible community feel there. At one point one of our group had lagged behind to take a picture and someone on the street pointed out to Sandro that we'd got strung out. People look out for each other in the favela. While I wouldn't swap my life for theirs - I'm aware how lucky I am - I do envy them that community feel. It's something which too many big city communities elsewhere have lost.
At the end of our tour we got in cabs and drove to Ipanema and had sushi in a Japanese restaurant, and it could have been in another world. We were back in the bubble. I'm glad we left it for a couple of hours.
Fascinating to see how some of the normal people of the city live. Are there any groups trying to address the sanitation issues? It must pose a health risk in the favela as well as wider pollution problems.
ReplyDeleteNot sure. The Rio municipal authorities were supposed to be sorting it out pre-Olympics but frankly I don't think it's doable given that there's very little control over the favelas. The groups are more focused on social issues - education, sport and so on - than the big practical things, as far as I can work out.
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