So today, I woke up at a more normal hour, got ready, had a small
sandwich of ham, salami, cheese, and requeijão (the plasticky looking
cheese stuff that tastes so darn good). Then it was out for shopping!
I am glad that Marily and I share a passion for shopping since I think
many people would not have been able to handle the amount that we did.
We went to the Camelodromo and had a blast at the many cool stores.
Marily and I got stuff for all of my family that I am sure everyone
will love! I also got some really cool clothes for myself and I think
many of you will be seeing me wearing my “Rio de Janeiro” shirts for a
while. The prices were very reasonable too, everything being about a
half to two-thirds of US prices. Anyways, after doing the shopping, it
was revealed that I had accomplish one of my goals in coming to
Brazil; the emptying of my checking account. The result of which has
been an unforgettable time, many wonderful experiences, and some great
friendships. Luckily I do have credit so I am good for the last 5 days
of being here. Anyways, after stopping in the nearby Shopping Iguatemi
where Marily bought my mom a sassy, brazilian style bikini, it was
back home for lunch of rice, beans, and meat.
After that, we didn´t waste a second before heading to Corcovado to
see the famous Cristo Redentor. It was a nice car ride. We started by
passing the favela of Borél, then continued to the forest of Tijuca
that I had seen, and then went out the steep mountain road, deep into
the forest until we made it almost all the way to the top. From there,
you buy a van ticket (13 reais), that takes you to the statue. The
view from there was simply incredible. We were worried it would be
cloudy, since it had been raining in the morning and all last night,
but thankfully the sun came out right before we got there and the
clouds were gone fast. The statue itself was very impressive, down to
the face of Jesus. It is incredible to think how the thing got moved
up there. We had a lot of fun taking pictures there. That was also
another place where I saw some tourists from England and Germany. I
also met a very nice looking Mineira (girl from Minas) who is also a
biologist, and with the help of Marily, got her Orkut. So now I have
yet another buddy to help practice Portuguese with. Anyways, after
that, we came down the mountain, and then went to visit some relatives
of Marily and Roberto. Somewhere along the way, Marily got the idea of
taking me into a favela, and as it was rapidly getting dark, I was a
little apprehensive about the idea. After visiting Roberto´s mom and
two of Marily´s sisters, we went to a place down the street to grab a
soup. I tried the wonderful Angu a Baiana, which is a red, possibly
tomato based soup,that had pieces of liean brisket in it. It was also
mixed in with a good amount of polenta. It was one of my favorite
things I have tried while in Brasil. I talked to the chef afterwards
and she was very happy I liked it but unfortunately didnt give me the
recipe! (I didnt really ask, just kind of hinted). I will certainly
try to make it (or force Bianca to) when I get back. After that, I had
the chance to meat the lovely Ingrid, who was oringinally going to be
my tour-guide for the day, but had some other arrangements so she
couldnt come. We had a chance to talk for a little bit before she was
off to see a show of O Rappa, a very popular, dread-locked, musician.
When she left, Marily´s friend who lived in the favela came and
announced it was time to go in. I think Marily noticed my apprehension
and got a little nervous but then his buddy with his motorbike came
and as soon as I saw I was going in on motorcycle, it was a done deal.
His buddy with the motorbike was a delivery boy who knew the favela
like the back of his hand so I was much less worried. As soon as I
entered much of my fear left me. I saw it was just people living their
lives in the best way they could. It was cool to see the patchwork
ways that the electricity and cables ran but things looked like they
were working. Also, unlike another favela I passed by, this one
thankfully had a system of plumbing, since the other one literally
smelled like feces, even from blocks away. So, the first thing I
noticed was that the favela had a much higher than average rate of Lan
Houses, arcades, and snooker (pool) places than the rest of Brazil
that I had seen. I also saw a few casinos that were just a few slot
machines and card tables. The place was decently busy with activity
and the street was sometimes a little hard to navigate. It would have
been impossible to go in car so the motorbike was a good idea. The
next thing I noticed was that there were a large number of very
attractive girls walking around. The downside and sad part was that
many of them were quite obviously teenagers which were quite obviously
pregnant. Literally, I think I saw a 13 or 14 year old with a belly
that was almost half the size of her still developing body. The favela
had many things you would expect to see in a normal city, including
super markets, dry cleaning, clothes stores, open air fruit markets.
