The last day of my stay in Rio we went on a tour into one of the favelas. My friend and I had been talking a lot about whether we should do it or not. Those kind of events can be rather tacky things, poverty tourism or misery voyeurism, neither of which we would like to contribute to. On the other hand the favelas are such a big part of Rio’s (and Latin America’s) reputation and character that it would be strange never to have seen what it is all about. But as it seems unadvisable to go there on you own and if you don’t know anyone living there who can take you, there are not that many options. So after having deliberates pros and cons for quite a while we decided to go on a tour with Be a local.
A bus took us to the entrance of the Rocinha favela. From there we went on a motorcycle taxi up to the top of the hill, from where we then would walk down the narrow lanes and alleys. During the ride up the hill I for the first time really started to wonder if we had made the right decision. The drivers were racing each other up the winding serpentine road, overtaking each other and criss-crossing between busses, cars, pedestrians and animals at a hellish speed. Of course we did not wear helmets or any other protection. Ok, I thought, this is exactly what you are NOT supposed to do while travelling. I think my friend was particularly nervous as he just a couple of days before had realised his travel insurance had expired. But anyhow, we all survived.
Rocinha is supposedly the biggest favela in South America with an estimated population of 200 000, but of course no one really knows, as no one living there is registered and no one counts. The government has no real control of the favelas and the ones living there don’t pay any tax, which of course also is one of the reasons why the drug lords have established themselves there. This might now be changing. The government has started to clear, or pacify, some of the favelas and promised to solve the problems by building new houses for the inhabitants etc. There are obvious problems in the favelas, the sanitary situation is not great, in some there are high levels of crime and violence connected to the drug-trade and the complete lack of town and country planning poses risks in it self. Almost all favelas are built on steep slopes on the hills and at risk for landslides. So something needs to be done, and should have been done long time ago, but no one really cared. Now with the World Cup and the Olympics coming up that has changed and things are happening. Therefore it was indeed interesting to see what it looks now.
I must say that our hesitation about to go or not to go very soon changed, the guide was very good and knowledgeable and knew all the people we met and seemed to be well seen in the area. No one seemed to object to us being there, on the contrary. We visited a gallery, a bakery, a social project and some small shops that had the opportunity to sell things to us and earn a few Reais. Therefore it did not feel as we were voyeurs and we were both very happy we did the tour.
Of course it is poor and crowded and the buildings are very simple, but somehow it was more well-organised than I thought. Although you had open sewers running along the paths and loads of garbage everywhere and the smell was sometimes overwhelming, the insides of the houses and shops all seemed very clean and tidy.
As it is sprawling high up on the hillside you have a stunning view from many places in the favela. Then it also becomes very clear how close the poorest and the richest live in Rio.
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