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Published: April 19th 2006
About a million things happened since I last posted to this blog, so I’m just going to race through everything.
Though a bout of shingles (otherwise known as adult chicken pox) threatened to ruin my Carnival celebrations, I recovered just enough to be able to enjoy myself, and not to have to worry about scaring people away with my open sores. Sounds grosser than it was, but believe me, it was far from a comfortable experience. Anyway, Carnival was everything I thought it would be, although up in Olinda it is a much different Carnival than in Rio de Janeiro. In Rio, there are samba schools, and people wear those elaborate costumes you’ve probably seen on TV (or maybe in person!). But in Olinda, the celebrations are characterized by groups of Maracatu (a type of Brazilian percussion beat) bands, and the Frevo dancers. Frevo performers wear bright costumes, and dance in unison while holding small colorful umbrellas. Walking down one of the narrow cobbled streets in Olinda, one finds a million vendors each selling the same items: soda with guarana, fried tapioca, deep-fried manioc flour filled with sauce, and Skol, seemingly the most popular brand of Brazilian beer.
On
any given day of this week, the streets were packed (my ribs actually hurt sometimes in the mornings because of jabs from stray elbows) with Brazilians, travelers, and tourists; many wore crazy costumes. Some people had very similar costumes; probably the most common was sexy married girl, or sexy military girl, or sexy devil girl. It was pretty much an excuse to wear very little clothing. There were pirates and stowaways, cavemen (also wearing very little), clowns, and elves with oversized pants and ears. Drum circles on random corners, marching brass bands, Maracatu chic bands, and little samba experts everywhere you turned. You could walk around the streets of Olinda all day and never dance with, around, or behind the same band. Everyone got into the festivities: little kids, old women, celebrities, tourists, the homeless…this is everyone’s party. And you didn’t necessarily need a costume; there were plenty of plainclothes folks walking all about. One tip for Carnival: it is necessary to carry a water gun. It doesn’t matter what size (I carried a small one, one that would fit my traveler’s budget, cuz everything costs five times it’s value for Carnival). Some people carry high-powered water rifles, like the
very old lady from that balcony who was giggling as she blasted us below with a motorized spray gun. We didn’t mind because it was so hot, and there was very little shade. So why do you need a water gun? Because you have to shoot people with good costumes, little kids, good-looking people, people that look like they will get into a cross-town water fight with you, those that look extremely hot or extremely drunk or even a little bit cross. But there weren’t really any people that looked the slightest bit cross…well that woman who owned the internet café did not look too pleased when one of her computers was caught in our crossfire; also the tourist police did not look thrilled either when some water from a gun in our taxi hit them at close range. (Oops!...hehe)
So people really do party all day and all night during Carnival, and under the blazing sun too. What’s the secret to the Brazilian energy? Maybe it’s the guarana soda, or maybe it’s the Skol? On the last day of Carnival there was a huge parade involving everyone in town, and they all marched for hours singing about their
The Altar
at Olinda's oldest church. This piece just got back from New York City.beloved Carnival in Olinda. It definitely was special; Olinda seems to have its own spirit and style when it comes to this annual event. That night, I joined a “bloco”, one of the music groups that marches throughout the city, and we danced for hours through the streets, dressed up as clowns. Danced all the way to a favela, which is a very poor neighborhood, and got the little kids involved in some singing and dancing. The mothers looked appreciative, and came out to give us juice and fresh fruit.
After Carnival, I headed up north to Fortaleza, a city the size of Seattle. Went out with some fellow hostellers (including a few Brazilians) to Club Armazen. In one room they had live Samba and Axe (pronounced a - SHAY). They tried to teach me to dance these rhythms, with this advice: “Try to move your shoulders like a South American, not a North American!” I tried and they laughed. The next room had a house DJ, and there was a crazy Swedish guy in there with bright white shoes and spiky hair! He stole the show. Next day, saw Capote at the new cultural center across from Armazen.
Can’t say much else for Fortaleza…They have some strong surfing waves I guess.
So I was off to Jericoacoara with a couple of Swiss girls. This is supposed to be one of the top ten beaches in the world. Top ten? I don’t know, but very beautiful indeed. People watch the sunset from the gigantic white sand dunes on the beach, and afterwards watch, and possibly participate in, the capoeira circle on the beach. No flash photography! You could blind one of the dancers performing fighting-style moves with their partner! One day we took a ride by 4x4 to Lagoa Azul for a freshwater swim, another day hiked to the Pedra Furada, and almost everyday we went to local cafes for beautiful breakfasts, which included real honey (yes there is fake honey), but not real butter. The last few days it rained, producing flash flood conditions. As none of the streets there are paved, most of them were ruined or washed out by the rain waters. Most of the vehicles there are dune buggies, so no one had any trouble getting around.
