Economics With A Face

When the police do enter the area, look-out boys in their young teens who work for the gangs set off fireworks to alert the neighborhood to the police presence. If we heard fireworks, we were told not too worry as it is fairly common for police to enter the outskirts. Yet, we shouldn’t stray too far off on our own in the case that we would need to leave the area quickly.

After that introduction Christina gave us more information on Vila Canoas, a community where money from the tours went to support a small school that gave supplemental classes to children from the neighborhood. Public schools where horrible in Rio she explained, and as none of these residents could afford private schooling, it was a way for them to keep up children in the private schools who they would have to compete against for admission into the public university. On a side note not only were the public schools in shambles, but so were the public hospitals.

Once we arrived we walked around the narrow alleyways Vila Conoas. Zoning laws were obviously non-existent. Almost like layers of a cake the buildings shot up, each floor clearly built at different times, sometimes 5 or 6 stories high. While meters had been installed once the electricity company was privatized, we were told the company loses heftily in the favelas. Huge bundles of illegal wires visibly made their way to various apartments powering stereos, VCRs, and boom-boxes we could see and hear as we made our way through the neighborhood.

Once back at the school we met a few of the students. It is summer vacation in Brazil so there were only about five kids. During the school year the classes have 50 students for a morning session and 50 for an evening session. The ages of students vary from 5 to 12. The boys who where there were excited to show off some of the Christmas crafts they had completed in the prior weeks.

Next, we headed to Rocinha. As we entered Christina explained that the black flags that where visible around the city were to mourn the death of a drug lord killed by the police a month ago. She also explained that the original drug gang, Comando Vermelho (Red Command), had recently been challenged by another gang, Amigo dos Amigos. In a bloody war that still continues, ADA has taken control of Rocinha.

Driving into Rocinha, what shocked me the most was how normal it seemed. We stopped at a supermarket to buy some drinks. Not only did they have all products you would expect any small corner store to have, they also took credit cards. Further up the road there was a “Bob’s Burger” a franchise fast food place. I was expecting to stand out like a sore thumb. There is no doubt we did to some extent, but it also seemed like people were so busy shopping, heading to and from the city, and just going about their everyday lives that we were hardly noticed. You could tell that this was a poorer part of Rio but this was not a “misery tour,” a term told to us yesterday.

We next stopped at a residence where we headed up to the roof to get a view of the city. Next door was an extremely nice apartment. When I enquired about it Christina said that the building was recently featured on the news, as five people in the favela had pooled their money, got a loan, and built the apartments that they now rented. She said that people ask: Why would they build it here? And why would people pay more to live here when they could get out of the favela? Renting ocean views at discount prices was the answer.

From the top of the roof we could see a huge water tank that had been donated to Rocinha by one of the drug lords. City services like running water were difficult to come by in the favelas. We could also see several satellite dishes atop the houses. Christina explained that many of these luxuries are afforded through credit payments. When I had enquired earlier about property titles she explained that, yes, people in the favelas did have property titles and theirs was an active real-estate market.

At the end of the tour we stopped off at a small market where residents were selling crafts and paintings clearly geared towards tourists. Some graffiti artists were even selling some of their work.

A little after 12:00 we were back at the hotel and shortly afterwards on a bus to Sao Paulo. We arrived in Sao Paulo around 8:00 and headed to a hotel in the “Little Tokyo” area of the city. We took advantage of the setting an went out for sushi. Tomorrow morning Todd departs back to California. We´ll be sad to see him go.