BRAZIL: Underworld

• Share

Every time it rained in Rio in the past few months, deep puddles spread over the streets that crisscross the Praia do Flamengo along Guanabara Bay. City engineers wondered what had happened to the huge sewers beneath the Praia. Last week they found out. A handful of Rio's hopeless poor had blocked the street drains with boards and sheet metal, moved into the sewers and set up housekeeping.

Explained one sardonic sewersnipe: "I live here for my health. I have heart trouble and the doctor told me I should live at sea level." One sewer had a sign reading: "For Rent; Ten Cruzeiros." The "proprietor" said he rented the place at night "to couples." The police hauled 15 sewer-dwellers to jail, carted away two truckloads of makeshift furniture and cooking utensils, and unplugged the sewers.