2012, 22nd - 28th January: Barreirinhas & Lençois Maranheses, Maranhão, Brazil

2012, 22nd - 28th January: Barreirinhas & Lençois Maranheses, Maranhão, Brazil

I am sad to say that the number of photos available for this exciting part of my travels is rather limited. This is because a computer virus on a PC in an internet café corrupted some of the files on my SD card. Unfortunately, the best photos taken during my time in the centre of the national park (which were the most spectacular and beautiful) are lost.

Those photos that survived can be found by following this link to my Flickr account.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212524@N04/sets/72157629271664677/ 

You will see a big chronological gap in the photos, which is the result of the missing files that were corrupted. Hopefully, my descriptions of the places and sights go some way to recreating the images.

The small town of Barreirinhas in the state of Maranhão lies 3-4 hours east of the city of São Luis. Barreirinhas is a convenient base for starting treks in the national park Lençois Maranheses - a vast complex of sand dunes that runs parallel to the coast from Rio Preguiças in the east to Rio Allegro in the west. The national park is known for the numerous water pools that form in the depressions between the dunes after the rainy seasons. Though during my time there all but a handful of pools were dry. While this did mean that the trek was much hotter (no pools to cool off in), it did mean that progress was not impeded by having to wade through the many pools which would be a feature of any trek made in the months after the heavy rains. I made a fourday guided trek (fifth day getting back to Barreirinhas) through the national park. With my guide Alisson we walked between remote settlements where we stayed each night. Two of these were on the edge of the dunes, but two were located in 'oases' in the middle of the vast expanse of sand. I use the term oases because the dunes are not a desert as they do receive heavy seasonal rains, however, during the dry months when virtually all the water pools are dried up it feels like a desert with the settlements the only places where water can be found (via wells).

Day 1: Lagoa Azul to Canto do Atins

We accessed the national park by joining a party of tourists who were being driven by jeep to a pool at the edge of the park called Lagoa Azul (one of te few pools that is present during the dry seasons). The jeep journeyed along sandy tracks as well as making a short river crossing on a tiny flat ferry.

I foolishly brought my hike boots with me which then ended up being an unnecessary weight in my rucksack for five days. As I found out; wearing footwear on the dunes is a little pointless as it would just fill up with sand, so I started my first bare footed trek - see discussion on footwear later in this blog entry.

The colours of the dunes were somewhat subdued on the first day as it rained for much of the time. Being close to the edge of the national park on this route, there was more vegetation present than towards the centre - though it was still sparse. So around some of the dried-up pools there were bushes bearing the odd tiny fruit to nibble on.

The walk to Copo do Atins was fairly short at 4 to 5 hours. The settlement of around eleven dwellings is located close to the shore in the north east of the national park. We stayed in a small pousada who provided a great evening meal of locally caught shrimp, rice, beans and farofa.

The Shore at Copo do Atins

Day 2: Copo do Atins to Baixo Grande

This day was the toughest as it was the longest and the hottest. The walk started by following the beach, before heading away from the coast towards Baixo Grande which is located close to the centre of the national park. Once away from the cooling effect of being close to the sea and as the time approached the hottest part of the day (midday till two), the feeling of walking in a desert-like environment was very apparent. My three litres of water was nowhere near enough for the journey.

As we headed away from the shore, the physical environment gradually changed from relatively flat expanses of sand with some scrubby grasses to progressively larger sand dunes with virtually no vegetation. As the sun moved higher in the sky, the colours of the sand became whiter in its glare. In such a vast area where winds can progress unimpeded, there was a nearly constant breeze or wind which did provide some relief from the sun and ensure that the temperature of the sand was not too hot to walk on in bare feet. In the midst of the wide expanse of hot white dunes I could imagine that a few more hours isolated in such a place would lead to an advancing lethargy and a stumbling progression to a hot stupor full of imaginings of water - 'just give me some water......'.

The Flat Area of Sand Close to the Shore

When descending the large dunes on their leeward sides I sank to halfway up my shins in the soft sand - a good example of why bare feet is best. This sand was sheltered from the cooling effect of the wind and in bare feet it felt really hot - ouch.

