In the Hood

Theres some crazy shit that goes down in the hood.

Just yesterday (sunday) my friend Magalhaes took me on a walking photography tour around the parts of the favela that i hadnt yet seen. The place is beautiful. Narrow alleyways where the children play hide and seek, bars that literally are a hole in the wall.

Think i got some good photos, but its on film, need to wait till they get developed - damn. Probably wont be able to put them onto flickr for a while - until at i get to uk at least... and earn some CASH.

At 8am this morning, i climbed from my house up to the "quadra". I was on my way to take photos of ballerinas who take lessons in the favela. A woman was crying. Her son had died of an overdose in the early hours of the morning. People said he was on "lolo" - some kind of shoe-makers glue. The ambulance didnt arrive in time. My friend Ricardo, 16, had helped to cover the body.

I´d been back at my house an hour when i heard fireworks going off. But the sound didnt stop. It was automatic gunfire. The police were entering the favela. Four of them with their AR-15 machine guns, scopes, and itchy trigger fingers. Acting like ....

Apparently the shots are from the dealers patrolling at the top of the favela to warn the dealers in the "quadra" of the arrival of the police. Apparently the police come in to the favela when they havent received their pay-off. Rustle people up. Make business difficult.

I was 30 metres away in my house watching the whole thing and i was scared. Its so weird to be scared of police. Im so used to being able to ask a policeman for directions. Here, i avoid them at all costs. The police are corrupt. The police do kill innocent people, often.

Its a society upside-down.

Apart from the police, inside the favela is the safest place ive been in Brasil so far. The drug barons run the place. The drug barons dont want any reason for the police to come to the favela - so they sort out all the problems. Robbery/rape/... its all pretty rare here because the drug barons come down hard. Anybody who does any of that stuff goes outside the favela... to places where the tourists are... copacabana, ipanema,...

****

ill write more on it when i have the time

got to go give an english lesson. take care. love to all