Rochina....

Rochina is one of the 700 favelas in Rio. We went on a so called tour of this favela on saturday the day that Jay arrived. The favelas in rio are known for being the slums and where poor people, drug dealers, gangs, and all of that resides in rio. The funny thing about the favelas in rio is that they actually have some of the best views of the city as thye are often built on the hillside. Most middle to upper class people in rio do not visit the favelas as there is usually no reason to unless to buy drugs. Before the trip, Jay and I actually met and spent time with Zenzhino from coushsurfing who is half brazilian half america, was raised in Rochina (the largest favela in rio with over 300k people), and is currently in SF until december. Jay and I actually spent 3 hours talking to him about his favels that he is truly passionate about and he arranged a tour for the 3 of us to take us through the maze of the rochina favela. The tour started around 2pm with Nildo meeting us at out apartment in Botofoga. The reason we decided to do a guided tour was to meet the locals, be taken through the different maze of alleys, and to attend a local baile funk party in the favela. We take the local van up and over the Rochina favela hill and start a walking tour at the bottom of the hill. At the bottom of the hill we start by grabbing a pastery from the local spot which is ran by chinese. Of course they try to speak to me in chinese but our guide has to translate to them in portugese that I dont speak mandarin. We continue the tour and are told where and where not to take pictures. Certain streets and allies are drug and gang patrolled and pictures are restricted, Nildo is sure to let us know exactly those streets. We walk continue the tour and stop at Nildos sister in laws house and check the views from her roof, kind of chat but she doesn´t speak portugese soe we get by with some sign language and spansih, have a beer and popcorn and then head up the hill. We see the occasional traffickers caring around guns and what not while walking up, which is just a bit surreal since guys are able to just carry them like its not a thing. We head up and take in the views from the top of the hill, which are some of the best. After that we head to a local far called Rosies and grab beers and appetizers until midnight and then head to the baile funk party. The party was just in the middle of the street with various vendors selling drinks and a wall of speakers. The party never really got going as Nildo said another party in a different favela may have been the reason. So we headed back to Botafogo around 2:30ish. Rochina being the largest favela was like another town inside of rio. It was great to see it and meet some locals.