As one would expect, the windward side of the dunes have a gradual slope while the leeward faces fall away steeply. It is on the windward sides and tops of the dunes where the wind carves its magic. As well as all the wave-like ripples that are always present, there are also patches of grains of different densities and colours (browns and charcoals contrasting with the bulk whites and creams). These are distributed into long arcs that form patterns and lines of darker sand 'drawn' onto the vast expanses of pale sand. Sometimes the effects of previous rain showers form the sand into harder patches where the light and dark grains form beautiful sculptured lines, full of peaks and arcs woven into patterns that have recurring features but which are never wholly repeated.

A Large Dried-Up Water Pool in a Depression Between Dunes

Some of the depressions between the dunes had damp earth at the base (a remnant of the dried-up water pools) - enough to support a scattering of rough grasses. I think that the constant shifting of the sands by the winds means that places where pools once resided long enough to nourish a substantial shrub are now a dry pit. As a result, I sometimes came across the blackened stumps of long-dead trees, which provided a striking juxtaposition of colours against the pale dunes.

The Desert-Like Environment On Top of a Vast Dune

We reached the 'oasis' of Baixe Grande at around 2pm. It was a relief because the full heat of the day was scorching and my water had run out. Baixe Grande is a large expanse of shrubs with some palm trees. A handful of families live there which must make for a pretty tough life as it is unsupported by roads or tracks (such features would quickly be buried by sand). After arriving and downing a lot of water, I was asked by the host whether I would like chicken for my evening meal later. I said yes, so shortly after the yard was minus one chicken. The Rio Negro does pass close by the settlement, but it was completely dry when I was there, so all the water was drawn from a well and the shower was just a bucket held above one's head.

After resting away from the afternoon heat, in the evening Alisson and me climbed back onto the dunes near the settlement to see the effects of the low sun, which after having it's light scattered by some sporadic clouds, cast beautiful blue and grey hues over the expanses of sand.

Day 3: Baixe Grande to Geimada dos Britos

A short day of only about three hours walking - the duration was dictated by the distance between the two 'oases' of Baixe Grande and Geimada dos Britos, with the latter being the next place we stayed. At one point I came across some natural sand sculptures, where the wind had carved the sand into shapes that one might expect to see on a potter´s wheel - cylinders with wave-like circumferences.

It was nice to finish the days walking before the heat of the day really kicked-in, and the afternoon was spent in the shade of the roofs of our host's homestead just snoozing and reading. In the late afternoon Alisson and me climbed the dunes near to the 'oasis' and I marvelled at the natural beauty of the place. In the low sunlight, the dunes took on a yellow hue which softened the appearance of their various surfaces. The low light added shade and form to the dunes, casting them into relief and sharpening their edges in pleasing offset straight and diagonal lines. All this was against a backdrop of a rich blue sky. Some black dead tree stumps in one depression helped one to fix a point in space in the midst of such a transient landscape.

Day 4: Geimada dos Britos to Betania

The day's trekking started with the traverse of more dunes, followed by a period walking through scrub land at the edge of the national park. To avoid the peak intensity of the sun we took a long lunch break in the home of a family with father, mother and six children living in a small simple building. They provided coconut water (drunk straight from the coconut) and a lunch of fish, rice and beans. After lunch I passed some time reading a novel on my 'Kindle' (electronic book). For a time I was absorbed in the story unaware of that a group of onlookers had formed behind me. The father and children were fascinated by the e-book.

During our onward walk through the scrub land we were accompanied by the two eldest sons on their bicycles. One of them kindly kept me supplied with various small fruits picked from the bushes along the way. The last part of the day's walk was in the pleasant late afternoon light and was once again across dunes - many of them impressively high, making for fun descents. Some local men happened to be making the same route - but on bicycles. Seeing the guys pedalling across such an unreal landscape tickled my humour and resulted in some entertaining photos.

The finale of the day saw us reach Rio Allegro which was at a low enough level for us to wade across. In the village of Betania we slept in a local bar - an alfresco affair with just a roof covering. A nearby offshoot of the river afforded a refreshing swim. Betania was the first place in four days that was connected to the electrical grid.

Looking Down to Rio Allegro

Day 5: Britania to Santos Amaro

 This day was mainly concerned with getting back to the town of Barreirinhas. A short three hour walk was all that was required to get from Betania to Santos Amaro where we would take transport back to Barreirinhas. The infrastructure of Santos Amaro struck me as a little strange because while there were some paved roads in the centre of the small town, there are no paved roads connecting it to the 'outside world'. In fact, to get from Santos Amaro to the main road where we could then take further transport back to Barreirinhas, we had to spend two hours travelling 'offroad' by jeep along sandy tracks. The difficulty of readily transporting goods along such a prohibitively slow route likely explains why when I ordered a pizza for lunch in a bar in the town I was told that they could not make me one because 'there is no cheese in Santos Amaro' - i.e. the whole town had run out.

