The capybara of the Pinheiros river
In the middle of South America's largest city, in a river the city spent decades ruining, lives a herd of capybaras that never asked permission.
Biologists estimate around 120 capybaras in the Pinheiros river and another 100 in the Tietê — and they do not merely live there: they breed. Between the motorway, the train line and the cycle path, the animal found a grassy bank, water to escape into and no predators. The city has already run a campaign pairing the capybara with the rubbish in the river, because you cannot talk about one without the other.
The capybara is the resilient character in this story, not the comic victim. The filth belongs to the city; she simply learned to live with it. That is the tension the place hands you for free: the same water that saves her from the dog is what leaves her caked in grime.
In the game
Ride the river down to the park. In the water no dog can reach you — but the grime bar rises, and dirty means heavy: she moves slower and shows up more. To wash, find clean water: a fountain, an irrigation jet. The train passes on the bank, and the rubbish floats down with you.