Hotel in Rio Favela Attracts Jazz Enthusiasts

Brian Allen
July 11, 2014 2:33 PM
RIO DE JANEIRO —
You might not expect to find a hotel in one of Rio de Janeiro’s favelas - the local name for the city's shantytowns.  The success story of “The Maze,” though located in one of the poorest parts of the city, it has been named one of the best places to hear live jazz music in the world.

Nearly everywhere you go in Rio de Janeiro, you’re always close to an informal settlement, or favela.

More than 11 million Brazilians live in these poor communities, famous for the colorful - but often dangerously constructed - buildings, dense population, and in some cases, the drug trade and associated crime.

In hotels, brochures advertise favela tours, next to pamphlets for helicopter rides and boat excursions.

But one man has gone far beyond treating Rio’s favelas as just a tourist adventure: 35 years ago, Bob Nadkarni moved in.

Welcome to The Maze.

It started as a quiet art studio for the British expatriate.  Slowly, he expanded the space and ultimately opened his sprawling home, with one of the best views of Rio de Janeiro, to friends and family.

“It’s not just a house, it’s a work of art.  It’s a sculpture people live in and find their way through.  It’s called The Maze because it’s a place people come to lose themselves and find themselves,” he said.

Nadkarni was instrumental in helping clean up the Tavares Bastos favela, where The Maze is located.  For years, he said, it was run by gangs and drug lords.  He convinced the controversial favela pacification police to set up shop - permanently.


In 2005, The Maze became a hotel.
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