Favela tour and football game

The best two experiences we´ve had so far on this trip are the tour of the Saramandia favela and the Vittoria football match.

Saramandia is one of the biggest favelas in Salvador and about 30,000 people get there. I initially was really turned off by the idea of touring the favela...I felt like we would take vans in, look at the people´s poverty, and then leave, but it turned out to really be nothing like that. The people were so excited to show us their way of life and all the projects they were working on. They explained that they had accepted that the government won´t ever do anything for them and they have to do everything themselves, and how everyone in the community volunteers labor to build schools and teach students.

We played football with the kids and then they had a capoiera and drum demonstration for us that were really good, in addition to cooking us a great meal. It really didn´t feel like looking at poverty because the people were so proud and welcoming, not at all what you would expect.

Its pretty much impossible to put the favela into words, its so beyond our understanding of the world in America. You can literally sit on a hill and be surrounded by thousands of cramped, tiny houses that look like they´re from 300 years ago while you have a beautiful view of the modern financial buildings downtown just a few miles away. It really drives home to you how overhwelming the inequality in this country is.

Going to Saramandia was really not a depressing experience though, it was inspiring in a lot of ways. These people basically have nothing but they all work together as a community to improve their lives, in a way that is completely foreign to Americans. Everyone in the favela looks out for each other, and the people police themselves and take care of each other since they know the government won´t.

On Wednesday me and Eli (my roommate) went to a Vitoria football game with our friend Augusto. The stadium was literally in the middle of nowhere in a favela far out of the city and driving there was a nightmare.

The stadium fits around 40,000 people and is built into the side of a hill. They have a barbed wire fence and military guards to divide the fans of the other team. I thought this was amusing but its a little unsettling that they need it. Vitoria was losing 1-0 at the half and then scored quickly in the second half. It looked like the game was going to end in a tie and everyone was getting really angry because Vitoria had played better all game but couldn´t score. Then Vitoria scored again with 2 minutes left and the crowd went CRAZY. I´ve never got so many man-hugs in my life (women don´t really go to football games in Brazil, women being into sports is one of the things they´re not quite at yet).

The crowd at the football game was so amazing to watch and be a part of. There´s no jumbotron or any kind of announcing and you can really feel the energy and tension in the crowd, its incredibly intense. They pretty much did different elaborate chants the whole game and dances that went with them, its amazing how organized it was. There´s also drummers who play the whole game (there´s drumming everywhere here) and tons of people lighting fires to celebrate when they score). I definitely recommend that anyone who goes to Brazil gets to a game because its really fun and an amazing cultural experience.