The Dwellings

The buildings in the dunes such as those in Baixe Grande and Geimada dos Britos are simple constructions - just concrete screed as a floor, then trunks of small trees for vertical supports and roof members, with the roof covered with palm leaves - though I did spot some polythene sheeting in the roof so palm leaves are not that good! Sometimes the walls are left open to the breeze, otherwise they are made of thin branches. If you want a fence around the building to keep the chickens and pigs out, then some thin wooden steaks suffice.

I considered that in such a climate where it is never cold, with the worst it throws at you being some heavy seasonal rains, one can easily survive in a very simply constructed dwelling - a far cry from the homes of us British mortgage slaves. If you really want some electricity, you can start-up the generator (if you have one), otherwise you sleep when it gets dark and get up when it is light. Seeing such 'cheaply built' homes, I reflected that the cost of living associated with your home is like the cost of building and operating an aeroplane. The faster you want to fly, the bigger engines you need, but the bigger the engines needs more fuel and you must have wider wings to lift this extra fuel. But then you need a bigger engines still to provide enough thrust to power the bigger plane, for which you need more fuel and so on and so on. In the modern city, the grander your house and the more possessions within it, the more money is required to fuel it all. At the outset you want to go faster, but then you end up running all the time just to keep up enough speed to stop it all falling out of the sky. Seeing people live quite happily on very little (in the analogy, flying a much smaller, slower plane) made me stop to reflect on what one really needs to survive. That said; after such right-on ramblings, such an existence would not work for me back home for two distinct reasons: Most importantly, one could not survive with any degree of good health in such a simple dwelling in the sometimes very cold and wet UK. Furthermore, the lack of stimulation living in such a place would eventually get me down a bit. So I have no desire to sell-up and live in the dunes just yet. Nevertheless, during my travels in northern Brazil I have seen vast numbers of people surviving of what seems to be next to nothing and I am developing a respect for people who can live such lives with grace and a smile.

Footwear

After seven weeks in Brazil, I can safely say that I have 'gone native' on footwear - which means that I wear flip-flops all the time. Prior to spending an extended period in a hot and often humid country, I considered flip-flops to be rather ineffectual items - good only for a brief excursion from the beach to an ice-cream stall and back. However, while here in Brazil, one does have to consider that there might be something in this whole flip-flop malarky. Well, if you are prepared to get through the early days with red skin between your big toes and the next ones, then you're away on an alfresco foot life. With all the flipping and flopping that goes on, your feet are well ventilated and you (and those nearby) can enjoy a whiff free time. So now I live in the things, spending full days walking around cities, taking planes, going on nights out, with a cheerful flip and a content flop.

So now for the real-man's footwear challenge - the four day bare foot dune trek. As one might expect, the sand dunes contain quite a lot of the stuff, with most of it near your feet. So a dune trek in northern Brazil in lace-up footwear would involve the sensation of walking with your feet in sand bags, plus with the heat and humidity and all, there would be curds and whey swilling around your boots by the end of the day - making a nice cheddar 'n' sand combo in your socks. Your next option is the good old flip-flops, but the trouble is the loose sand is flipped and flopped up into the air and your footwear acts like a pair of sand shovels. So that leaves the hard-core 'going native' option of bare foot trekking. All good until one's poor little, normally protected, heels and pads of toes start to blister. Then the sentence 'oh my ****ing feet' does sound in one's head with some regularity.

Well, apart from taking some brief rest-bites in my flip-flops when my skin really stung, I did complete the trek in bare feet, though I was left with some mighty blisters (see photos) - next stop hot coals? I am left with one question though, in Brazil, is a suit-flip-flop combo considered appropriate attire for business meetings - maybe as long as the flip-flops are black?

2012, 6th - 8th & 20th - 21st January: Salvador, Brazil

2012, 6th - 8th & 20th - 21st January: Salvador, Brazil

For more photos follow this link to the set in my Flickr account:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212524@N04/sets/72157629000105943/

There are not so many photos accompanying this blog entry as I was not inclined to carry my camera around Salvador too much as it has a reputation for street crime - so I thought it best to be cautious.

