Favela Tour

Zezinho's affair with Rocinha

At first I was mentally conflicted about going to a favela...a term used for a 'rural' area where there are shanty houses, closely packed together. I am not heartless by any means but the very idea of going to see underprivileged people as a tourist did not seem right. What would they get out of my visit? Is this even morally correct? Have I not seen enough 'favelas' (or worse) in India? With all these questions in my head, but keeping an open mind, I set out to visit Rocinha- the biggest favela in Rio de Janeiro housing quarter of a million people. Rahul had booked us with Zezinho, who was a cheerful, chirpy guy, completely covered in tattoos,  and will make you feel instantly at ease. He picked us up from our hotel and accompanied us on the van ride to the top of Rocinha.

The best part was that he belonged to Rocinha...which did not make us very 'touristy' at all. Rather than feeling like an outsider, who was here to watch and click pictures of poor people in shanty homes, I felt like I was visiting a friend, who was taking me to visit his friends! We started from the top and headed downhill...Zezinho told us the history of how the favelas came about, how the city's garbage, water and electricity were managed, and how it was being kept under check by the drug lords... we even saw some 'look out' points and 'hot spots' (drug purchase zones!).  

As we maneuvered our way through the narrow alleyways, we couldn't miss the colorful graffiti on the walls, the cheerful kids and adults who will stop by and say 'Oi'. I instantly felt like I was part of the community...

Zezinho showed Rahul some really good spots to take pictures; the highlight of the tour was his friend's 'penthouse'...what else would you call a roof apartment that has this view (below)?

 

Notice the high rises in the picture above? They are a true illustration of the gap (or the lack of it!) between the rich and the poor...We must have spent about an hr or so here just taking pictures and admiring the greenery and architecture, watching kids flying kites from their roof tops, and just taking in every bit of Rocinha...We continued further down, visited Zezinho's house, and then from there proceeded along to see some local schools, a day care, radio station, a catholic church, couple of real estate offices, housing complexes recently built by the government, and Zezinho's favorite restaurant where we had some coffee. Finally we concluded our tour outside the sports centre.

We also saw the beautiful archway entry into Rocinha, with a Welcome sign. Rocinha just recently went on the map! Zezinho had passed on his love for his community to us. We left Rocinha a bit sad, as the 6h had gone by too fast, but feeling deeply connected to a neglected group of people, who didn't even speak our  language but welcomed us with open hearts, smiles on their face and 'Oi' on their lips. Here ends the story of Zezinho's continuing affair with Rocinha...

I cannot recommend Zezinho more to you! If you take his tour, please tell him " Rahul and Padma said Oi!"