Day 13 – Our visit to a Favela – Progressively Louder Laughter

The world ‘favela’ refers to a Brazilian slum in an urban area.

When we first arrived in Rio (the city centre) we heard several stories of the police going into favelas and gunning down people every night. This is done by the Unidade de Polícia Pacificadora or the Police Pacification Unit. Their main objective is to pacify favelas to stop the bleed of crime into their city centres. The main problem in Rio is that once arrested, the drug lords and mafia are able to secure their freedom. Arresting them will only lead to them entering a corrupt judicial system that can be paid off with fancy lawyers, landing the drug lords and mafia back in their favelas to perpetuate the cycle of crime. To combat this, the Pacification Unit is given free rein to go into favelas and conduct their own justice- execution-style. It’s not uncommon for children and innocent civilians to get caught in the crossfire.

So essentially we are warned not to go into a favela.

Of course, when my Danish friend suggests a tour of a favela I jump to the opportunity- I was very eager to move on from Carnival parties.

Our tour takes place in the favela Rochina (scenes from City of Men and other blockbusters were filmed here). It’s the biggest favela in Rio and our tour guide is an inhabitant. He starts by telling us that we have nothing to worry about, we won’t get shot or robbed but we should watch out for motorcycles and dog shit.

Favelas (at least in Rio) are built into the mountains. They were built by people who immigrated from the North of Brazil (the Bahia region mainly). They were built into the mountains so that they were beyond the reach of the bull-dozers and the grasp of the government.

The tour guide takes us up a large flight of stairs (this is how Brazilian girls get their great butts, he says) and we are rewarded with a proper view of Rio and the favela Rochina. It’s estimated that about 100,000 to 300,000 people live in Rochina.

The houses are built so closely together and so high that when we start to descend down one staircase after the next you think that they have dug down, tunneling into the earth. At the lowest point, there is almost no sunlight. It smells like shit, literally. The sewer system is awful. There are rats everywhere. The electrical lines a tangled mess, and water is sometimes not available for days (it takes longer for water to reach so high up into the mountains).

The people in the favelas hate the police who stand watch over them, armed with military weapons. In their mind, the police have come in and brutally disrupted the ecosystem of their community. To them, the government and the police are just as corrupt with their money and power. It’s just in a completely different way.