Rocinha is the largest favela in Brazil. According to an official census around 70,000 people live in the shantytown, but unofficial estimates are as high as 2- or 300,000. Like many other favelas Rocinha has been known to be a hiding place for drug traffickers and other criminals. But the shantytown has much more to offer than drug trafficking and police raids. In eight years’ time - from 2003 until 2011 - 40 million of the 200 million citizens in Brazil joined the middle class, and many of them live in favelas like Rocinha.