My time in the city was spread across two separate weekends, with my visit to Lençois in-between these two stops in Salvador. I stayed in the Barra district which is at the end of the peninsula on which the city is built. Barra (pronounced Ba-ha) is a more relaxed place to stay than (say) the Pelourinho as there is less street crime. In fact, I felt relaxed in Barra while I had heard a lot of stories of ´issues´ on certain streets in and around the Pelourinho.

It is with thanks to a friend Laura in Rio de Janeiro (that I met through my host there) that I had such a sociable time in Salvador. Laura put me in touch with some of her friends in Salvador, and Brazilians (as well as someone from the US) being such nice people they volunteered to show me around the place.

On my first weekend there I met with Túlio. I accompanied him, Kate and Tanure on their boat. We sailed from a marina in Baía Todos-os-Santos which is the large bay to the west of Salvador. We made a trip into the main bay in the direction of Salvador - giving views of the city in the distance, before heading to the shores of a small island (Ilha de Mare) where we dropped anchor. Túlio phoned a restaurant on the island who delivered (by launch) a lunch of shrimp, lobster, crab, salad and farofa to our boat (tough life isn´t it).

Kate, Tanure & Túlio on their Sailing Boat

On my second weekend in Salvador I spent time with Lisa who I met through Túlio. Lisa is from the US but has lived in Salvador for many years, so she has a great knowledge of the city. One evening we visited the Pelourinho district, which is a historic quarter (the city centre during the Portuguese colonial period). It has plenty of charm (and a bit of grit too). The name Pelourinho means whipping post  - there was one in it´s central plaza for punishment of slaves. Now the district is a hotbed of Bahian music and dance with many schools and theatres. Lisa took me to a performance called Balé Folclórico da Bahia held at a small theatre. Accompanied by live musicians at the back of the stage, the dancers performed many pieces from traditional African dances with the Gods (Orixá) - including homages to the Gods of war, rivers and lakes, death, storms, hunting and fire. A visually inspiring pieces was the fisherman´s dance (Puxada de Rede) with rising circular movement which was uplifting. The highlight of the evening for me was the Capoeira, a dance which (normally gently) mimics fighting and which was originally performed by slaves in Brazil. The form performed at the theatre was a more athletic and acrobatic version than the original more gentle and fluid Capoeira Angola, so plenty of multiple back-flips, high kicks, posturing and bravado. This is more of a showy form of Capoeira and it is certainly very entertaining with more wow factor. However, the Angola version (which we saw in a plaza later in the evening) is more ´dreamy´ and flowing - maybe a little longer-lasting if you are into nodding along to simple rhythms in a chilled stylee.

After the theatre we wondered the cobbled streets of the Pelourinho, admiring the colonial architecture. The many music and dance schools on the first floors of buildings were sending out the banging rhythms of live percussion - leading to a real cocophany of sound in the streets. We stopped at the stall selling traditional Bahian cusine - tended by a fine looking black woman in traditional dress. The food on offer was typically Bahian; including dishes made with shrimp, beans and manioc flour (acarajé is a memorable one) as well as sweet dishes made with tapioca - and typically for Brazil only a passing glance at vegetables. Around the Pelourinho there were various performances in full flow - these involved a group of really competent percussionists playing carnival-esque banging rhythms with a vocalist on the mic.

Lisa & Tim with Bahian Food Street Vendor in the Pelourinho

 Banging Bahian Rhythms in the Pelourinho

The next day I joined Lisa and two of her friends (Tom and Paulo) for lunch which included more Bahian food such as farofa (made with manioc flour) and moqueca (a fish stew with coconut milk). In the evening Lisa took me to a jazz performance at the Modern Art Museum which is by the sea - a pleasant spot in the setting sun with some really competent musicians playing jazz with some Bahian percussion fused-in at times.

My enjoyment of Salvador is largely due to my kind hosts - so thanks go out to them.

2012, 9th - 19th January: Lençois, Bahia, Brazil

2012, 9th - 19th January: Lençois, Bahia, Brazil

For a full complement of photos, follow this link to the set in my Flickr account:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212524@N04/sets/72157628966021785/

Lençois is a small town around 6 hours west of Salvador in the state of Bahia. It is located next to the Chapada Diamantina National Park. Chapada means ´elevated plateau´ and diamantina means diamonds. The town and others in the area grew up in the days of diamond mining which started in the region in the 19th century and ended (I believe) 30 or 40 years ago. The main attraction of the area are the numerous plateaus, mountains, valleys, canyons, rivers, waterfalls and caves.

