Boa Viagem

7/18/14

Friday was our last day in Brazil but we wouldn’t be flying out until 1am that night, so we booked a favela tour for the morning and a hotel room for the afternoon. The favela (shanty town/urban slum) tour took us to Rocinha, which is the country’s largest favela (an estimated population of anywhere between 100,000-200,000 people) and had recently undergone military pacification (i.e. the drug lords were kicked out and the place is patrolled 24/7 by police now) in anticipation of the World Cup and upcoming Olympics. We learned that the term favela actually comes from the late 19^th century following emancipation. When Brazil freed its slaves, it gave them no education or government assistance. So, with no money and nowhere to go, this poor population went to live at the top of the hills, where they could find space to build a house. The word favela is just the name of a plant that used to grow in the hills. 

Today, people who live in the favelas prefer the term “community.” The government still does not offer much in the way of education (public school is only 4 hours a day and only covers the basics) or public services (residents and businesses pay little to no taxes because they don’t receive anything in return), so the community is more or less self-sufficient. People own their own homes and will sell off the “top” (the roof) to someone else who wants to build a home. This continues and the tiny buildings continue to be added onto and the area grows into a vertical maze. [Nick: This arrangement seemed incredible to me. If you sell the right to the construction above your house, then the next person can sell the rights above their house, and so on indefinitely; the original owners at the bottom do not have a say. There are some houses that were 6 or more stories high, but how do they know the bottom house can take all that weight? They are just lucky they live in a country without earthquakes.] They have all the same stores and businesses as any other town (electrical wires are spliced in all directions, as electricity and internet are stolen from the wealthier neighborhoods next door), just not as fancy of buildings and products are cheaper (since they don’t pay taxes on them). The people who live in Rocinha may not have much but the favela affords them the choicest real estate – since the city is wedged in between rocky cliffs, the favelas are built high up on the hills, overlooking Rio and sloping down to a secluded beach. If you haven’t seen it, you should definitely rent the movie “City of God;” it’s not specifically about Rocinha but it’s a striking and beautifully shot film about life in a Brazilian favela, pre-pacification. It’s not to be missed. [Nick: I actually thought Rocinha was surprisingly nice. The main streets were filled with businesses, lots of people, and economic activity. In comparison with many places in SE Asia, Africa or India (OK almost any place in India), the favela was very clean. They obviously had the terrible wiring that comes from ad-hoc construction, but it was nowhere near as bad as in Saigon. I guess that just shows how the Americas are pretty economically advanced compared to much of Asia and Africa.]

After the favela tour, the rest of the day was pretty lax. Nick had the bright idea of renting a hotel room for the day so that we could at least wash up and relax, with a place to keep our bags before our red eye in the middle of the night. It was the right thing to do. We were so wasted from being sick and a little harried from constantly being on the go, we needed a place to nap and just hang out rather than wandering around the city with our luggage, waiting to go home. [Nick: And I got to work out at the hotel gym on the top floor of the hotel with a beautiful view of Pão de Açúcar mountain. That hour or so on the treadmill was the only exercise I did in 6 weeks!]

And home is looking really good right now. We truly enjoyed our trip to Brazil and all the excitement of the World Cup (best World Cup in history!), but six weeks away from home is a long time and we’re both looking forward to our own bed, our favorite restaurants, getting back to the gym (eating heavy meals and sitting in front of a tv 4+ hours a day is no way to live a normal life!), and seeing our friends and family. Would we do an entire World Cup trip again? Probably not (certainly not to Russia or Qatar) but I would definitely go to a few games, especially in the early stages when everything is still exciting and anticipatory of how all the teams will qualify. We couldn’t have done the trip without our friends Fe and Filipe – they welcomed us into their home, included us in their family, helped us navigate this amazing country, and made the trip that much better for us. I think Nick certainly found a kindred soccer spirit in Filipe ;o) The best part of it all was Costa Rica – we never would have dreamed they would do so well and we were there to participate in all of it!! It was awesome; a true jogo bonito. :o)

[Nick: Brazil was an amazing country and a great host. They really pulled off the World Cup very well. Even though the media is going to be filled with doomsday scenarios for Rio’s 2016 Olympics, I think this shows they can totally do it. I definitely want to return but next time I want to do more eco-tourism (a few years back we went to Iguazu Falls; definitely one of the most amazing sites I have ever seen; you should go) and see the Amazon and maybe some beaches that are not right in the city. Fe, Filipe, Camila and Isabela along with the rest of their family really helped us learn more about Brazil, its people and way of life; we got along so well and had a lot of laughs. I wish they lived next door (well there are a lot of people I love and wish they all lived next door). I agree with Cat that as far as going to other World Cups, I think “been there done that”. I don’t think that there is much in Qatar to see and, while I would like to visit some of Russia, definitely a World Cup would not be the time. However, if the World Cup is in the U.S., Mexico or maybe Europe I would go. However, I will not get tickets again that depend on the results of the early games (well maybe in the U.S.). I realize that I dodged a bullet with Costa Rica qualifying first in their group so I did not have to change any reservations; that would have been hell trying to make last minute plans. Overall, it was a great experience in the greatest soccer country, visiting all new areas we had never seen, Costa Rica being the darling of the tournament (8^th best in the world!), and getting to share it with amazing friends and their family; truly an irreproducible, once-in-a-lifetime experience to cherish forever.]