I was woken early by Mette slapping my in the back telling me to have breakfast and get ready for the favela tour. Riccardo booked the tour for us at 2am while we sat chatting and drinking. The tour guide was asleep at the time but we were assured it was booked. It turned out that the tour wasn’t actually booked at all and so we had to reschedule for later in the day.

 

I decided to go back to bed while Amalie and Mette went walk about. I woke at 12 to get ready for the tour again which was meant to be at 1. The guide was late and we didn’t leave till about 230. We were in a group of roughly 14 people, mostly poms, all squeezed into a 12 seater van...
 
We reached Rocinha which is the largest favela in Rio with an estimated 200,000 people! Rocinha is located on the side and in the valley of a small mountain range, or maybe they’re only considered hills... At the base of the favela we each jumped on the back of a motorbike and zoomed all the way up the main windy street to the top. Without a helmet and holding on for dear life it was an exciting ride!

 

Reaching the top we gathered together and the guide gave us a brief background to the beginnings of the favela and of the politics involved. Almost no one pays any tax or for electricity, instead they make their own connections to power lines by running a cable from their small box like houses to the nearest power pole. The power poles are a tangled mess of black power cables that looks ready to short circuit but it all manages to work. The small shopping stalls that litter the numerous paths and laneways pay for their power and so have a more reliable supply. Those that tap in to the grid continually experience power outs, which was the case today.

 

The main road we took to reach the top is the only road in Rocinha that is wide enough for 2 lanes of traffic, not that there are any lines marked... All the other roads or laneways are barely wide enough for two people to walk down. The tour guide directed us to one of the main avenues in the favela, one of a few laneways that run from the top all the way to the bottom. Throughout the favela are numerous paths that connect to these main laneways.

 

Walking down in single file we often passed side streets that seemed to vanish downward in a tangle of houses or upward through what seemed like another house or shopping stall. One wrong turn and you would be completely lost and with no sense of wether you were on the right level or if your current path lead to a rooftop or basement. We once passed two men hauling a fridge up the narrow path. With only one major road that is off to the very side of the favela, lugging things over your shoulder and carrying them to your home is the only option.
 
The first stop in the tour was the rooftop of a building at pretty much the highest point in Rocinha. The view from this vantage point was awesome. It’s nothing but rooftops, a tangle of paths, blue water storage containers and little kites the whole way to the bottom. The kites were once used by the drug lords as a means of communicating a police insurgence, but are today used by the kids to pass the time. Some kids glue bits of glass to the strings to wage battles against rival kites, the glass cuts the string sending the rival kite floating away to its doom.

 

Throughout the tour we stopped at various shops to try out the foods. We met with locals, listened to a few kids playing drums with empty buckets and tins, and got a glimpse of what life is like in the favela. It was different to what I expected. I thought it would be a rundown mess wrought with violence and crime, that I would have to be mindful of my belongings and always keep up with the tour guide. In fact, the favela is a somewhat peaceful place. It is quite filthy but that seems to be an out of the way thing, something you only notice if you look or smell for it. Otherwise life seems to be ok, not fantastic by any means but certainly bearable. There is an overwhelming sense of community and belonging that I didn’t expect. The crime rate is apparently near zero which I found easy to believe. While I wouldn’t want to be left alone for too long a time I still felt safe and unthreatened.

 

The next stop was at a local artists gallery where I bought a nice painting of the favela nestled amongst the trees on the side of the hill. Now I just need somewhere to hang it... The artist has been painting in the favela for a good 20years and has a fascinating collection.

 

Closer to the bottom we visited a crèche where each floor had a different age group of kids, from three year olds on the first floor to tiny babies on the top floor. We reached the roof and took another look out over the favela, this time from close to the bottom looking up. The art shop was clearly visible and almost near the top. The whole tour had taken roughly 4 hours and was an awesome experience :)

 

Returning to the hostel I spent the rest of the evening playing games and chatting with Amalie. She's such a nice and friendly girl but terrible at playing any of the games! I beat her at everything! Ha! In actual fact she beat ME at everything which is very rare, most girls are terrible at playing games.