The rock in the area was formed from marine sediment. This is evident in the sides of the mountains and canyons by the layer upon layer of rock (formed from layer upon layer of sediment layed down many years ago). Tectonic activity later pushed the whole area upwards, causing the rock to crack. These cracks were then subject to erosion over millions of years which formed the numerous mountains, valleys and canyons.

I was glad to experience this area of Brazil because before visiting the country, I perceived that the only features on offer were jungles, cities and beaches - I happily stood corrected.

I lost a few days at the beginning of my stay here while I had to rest after catching a mild virus. Other ´off´ days were spent waiting for treks to be available and catching up on these blog entries, photo uploading and arranging the logistics of my onward travel northwards in Brazil as well as the next country (Venezuela).

 Four Day Trek in Chapada Diamantina National Park

13th - 16th January

I made the four day trek with a local guide (Puma) and a British traveller (Drew). We walked in the Chapada Diamantina national park - bivouacing as well as staying in simple pousadas located in the valleys of the park. The park is well protected, with no roads at all within its borders.

The water in the rivers and pools throughout the park is a coloured brown from the organic matter it contains (plant and soil). However, it tasted reasonable and drinking it did me no harm.

Day 1

Starting near to the town of Guiné, we climbed Aleixo Hill onto the plateau Gerais do Rio Preto. During the walk across the plateua Puma pointed out orchids and other fauna. We spent the night under a rock overhang at Toca do Gaviáo. A very friendly group of Portuguese hikers were there and they spoke excellent English, so we spent a sociable evening sharing the shelter of the rock overhang, with Puma making a great meal on a fire.

Many of the plateaus in the park are at a resonable elevation (800 metres or more), so it was surprisingly a little chilly under the biviouc even though the time was during a Brazilian summer. The cool nightime temperatures also brought in a light mist.

Day 2

After setting off along the plateau it was not long until we reached a spectacular sight - the point where the Cachoeirão waterfall plunges into the Vale (valley) do Cachoeirão (which is canyon like in shape). Due to dry weather however, the waterfall was tiny (almost non-existent). The view was fantastic with a sheer drop to the base below and a grand vista up the length of the canyon. As well as a great flat viewing point to sit on (part of the river bed when it is in full flow), there was also a pointed section of rock jutting out over the vast drop where the brave could sit - right over the canyon. I had a go which made for spectular photos.

View of Vale do Cachoeirão from the Cachoeirão Waterfall

Tim Sitting Above Vale do Cachoeirão

A hot walk in the afternoon sun brought us to the edge of another valley which had commanding views to Castle Hill (Morro do Castelo) on the other side. The hill (a small mountain really) got it´s name from the turret-like rocky outcrops that surround it´s long flat summit. A steep descent into the valley followed and evening rain produced some picturesque rainbows. After getting wet it was a welcome relief to be able to spend a night in some rustic pousada accommodation at Prefeitura. In the posusadas they cook on wood-fired stoves, and our guide Puma produced another fine meal.

Morro do Castelo in the Distance

Day 3

Our day´s walking involved a rainy start, but by the time we reached pousada Casa do Linda, the rain had stopped and in the Brazilian summer heat it does not take long to dry. We were able to leave our packs at the pousada (where we would sleep that night) before heading up the Vale do Cachoeirão (which we looked down on from above on Day 2). On the way up the valley we followed the path of the river, so the whole way was scrambling across boulders large and small. The river was at a low level, but not so low as to spoil our fun in a fantastic natural swimming pool with a refreshing waterfall at one end. After jumping in I was surprised to find somethings biting me - these turned out to be little fish having a harmless nibble.

Our onward boulder walk became more tricky as the surfaces became more mossy towards the more shaded head of the valley, but the sight at the end was well worth it. The head of the valley is a vast canyon with shear sides more than 200 metres high arranged in a semi-circular shape. The geological history of the area was evident again as the innumerable layers of sedimentary rock were clearly visible. The viewing point and the pointed rock where I had sat the day before could just be made out at the top of the cliff faces. During the return to the pousada, the (really annoying) large biting horseflies were out, but fortunately they went to bed early.

