The Gate of Heaven in Rio is narrow and could do with some paint. It is near the top of Rocinha, one of the city’s biggest favelas.
It doesn’t take long to get to the Porta do Ceu (Gate of Heaven), but it does take a purgatory of a trail to reach it, up switchback roads through houses built on top of houses that are built on top of other houses, and then down an alley that doubles as a drain, past shops and hairdressers and homes.
It costs R8 to get through the Gate of Heaven. On the day I went there, a few years back, our guide told us to wait because he knew someone.
He went through a door next to the Gate of Heaven and came back with a key for the padlock. The Gate of Heaven is locked to non-payers. Such are the wages of sin.
Heaven is a flat roof Rocinha as it tumbles down the hill to the wealthy suburb of Sao Conrado. I could see my hotel from up there. In Rio, the poor do not live out of sight. In Rio, the poor look down on the rich from high up. Rocinha has been to hell and back. In 2011, it was over-run by gangs and druglords. The police mounted a clear-out and claimed to have cleaned the place up, but some are not convinced.
They estimate around 100 000 people live in Rocinha. For them, the Olympics are happening down over there.
They watch on their televisions. Very few Rocinha residents will go to a Games venue.
Michel Silva, a journalist in Rocinha who kept a diary for The Guardian for a year ahead of the Olympics, is not convinced the Games will benefit her favela.
“There is a new subway station near our community, but this should have been built long ago,” she wrote at the beginning of August. “Apart from that, there may be a short-term boost from tourism.
“But what happens after the Olympics? Many of the subway construction workers are from Rocinha. Now the project has almost ended, they have been laid off.
“The building workers’ union estimates 30 000 people will lose their jobs. Meanwhile, the shootings continue. Over the past year, five residents have been killed and 14 wounded in shootings or violence.
“The government is trying to make the city seem safe for international visitors, but it is not safe for residents. I am glad the Olympics lasts only 17 days. After that, we need time to put our house in order.”
But Silva knows in her heart that will not happen. Once the closing ceremony has ended the Olympics this weekend and then the Paralympics in September, once the world has gone home, Rio will return to the way it was. Little will change.
The Gate of Heaven will still lead to a flat roof with the poor looking at the rich from a distance.
And Olympic Games won't do anything to put the house in order.
The Star