South to Morro Branco, a small fishing village hardly visited by travelers. The beach is vast
and deserted, and is set against brilliantly colored cliffs. Colored sands are extracted here for the famous sand paintings in glass bottles. Seems almost everyone in town owns a dune buggy here too, and they will drive you down the beach for the right price. Fishermen still use traditional methods and their boats are quite small. In the afternoon, they can be seen pushing the boats up the beach on planks and logs (see photo). They mostly catch lobster here, but also rays and other tropical fish. Next door to the hotel, Paulo would make me an egg-cheeseburger with sautéed vegetables and bolo (a gelatin cake with condensed milk) on the side everyday at his restaurant for about two dollars. I soon had to leave cuz the Portuguese hotel owners were charging me a fortune to stay there! They liked me though…the woman even called up her son on the cell phone and made me speak to him!
Next, down to Canoa Quebrada, where I took a six hour buggy ride to some cliffs from which manatees can often be spotted. I saw one for sure, although the rains had changed the water from a clear turquoise to brown,
and visibility was way down. We also saw a dead dolphin and a huge dead sea turtle washed up on shore that morning. When I had to leave the hotel, the owner tried to charge me for twice the amount of days, and he even convinced his maid to say I had been there four instead of two. We argued about it for a half hour until I produced my bus ticket to show I hadn’t even been in town that long. He was slyly apologetic, but I knew he had tried to cheat me on purpose. First time I really encountered that down on my trip.
Off next to Natal, which has the second purest air, according to NASA, after Antarctica. I honestly could not tell a difference though. I missed the world’s largest cashew tree, but did see some dolphins a bit further south in Pipa, but only from the cliffs above. I tried to go out there and swim with them, but I think they swam away! On the beach, an eight-year-old came up to me and said, “My friend is going to play this instrument while me and my other friend dance, ok?” I said
“Sure, why not?” and told them to go ahead. It was one of the best performances I’ve ever seen, all the more impressive because they were eight! One kid played a complicated rhythm on an empty paint thinner can, and the other two did very sophisticated capoeira-ish dance moves. I was very impressed, and they made more than a few Reai off of me!
An hour or two away is a nude beach called Tambaba I think, and this was by far the most beautiful beach I saw. Jericoacoara had nothing on this place. I have only one photo from the cliffs above; I didn’t take the camera in because I thought that they weren’t allowed…turns out they were. Almost no people here, which was part of why it was so spectacular.
Went back to Olinda/Recife to pick up my stowed bags, preparing to head south for the homestretch. Olinda has one beach, more or less what you would call a favela beach, but Recife has a beautiful expansive one. Recife means “reef” and these waters are shark infested, especially during the breeding season, August and September. People were swimming, but there’s no way I was getting in!
So down to Bahia state and the Chapada Diamantina. Chapada means “plateau” and the region is full of them, much like the American southwest, but covered in green vegetation. I went with a guide to see the view from one plateau called Pai Inacio; we also toured a mile-long cave with stalactites and stalagmites, and visited a large cave filled with turquoise green water. There are many rivers in the area, tinted the color of tea by native roots. It must be psychological, but the water smells like tea too! This area used to be heavily mined for diamonds, but excavations have tapered off because of the pollution it causes to the park and because there are far fewer diamonds to be found these days. Later I hiked two hours, sometimes barefoot in the flooded areas, to Brazil’s second highest waterfall, Cachoeira Fumaca - spectacular. I searched everywhere for diamonds, but didn’t turn up anything unfortunately!
Lastly, Rio de Janeiro…what an amazing place. I visited Corcovado and Christo Redentor, to which it is necessary to take a train that runs on a 45 degree angle. I ate fresh grilled chicken and pineapple sandwiches with fresh squeezed passion fruit
juice on the side every day. Went to a hip-hop club with a bunch of Israelis who sang football songs on the bus ride there, and finally, jumped off of a cliff over the city attached to a hang-glider! What a breathtaking view that was!...flying above the favelas, city parks, expensive beach homes and turquoise waters of Rio. A fitting end to a visit to one of the world’s greatest cities!
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