The Foot of Vale do Cachoeirão Below the Location of the Cachoeirão Waterfall
(Waterfall Present When it is Wet)

The night was almost cloudless and we were presented with a beautiful starry night sky (no light pollution to spoil it). Orion´s belt was clearly visible. The white points of light above our heads were complemented by many flashing green ones close to ground level thanks to the activities of numerous fire flies.

Day 4

Puma set us a fast pace despite the fact it was a very hot and humid morning - this was so that we would have time to visit a cave on the way home. We climbed out of valley and up the hill Ladeira do Império which gave great views of much of the route from the previous two days (Vale do Cachoeirão and Morro do Castelo). The descent to the town Andarai (where we were collected by car) took us through Serra do Baiano where evidence of many years of diamond mining was on show. The ground was covered in large chunks of rock that had been extracted by the miners. The pieces were made up of soft sedimantary rock that was full throughout with hard stones. The miners sought diamonds in these stones.

View of Vale do Cachoeirão & Morro do Castelo

We made a diversion on the drive home to visit the cave ´Poco Azul´ which is a small cave filled with crystal clear water where you can snorkel. The conditions in the cave give the water a rich blue (Azul) colour.

One Day Trek to the Fumaça Waterfall

18th January

I joined a guided group to make this easy-going trek to the Fumaça waterfall, which is the highest in the national park. The walk started from an isolated small town called Capão which is well known for it´s laid back atmosphere (reportedly it is a ´hippy hang out´).

The climb to the plateau gave us good views of Morro Morrão (Big Hill) the other side of the valley. At the other side of the plateau (elevation approximately 1200 metres) we reached the Fumaça waterfall. Unfortunately the dry weather meant that the river feeding it was little more than a trickle such that if the wind blew, the water did not reach the valley below but formed upward spray instead. Nevertheless, the view was impressive as the drop made by the waterfall is approximately 400 metres.

The Fumaça Waterfall

On the drive home from Capão we stopped off at one of the area´s many points for swimming (a pool at the foot of a small waterfall).

2011, 22nd - 26th December & 2011, 31st December - 2012, 5th January: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

2011, 22nd - 26th December & 2011, 31st December - 2012, 5th January: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
and
2011, 27th - 30th December: Paraty, Brazil




Most of the time was spent in Rio, apart from three days in Paraty between Christmas and New Year. During my time in Rio I stayed with a host called Tony in his apartment in Santa Teresa.


For the full complement of photos of my time in Rio de Janeiro, follow this link:


http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212524@N04/sets/72157628940196393/


For the full complement of photos of my time in Paraty, follow this link:


http://www.flickr.com/photos/67212524@N04/sets/72157628940231727/

 

Rio de Janeiro - City Features

 

The topographical setting of Rio naturally lends the city a unique character, with the main contributors being the coastline, the mountains and the jungle parks. It is set around a large bay which the first European explorers found in the month of January and mistaking the bay for a river named it Rio de Janeiro (River of January). The coastline has numerous arcs - large and small, which provide many sheltered beaches such as Copacobana, Ipanema and Flamengo. Since you are never far from a beach in Rio, beach life is a big part of leisure time.

One of Rio´s Many Bays (Botafogo)

As well as its coastline, the mountains contribute much to the character of the city, which range from large rocky outcrops to long ridges with sections up to 800 metres high. Virtually all districts are flanked by mountains in some way. The most famous are of course Corcovado(where the statue of Christ the Redeemer is) and Pão de Açúcar (Sugarloaf Mountain). The most affluent neighbourhoods, such as Copacabana, Ipanema, Leblon and the business district of Centro, are built on the flat areas near the bays. Apart from Santa Teresa, that leaves all the steep hills (and any gaps in the conurbation) to be infilled by favelas. If there is a gap, they will find it and be no respectors of proximity to posh neighbourhoods.

 

Any mountainsides not found by the favelas are covered in forest (many are protected by national park status - e.g. Tijuca). So if you do not fancy the beach or it is too hot in the midday sun you can always walk in the shade of the forests and cool off in one of the waterfalls. I think that it is the fact that wherever you are in Rio you have ready access to a natural feature (beach, mountain , forest, waterfall) that keeps the people of the city relaxed and more chilled that those in land-locked cities such as (reportedly) São Paulo. Some of the spirit of Rio may also be down to its favelas, I think that though they have a problematic history, they bring a degree of realism to the city as any comfortably financed people cannot pretend that their city is not shared with the poor (there is always a slum not too far away).

