Kids with guns

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So after our hectic week last week, we started this week just chilling and taking it easy. The week started off rather miserably though, whilst we were hoping for a day on the beach after last nights adventures, we woke up to rain! As if it rains in Rio we all cried!!! So instead we went for a wonder up and down Copacabana beach. Went for a drink at a beachside cafe and were serenaded by a samba band - they were really good and played the famous Mas Que Nada - we were very impressed and knew we were in Brazil then!!! Next day everybody left us!!! All our friends who´d made over the week were continuing on their travels, so we bid our farewells and spent a day on the beach and nearly drowned!!!! The sea's been really rough the last few days and the waves were reaching heights of baout 7 feet! We were sunbathing mind our own business and heard some Portuguese bloke shouting at us - we thought he was just trying to sell us something, then Michelle quickly screamed Beth, i looked up and was greeted by the sea (despite being 30ft away from the sea!). So i quickly jumped up, grabbed what i could whilst everything else slowly got swept away! We settled down again, this time practically on the boardwalk and yep the same thing happened, though this time i was slightly more prepared and managed to rescue all my stuff! Most annoying thing is, it only seemed ot happen to the part of the beach we were sat on - typical!

After the sea fiasco, we decided to go on our last tour, a tour of Rocinha Favela. As already mentioned, favelas are the slums in Rio, think theres about 100 slums that exist in Rio alone. Rocinha until 2 years ago was quite a dangerous favela so of course we were pretty nervous about going, but our guide assured us it was quite safe. Like most favelas, Rocinha is situated between two mountains, so at the moment of the mountain we hop out of our comfy, air conditioned car to find our next mode of transport to the top of Rocinha. What is it - a seat on the back of a motorbike!! We each have to pick our chosen motorbike driver - all men of course - and without being handed any safety equipment we´re on the back racing up this mountain, holding on for dear life! Possibly one of the most scariest experiences of my life, especially when my driver takes corners and decides to over take cars in front right into on-coming traffic - delightful!! Whilst we were negotiaiting one particularly tricky corner i notice another motorbike going past with 3 people on it, however what i didn´t notice about that particular bike was that the 8 year old boy on the back was holding a machine gun - probably for the best!!
Get to the top of the mountain - luckily in one piece - and we´re given a brief overview of Rocinha by our guide. Whilst there is electricity up here, no one pays for it - instead they get there own electirc cables and plug it into the main electricity supply!!! There are cables everywhere! Also there is alot of grafitti everywhere, especailly the intials A.D.A. This happens to be the tag of the drug gang that run this favela and stands for Amigos De Amigos, whereever those initials are around the favela means that thats their territory! This favela supplies 30% of all Rio´s drugs - quite a substantial amount and the main leader of the favela earns roughly 2 million pounds a month through this drug ring - this is really absurd when we´re told that most people living here only earn 100 pounds a month - barely enough to pay the rent! We´re quickly given the do´s and don´ts for our walk back down the mountain, main one being don´t take pictures of people with guns mmmm pleasant!! So off we trek, past all the locals and the little kids who´re shouting ´Gringo´s´. Then as we walk down one little alley we spot a cheery looking bloke who´s sharing a joke with our guide, as he turns to walk away we spot the rather large, rather shiny machine gun on his back - and we´re only 5 minutes into the walk down!!!! Luckily we don´t see any after that - they´re all concealed!
We start the walk at the top and make our way down to the bottom - apparently if you live at the top you're better off, as the sewage system runs down through the favela, making the bottom a rather unpleasant place to live. Our first stop off is to a little graffiti studio, the artists are well known throughout the favela and alot of their work can be seen throughout - apparently one of the big artists was killed, probably shot! We carry on walking through the narrow streets and quickly get told to move into a bakery as its too dangerous to stand outside! We spot a guy sat outside and suspect he might be a huge drug lord but hey its probably just a ploy for us to buy delicious doughnuts from the bakery - i'm certainly not complaining!! On we journey and come across a group of children selling paintings and bracelets - here they try and teach the children to make things in exchange for money rather than to beg - so we all buy a bracelet or two, Michelle gets wooed into buying a painting from an 8 year old business connoisseur! Then we trek on and arrive at the nursery, 60% of our tour ticket goes towards the community. In this case they have built a nursery, which houses the poorest families children while they go off to work. We get to go inside and meet some of the children who are just adorable! Upstairs are the 2 - 3 year olds, who all enjoy giving me a high five and giving me some touch, they're all sooo cute!!
Onwards we trek and walk through a little walkway, characterised by a wall riddled with bullet holes!! Apparently this is the boundary between the drug gang and the police. The wall is tagged with the A.D.A moto and our guide tells us that police don't usually manage to get past this point, instead they're shot dead. We had heard a story that only 2 weeks earlier someones favela tour was cut short as a policeman had been shot in the head - we suspect that it may have happened here!! We carry on walking past all the locals and their shops, some of whom are pleased to see us, others are not, until we get to the bottom of the favela and onto the main road. However, the exit of the favela seems to be one of the most dangerous parts, as right at the exit is where all the young boys start off in the drug gangs! The gangs here initiate boys from the age of 17 and use them as lookouts at the bottom of the favela, whilst they go about doing their deals in the lanes at the bottom. Seems a fairly young age to start in such a violent past time but we are told that the majority of young boys in the favela strive to be one of two things. Either a footballer or a drug dealer - these are perceived as professions who earn the most money and can get them out of poverty!!

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Comments

[The Sage]

Pick a pocket or two
You seem to be very brave taking the risk of going into the drug area, anything could have happened, still you survived hence the blog did no one approach you to buy drugs ? In the poorer countries it always seems to be the young who suffer the most , suprised that some manage to live and grow old be it they are not drug Barons. Keep up the good work

[mother number 2]

Not the In Place
This seems a rather scary place to be, drugs, guns, lookouts etc. It seems living at the bottom of the hill is not too good a place to be - must watch out for the folks at the top of this hill who may dispose of their sewage in a similar way!! May have to move! It seems the young lads there have very little choice in their life. Glad it was only some articles that were swept into the sea and not you!!

[Trailblazer]

Guns galore
Sounds scary you never know in a different land, different culture/language how people who are armed will react to the slightest thing, hence when evber possible steer clear of potential trouuble--you know what they say--you only die once BUT you are dead an awful long time. Keep on partner with those back packs

[The great wise one]

Life in the raw
It just goes to show that in even such a happy go lucky country, like everywhere else in the world even Brazil as its dark side. You have I guess experienced a good many things which people who are more widely travelled than yourself have never seen, so yes this is all part of life's learning curve and I'm sure helps to make us better people with a greater understanding and tolerance of others and their circumstances. Round every corner there could be a ray of sunshine or indeed a pot of gold---look for it and remain positive, one day we all discover it.

[White Whale]

On fire
Just back from hols (nothing like your trip) had a good time in the med. its good to catch up with you travels. The last blog sounds the most dangerous place you have been todatem just as well nobody felt shoot crazy at the time but goes to show more than one part of the world can be set on fire !