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 The traditional old-school 'favela' shacks originally made from the cheapest materials available such as discarded planks and plywood, ( back in the day when wood was cheap...)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!