View from Perira da Silva Favela Towards Botafogo District

Many of the more affluent districts (such as Leblon, Copacabama and Ipanema) do not have the most inspiring architecture as they are mostly made up of high rise apartment blocks. My host told me that these districts used to contain old town houses, but these were gradually sold-off to developers.

 

One of the few remaining residential districts that predominantly has its original architecture is Santa Teresa where I stayed with my host, Tony. This suburb is built along a ´mountain´ ridge that effectively has Christ the Redeemer at one end and the district of Lapa at the base of the other. Santa Teresa is a maze of steep and winding cobbled streets . Tony´s appartment block has great views to the north (Centro, Zona Norte and the bay). On the other side of the ridge are views to the south to Ipanema and Pão de Açúcar. Some of the steep sides of the ridge are covered in favelas - in fact Tony´s place overlooked one. So on Christmas Eve (which is a bigger celebration in Brazil that Christmas day) a cocophany of tacky music and the bang of firecrackers and fireworks made for a jumpy noise-scape through the evening and night, with the next morning heralded by dogs barking and cockrels crowing.

Hillside View in Santa Teresa

The Favelas

 

The favelas (slum districts) of the city are as much a feature of Rio as the well-to-do high-rise affluent districts. One has to admire the tenacity of those with little or no money squeezing a little homested into any gap they can find (generally tiny and on the side of a steep hill) and their bare-faced cheek for building a house whether they have permission or not (not to mention the illegal connections to the electrical grid). That said, I would not want to live next to one. The structure of pretty much all the favela houses seems to be a concrete base, engineering brick construction and a flat concrete roof (from where they can fly their kites right next to a high voltage power line).

Fallet Favela

Reportedly, things have improved in recent years, with some favelas achieving a degree of domesticity. One in Santa Teresa even has hostel accommodation, though some favelas are still best avoided. It seems as if the police have had some success in calming things down. In the past, most favelas were no-go areas for the police and so these districts were well and truly ruled by the drug dealers. In those years, canvasing politicians during an election campaign would seek ´permission´ from a drug dealer before entering a favela. Tony said that in the past, because the police could not enter the favela below his appartment block, they would try to take-out the drug dealers with snipers positioned on the main road above the favela. During the ensuing gun battles, bullets hit and entered Tony´s appartment (he has a collection of spent bullets and a lampshade with bullet holes in it to prove this). Things are much calmer now, though there was the brief sound of distant gunfire one evening.

 

It is worth noting that the rougher side of life in Rio´s favelas is of course a fact of life in the city, but I never felt uneasy or threatened while in the non-favela districts. Also, with Tony I met a number of people from the favelas near his home and they were really sound and friendly people - though of course we were sensible enough to avoid going deep into some of the less-civilised slum districts.

 

An interesting strategy to ´open-up´ the favelas and reduce the grip of the drug dealers on these slum districts can be found in Complexo do Alemange. The area has a number of rocky hills in its midst and the authorties have constructed a cable car system between them with four stations. Tony and I took a ride one day which provided a birds-eye view of the slums and an appreciation of just how densely the housing is packed (very tightly with the only real open space in some parts being the flat rooftops). One could appreciate why it can be / was so difficult for the police to gain safe access to the rabbit warren like maze of little streets and alleyways spread across steep-sided slopes. This particular project has had some success. If nothing else, the inhabitants of these districts now have a good link to the road and rail network. The district now appears to be less of a ´fortress zone´ where the drug dealers rule (though I am not a local so cannot really comment too much). The authorities are obviously keen to keep things in the improved state as armed soldiers monitor the cable car stations. These guys also pop into the favela for a drive around (aided by the concrete access roads that were not there originally - another ´opening-up´ strategy).

View of Favela in Complexo do Alemange from Cable Car

The Perira da Silva favela on the south side of the ridge on which Santa Teresa is built has a reasonably homely feel and the people we met there were very friendly. It has great views across to Ipanema (affluent area with high-rise appartment blocks) - providing a great visual contrast between rich and poor neighbourhoods. The favela even has a hostel. It also has a little community project (called Project Morrinho) where some locals had the ingenious idea of making a model of a favela out of the same engineering bricks they use to construct the houses in the real slums - with one engineering brick representing a house and its square holes the windows.

