Favela.



    No, I wasn't buying cocaine, but I did take this picture of a resident showing me an empty vial he picked up off the ground when he was talking me around the Rosinha favela in Rio de Janeiro. He was sponsored by the drug lord of the favela so I knew I would be in safe hands. The drugs lords take a commission of all activities in the favela but with that comes protection. The rules? Very simple. Nobody robs. Nobody hears. Nothing is lost. Those who are wise obey those give orders. He mentioned them to me and then I saw them later in some lovely artwork by Chilean artist, Jose Seleron at his Lapa steps. He showed me some videos of what happens when someone does break the rules, a sort of vigilante justice. A man who robbed a woman was later beaten by the drug lord's men with 2 by 4's on his arms and legs, a woman who did the same had half her head shaved off and was forced to live that way until it grew back. One is compelled to not break the rules. Life in a favela, like life anywhere is an art. And yet, there, at the edges of society, there is a certain freedom. No one has addresses. Mail comes to the local pharmacy or some other large shop and that's where you come by to pick it up, which is also where you get your pizza deliveries. My friend for the day spoke ten languages, attending school only intermittently in the same favela where he was born and raised, and embodied that freedom. He was an avid Bolsonaro supporter, thought Amazon deforestation was a hoax, amongst other conspiracy theories he didn't believe in, reminded me that the colonists wiped out entire indigenous communities in their quest for wealth and resources, and at the spur of the moment, when I told him I would be taking classes later that evening, would break in to a samba routine. Never married, but a sugar daddy to six women, he lived a life on the edge of society and one that was very different from that of my upbringing in the United States with and all its puritan angst. Life in the favela follows a different rhythm but one worth experiencing. 
 

 

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