Yesterday I did a Favela (or slum) tour, with Marcelo Armstrong`s company. He was the pioneer of the Favela tour, but now there are many companies that do it. Marcelo`s tour takes you to the biggest Favela in Rio (and second biggest in the world - with 60,000 inhabitants) Hocinha. It`s above Ipanema beach area. It also goes to a small Favela, with only 3,000 people, called Villa Canoas.
The whole notion of a Favela tour in the first place can seem a little bit wrong. In a friend`s hostel, someone wrote "It`s not a zoo!" on an advertising poster. However, apparently the communities were consulted before they started getting big, and they decided that they wanted the tours. They bring money, and change people`s perceptions. The first stop, for example, had a small market of local artist`s work to sell to tourists. The tour I went on partially funds a "school" - though really it`s a place to go outside of the short school hours to get fed, taken care of and have extra academic help. I certainly learnt a lot more about Favelas and what they`re actually like.Favelas are a huge part of Rio. They are unusual in that they are scattered through out the city, instead of being on the outskirts (as they seemed to be in Sao Paulo). Some now famous people - such as sports stars - grew up in Favelas. They are also the driver that started Carneval in Rio, and apparently have the best after-parties. There are about 160 in Rio, so a large amount of people live in them.
On the way to Hocinha there was a graphic illustration of the appalling wealth divide. We went past a private school and saw all the cars and their chauffeurs waiting for the students to come out. Then, just around the corner, we hit the main (and only proper) road in Hocinha (shown in the first picture).
It was different from what I imagined. There`s all the problems you hear about - the low standard of living, the fact that organised crime units run the place and that police are actually worse than the drug dealers who keep the law and order and the buildings that are erected out of the materials people could find, with no building codes adhered to, and no meters attached to the web of power lines. (The gangs are only really are violent over drugs, and if there`s a war between them and another gang unit, or the police. The police on the other hand are lowly paid and corrupt, even robbing a bank not long after in opened in Hocinha). But the reality is they are the same as any people - clean, dressed in normal clothes, and going about their daily lives. There were shops, banks, buses, cars and bikes. They just earn a lot less, are less educated, and live in much more crowded conditions (though things are pretty crowded all over Rio, being a big city and all).
The second Favela, Villa Canoas, was a little different. It was sandwiched between wealthy houses and a golf course, again showing the wealth divide and the integrated nature of the Favelas. But it was small, and more like a labarenth. The houses were a few stories high (some piled on top of each other), and the "streets" were only just wide enough to fit two people across. The buildings closed in above, limiting the penetration of natural light. It was very strange, like walking through a dungeon, but with peoples` houses and even shops on either side. A very claustrophobic existence.
Villa Canoas, being so small and manageable, has had some reforms put in place. There are meters for power, street names, and a sewage system (I think). The federal Government is planning to put this kind of infrastructure in all Favelas - which is very ambitious, and will take some time (of course, being run by the Government) if it happens at all. It`s a trade-off - the people will have more regulation, paying for power and probably taxes too, which they don`t now, but then they get important and vital infrastructure in return.
A great experience, I learnt a lot.