Tony´s Tours

Tony had some spare time during my stay in Rio, and he was kind enough to take me on a number of tours. This gave me a great feel of the overall city as well as providing the opportunity to visit areas I would unlikely have done as a lone tourist.

The districts covered included Santa Teresa, Lapa, Centro, Central do Brasil, Leblon, Ipanema, Copacabana, Botafogo, Flamengo, Catete, Gloriá, Lagoa, Praça XV, Sahara and others. We also visited the city of Niterói which is located the other side of the bay. Included in the tours were some favelas as well as a shady and very grubby red light area (purely for looking at another side of life only - not touching with a barge pole springs to mind). Also included was a dip in the Baineiras waterfalls in Parque da Cidade.

The Classic Sights

I also took the time to fit in some classic Rio tourist sights such as Copacabana and Ipanema beaches, the statue of Christ the Redeemer and the Sugarloaf mountain.

Statue of Christ the Redeemer

New Years Eve in Rio

Despite some minor reservations I had about being a lone tourist in the midst of 2 million plus revellers in a city with a reputation, I concluded that I could not be in Rio on this big day and not experience the world famous celebration on Copacabana beach.

After a real crowd crush to get to the seafront, I arrived just in time at 11:50pm and grabbed some beer from one of the many street vendors - incidentally, sadly the mainstream Brazilian beers have the taste and body of a partial vacuum which is becoming rather tiresome after a months worth of them. At the zero hour the night erupted with the start of a 15 minute firework display. Suffice it to say, the locals greeted this with true Brazilian enthusiasm, which all made for a jovial atmosphere.

Just After Midnight on New Year´s Eve on Copacabana Beach

As it rained on and off all night and being a true Brit I foolishly decided that it would be a good idea to wear a raincoat - so no doubt I looked a true tourist tit. Maybe that is why I had no trouble with pickpockets and other street detritous as being a tall, short-haired, raincoated bloke I may have looked like a copper. Anyway, the raincoat is long so any pickppocket could only have reached the bum-bag beneath with an unwelcome hand brushing past sack or crack, which I like to think I would have noticed.

After the fireworks the crowds thinned which was a welcome relief. I wandered along the seafront to sample the various happenings. The music on the big stages I came across was not of interest to me as it was rather cheesy. So for me the highlights were the samba groups that set themselves up on the pavement. One was really good and had plenty of percussion and a vocalist on a megaphone to get the crowd going. True to form, all the locals knew the words and sang and danced along. The rhythms were very infectious and I enjoyed dancing too.

On my way home much later via the district of Lapa I found one solitary bar that was still open after 5am, and finished off with a drink to the sounds of some bloke on a keyboard and more samba-infused (but slightly cheesy this time) music.

My walk home up the steep cobbled streets of Santa Teresa was in the light of new year´s day which was a good ending to my celebrations.

Paraty

As an interlude to the time I spent in Rio during Christmas and New Year, I spent three days in the small historic town of Paraty which is approximately 250 km south west of the city of Rio de Janeiro. The cobbled streets are almost rock-like as the cobblestones are huge and pretty roughly laid, so one´s eyes spend a lot of time looking downwards while walking the streets if one is to avoid stubbed toes and falling head over heels.

The coast at Paraty is a weave of bays and little islands which makes for a great day out in a group on a hired boat. Alas the day of my boat trip was grey and sometimes drizzling so the rich blues of the water normally present on a sunny day were left to my imagination. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed swimming, jumping off the roof of the boat into the water as wells as having lunch with the others in the group.

On my other full day in Paraty I took one of the many ´Jeep Tours´ on offer where you are driven around different spots in the hills to the north of the town. We visited a number of waterfalls where you can swim. The most memorable flows down a wide and long smooth rock - making a great natural slide. I was in my element and slid down many times (after the initial shock during the first time at just how fast you get before plunging into the pool at the bottom). At another waterfall, by getting right under the main flow I had a nice back, neck and shoulder massage from the pounding of the falling water. We also visited cachaça distilleries (free tasting abounded). Cachaça is made by adding yeast to juice extracted from sugar cane. The fermentation only takes 35 hours. This forms the pure (clear) variety. Other types are on offer, including those aged in wooden barrels (for around 18 months) which adds a nice flavour as well as a brown hue. The aged ones taste (to me) like a very strong very dry sherry. Other varieties (for girly consumers) are sweetened with fruit.

Tim on Waterfall Slide Near Paraty