Another day in this magical place. Early start to Rocinha, the largest favela in South America. Despite what we hear/ the abundance of bad press that these favelas get, it was actually a really cool place full of culture and vibrance. Sure, we were told to put our cameras away at times because we were "on the streets with the drug dealers" but other than that everyone seemed perfectly pleasant. We learned that some people never leave the favela as it seemingly has everything that they need -banks, schools, supermarkets, the lot.
Only in the last few years has Rocinha become 'pacified' meaning that it is controlled by the police but this apparently has resulted in a rise in crime and a lot of corruption within the force. And speaking of crime, I was stunned to hear that Brazil doesn't have a juvenile criminal justice system so under the age of 18, you're basically let off scot free irregardless of whether you steal or murder. It's no wonder that some of these kids spend their youth doing the dirty work for the 'big brothers' of the favela.
After a frozen acai pot with granola (London must adopt this) and a walk through the market, we left Rocinha and made our way to Maracaña to watch Fluminense play Vasco da Gama. It got off to a dodgy start with us having to shelter behind a gas station as locals were throwing concrete slabs at the police (who we've found out aren't the most popular) but it calmed down and soon we were amongst the thousands filling the stadium.
I've been to footy matches before and always love them but I've never experienced anything quite like this. The sheer volume of people, the drumming and the die hard support for their teams was pretty amazing to watch.
And if that wasn't enough, topped it off with more churrasco. It's time to detox.
Tudo bom. Tudo bem. Everything's good.
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