There were also a little more than average of the people that were
laying down on the street, high on probably shoe polish.
Unfortunately, a large percentage of those were also children.
Anyways, I went really really deep in, with my driver taking me
through all the becos (alleys), some of which were barely wide enough
for a bike and a person to fit through. Of course, since it was a
favela, there were a number of arms or people walking with arms that I
saw. The vast majority of people I saw with guns were the store
owners, some of which sat at the counter with a machine gun at their
side. Others looked kind of like they were standing guard, though not
looking particularly agressive or threatening, just kind of chatting
with their pistols, shotguns, and machine-guns at their sides. I also
saw some tables, around which some armed men stood, where I think the
drugs were traded. The most stunning thing were some of the bazookas
that I saw literally leaned up against a wall at the front of the
store. I think those were used for when a police helicopter would come
over the city. I certainly would not want to be a soldier that had to
enter the favela. It was definitely a hive of smalls streets, some of
which were connected only by small alleys. I definitely would not have
entered not on the back of a motorcyle driven by someone that knew the
place and the people (many of the people waved at him and said hello
to him). Unfortunately I did not taken any pictures from the inside.
One way of keeping the police away is that they have a strict no
pictures rule (as I was told) so they could not have an idea of how
the exact geography to make plans for raids. I also do not think I
would ever take pictures of someone armed with a machine gun who was
not a cop or soldier. Anyways, I survived my trip, and was realy glad
that I got to see that side of Brazilian life. Many many people of Rio
de Janeiro live in favelas. Everyone from the cleaning lady of the
house, people from the feiras, and a few relatives and friends of
Marily live there. They are not a hive of people who are evil or
intent on breaking the law. That is what the drug dealers do who live
at the very top of them. Rocinha, the very biggest of Rio´s favelas
(which I got to see from the bottom), is home to 2 million people!
That is more than the amount of people living in Seattle, all packed
on a hill. After that, we stayed to chat for a little, made our way
home, I revised my schedule to stay an extra day here in Rio, and now
I am here writing.
So, my last few days in São Paulo were a real adventure! I got back
and knew the Palma family had visitors so I managed to find a place to
stay with a connection of Marily’s. It was really cool. The family was
composed of Helio (the father), Heloisa (the daughter), and the mother
named Maisa. They were incredibly nice and I had a wonderful time with
them. I spent nearly an entire day at the Centro Cultural in São
Paulo. That was like my dream come true of a place. It was a really
big library that also had public showings of films and music events. I
really loved it and had a great time reading and watching some
interesting music performances. I spent another day going to Santo
André to have a piano lesson with the famous Marisa Lacortes. She is
the best piano teacher in all of Brazil and I was very lucky to get a
lesson with her. So I took the train to Santo André, a neighboring
city, and got to her place with all my money drawn from my account to
pay for what surely would be an expensive lesson. I had an incredible
2 hour lesson with her and in the end, she charged me NOTHING for the
whole time spent with her. I already have put into practice many of
the things she has told me and it has already helped. I would move to
São Paulo just to have lessons with her. Anyways, after that, I had a
little lunch with the great Amarita, my friend who had arranged the
lesson for me, and said my goodbyes to her. Then I was off to Helio’s
place where I met up with him and went out to see his friend perform
music. It was a lot of fun. He sang lots of songs that were familiar
to even me, including “What a Wonderful World”. I also got to meet
Heloisa’s very cool boyfriend. Oh, I forgot to mention that she spoke
nearly perfect english so that was a lot of fun. She is such an
amazing, talented person. Her boyfriend is a lucky guy. So we spent
the night having many espetinho’s and enjoying our time together. The
next day, we all went out to Ibirapuera Park, one of my favorite
places in all of São Paulo. I played frisbee with Heloisa and her
boyfriend, had some suco de cupuaçu, enjoyed the sun and agua de coco,
and altogether just had a good time. After that, I got all my stuff
together, and took the subway, during rush hour, to Copam to meet my
Couchsurfing friend Rodrigo.