
Rocinha, literally meaning "little ranch", has grown from a community of small farms to the largest favela in Brazil, housing over 250,000 people. Wet clothes, vines, and shirtless men hang out of windows. Beer costs a buck. Pharmacies, grocery stores, and butchers are open 24 hours. Labyrinth stairways and cobwebs of TV cables twist around the lampposts and the apartment walls that are lodged into this steep hillside. I’m trying not to miss a beat in the rhythm of motorcycle traffic, blaring music, and squaking chickens. After spending days