Rio Life in 3D

 

Going up (and down) the many steps of the Morro Santa Marta, (-22.9479,-43.1940)  one of the traditional Rio slums known as simply  'Dona Marta'  which has now  been semantically 'upgraded' to 'Community' status because of its expanding urban infrastructural improvements such as a 5 station inclined plane tram, a developing power line distribution and sewage collections pipeline, is still not for the faint of heart, exercised-deprived, agora or acrophobic....

steps, steps, steps...

One can only imagine the outcome of a brain  (human or other) developing in this constant very  3-D world where all can be seen from above, and maybe even  seen  even better from still further above, in a vertical cascade of observations! Observe and be observed. All is triangulated, horizontal surfaces heavily competed for by all species, human or otherwise. 

Rio life has developed from 3D to 4D ! The traditional old-school 'favela' shacks originally made from the cheapest materials available such as discarded planks and plywood, ( back in the day when wood was cheap...) over the years are gradually demolished and rebuilt into solid brick and mortar houses with aluminum frame windows. Asbestos water reservoirs are being substituted for PVC or GRF  blue containers with proper tops to keep Dengue mosquitoes away. Sat dishes bring in the world's latest info as well as the probably much more important local telenovelas. Washing machines now do the heavy  laundry and aircons cool the worst of the days insolation on the hillside... No more carrying 20 kg water filled tin cans uphill on dirt paths like in the Marcel Camus 1959 version of Black Orpheus! Clean city water for all... at no cost ! Mind you, electricity  also is generally something just hooked onto as another favela freebie...Things have definitely changed ! Tempus fugit...!

The place attracts visitors from all over the world, including some of the more the musically inclined... one of which has become immortalized on a vertical surface, others however, are not so lucky!

Still, the beast is growing, not being handled with authority... The fad (and the perfect excuse) is to be 'social' these days... ! Rather 'please and pacify' 'the people' than invest properly in decent infrastructure such as good transportation systems which would allow people to commute to towns in abundant flat lands  in a 100 km radius of Rio. Better keep these people surviving, thriving, developing in the risky hillsides of rainy Rio than face the risk of losing votes or political status. After all, these are hundreds of thousands of voters with a room with a view!

Boris

Boris

 Returning from a recent trip to a coastal town, I could not help but reflect on the sadness of dog's relationship with Man. The recent heavy rains that hit Rio's hillside towns took a toll of over 1,000 human victims, 800 of which lost their lives, but also probably at least three times as many pets who were lost or died in one way or another. Dogs such as Boris (below) are really cute pets to take care of homes, many times occupied only during the summer months. Bought in most cases for their appearances or fame for taking care of property and people, they sometimes are even trained professionally. An account given by a friend owning one such weekend leisure property tells how these dogs are now in total distress... Whimpering, begging for lap, human attention, to stay close to their weekend masters all the time, and probably to be taken away to a cozy apartment in a big city, away from natural disasters, and the whole natural environment. if possible! Their property had a limiting wall which was torn away by the recent floods. The backyard became open to all. These weekend pets are probably shut most of the time out of the house, in a damp cold kennel of sorts if lucky, having to defend the perimeter from 'invading' species, including probably other lost/displaced stray dogs and an assortment of also displaced wild species equally  disturbed by the heavy rains, including large opossums. The constant rain did its part of a psychological flogging on these poor canine home guards, torture enhanced by the noise of continuous thunderstorms for over 20 consecutive days, only to be followed by the extra 'thunder' of low flying helicopters looking for victims or the media crews just filming material damages for the 8 o'clock news. I can't imagine what Haiti was like. The following pictures were all taken on the same street, close to the beach, far away from Rio's hillside towns. But the apparent intent is the same: to show passers by there are ferocious guards on the block. Something difficult to reconcile when you get to play with pup Boris up above...I wonder how much training the owners get before they are allowed to keep a pet!