“There is no point to samba if it doesn’t make you smile.” -Latin American journalist (and author of the book Samba) Alma Guillermoprieto
Having arrived in Rio from Africa, much seemed familiar in the spirit of the people and in their crafts. This turns out to be no coincidence. At the height of Portugal’s colonization of the area, many slaves were brought here from western Africa, to the point that the proportion of slaves to Portuguese was 4 to 1 (and they all outnumbered the indigenous people by a significant margin). Some slaves eventually became free, and intermarriage between the three populations over the years became quite common, so that the culture became homogenous with a strong African influence.
And all this comes down to the samba—the drum-driven music, the feathers and beads, the “joyful noise” are all of African origin. Derived from a word meaning “to pray” or “to be joyful,” samba has its roots in the African embrace of the Christian mandate to make a joyful noise unto the Lord. Much of what we saw and experienced in Brazil, a country of deeply prevalent religion, was about the samba.
Our first visit in Rio was to Samba City, the place where the floats for Carnival and other parades are made. Few other visitors were there, so we and the workers largely had the place to ourselves. Much work was being done on both the upcoming Carnival and the Christmas parade, and it was fascinating to watch these craftspeople at work, and to see some of their results. Feathers, beads, and all manner of decoration rule the day. A young man took some time out to show us how the characters on the Santa float were being constructed, starting with Styrofoam, then covered by paper mache, then painted. It was a fun and colorful morning.
The evening picked up the samba theme, as we attended a samba show at the club Plataforma. The audience was mostly tourists—from all over the world—but the performance was genuine samba. The costumes were colorful, the dance steps energetic and sometimes intricate, and the evening highly entertaining. The caipirinha (the national drink of Brazil) flowed heavily, making the evening a woozy one. It is said of the caipirinha that after one you feel good, after two you can dance the samba, and after three you can speak Portuguese.
In between the samba experiences, we were faced with making the most of our time in Rio on a rainy day. But we looked up from Samba City and realized that the cloud cover had cleared, so proceeded to the Corcovado, the mountain over the city on which the giant Christo Redentor statue perches. It is something of a trademark for Rio, and no trip to that city is complete without a visit to its base to take in the views of the city and its harbors. Intended to mark the 100th anniversary of Brazil’s independence in 1922, the Christo Redentor didn’t open until 1931 due to a funding shortfall during its erection. It is 98 ft high (on a 26-ft pedestal) and 98 ft between fingertips, and dominates the view above the city. When you see pictures of Rio, inevitably a photo of this statue turns up.
To get to the statue, a tram travels up the mountain through the Parque Nacional da Tijuca. At more than 8,000 acres, this is the largest urban forest in the world and one of the last remnants of rainforest on Brazil’s southern coast. The 20-minute ride up is a study in botany, with different areas labeled with the different plants on view. Every so often, you get a quick glimpse of the view below, but those glimpses are only teasers. About 15 minutes into the trip, suddenly the trees open up and a breathtaking view of the city below presents itself.
It had started raining again during our trip up, and we worried that the views would be obscured by clouds. Ha! Not to worry—the rain had stopped when we reached top, and the winds were so high that the clouds were blowing away at a rapid rate. Unfortunately, the winds were so high that it was nearly impossible to stand and look at the fantastic views for fear of being blown off the mountain. I have never been outside in winds like that before, so it was a new experience for me. The winds were high enough that they had closed the elevators and escalators that lead from the tram station to the base of the statue, so we’d had to walk up. We were told that, while it usually is windy up there, the winds that day were higher than any in recent memory. But we did get to see our views, and have a wind-swept experience on top of it. It was good that we went up when we did, as a fallen tree closed the tram later that day.
After that, we trolled the famous Ipanema and Copacabana beaches for a bit. For Brazilians, the beach is the center of life and activity. However, this was a rainy week day, so there were not many people on the beach that day. But the beaches themselves stretch for miles, with volleyball and soccer areas set up on the beach and plenty of vendors to provide whatever one might need or want. Sand sculptures were the order of the day, some extremely large and elaborate—and managing to hold up notwithstanding the rain. Christmas themes showed up in several of them, reminding us that it indeed is the Christmas season—hard to remember when it’s 90 degrees out, but Christmas falls in the summer in Brazil.
The next day was clear and sunny, with moderate temperature. In other words, perfect weather. So this was to be the day for the “other” view of the city—the trip up Sugarloaf Mountain. Rio is built in and among many mountains, but the Christo Redentor makes the Corcovado stand out, and Sugarloaf stands out because it sits at the mouth of the harbor. Access is by cable car—you board at the bottom and it takes you halfway up for some spectacular views, then you board another and it takes you to the very top. Life on Sugarloaf looks much like beach life, with opportunities for relaxation, family activities and picnicking. Once again the views were spectacular, though this time without the threat of being blown across the city.
From there, we returned to see the beach life on a sunny day. Though again a weekday, this time the beach was alive with activity—people walking, sunning, playing volleyball and soccer (in bare feet!), eating, drinking, and just generally living at the beach. Skimpy swim suits were the order of the day for both male and female, and no matter what the body shape of the wearer. It was great to see such a lack of self-consciousness.
We then paid a visit to the tiny but entertaining Carmen Miranda Museum, getting a short and informative review of her life and career. Apparently not that many people visit the museum, so we were treated like honored guests. From there, we went to a monastery with a chapel of elaborate wood and gold leaf, with both modern and old frescoes decorating the altar area. It reminded me of a similar chapel we saw in Oporto, Portugal—probably not a coincidence.
This was to end our visit, as our ship was sailing in the early evening. The sailaway was probably the most beautiful we’ve seen, as we headed out the harbor past Sugarloaf Mountain and the Ipanema and Copacabana beaches and out to sea for our trip up the Brazilian coast.
Our next visits are to Salvador da Bahia, Fortaleza and Belem. Each visit will be sandwiched between sea days, so it will take us another six days to cover the coast before we head out into the Caribbean for the final week of our cruise.
Having arrived in Rio from Africa, much seemed familiar in the spirit of the people and in their crafts. This turns out to be no coincidence. At the height of Portugal’s colonization of the area, many slaves were brought here from western Africa, to the point that the proportion of slaves to Portuguese was 4 to 1 (and they all outnumbered the indigenous people by a significant margin). Some slaves eventually became free, and intermarriage between the three populations over the years became quite common, so that the culture became homogenous with a strong African influence.
And all this comes down to the samba—the drum-driven music, the feathers and beads, the “joyful noise” are all of African origin. Derived from a word meaning “to pray” or “to be joyful,” samba has its roots in the African embrace of the Christian mandate to make a joyful noise unto the Lord. Much of what we saw and experienced in Brazil, a country of deeply prevalent religion, was about the samba.
Our first visit in Rio was to Samba City, the place where the floats for Carnival and other parades are made. Few other visitors were there, so we and the workers largely had the place to ourselves. Much work was being done on both the upcoming Carnival and the Christmas parade, and it was fascinating to watch these craftspeople at work, and to see some of their results. Feathers, beads, and all manner of decoration rule the day. A young man took some time out to show us how the characters on the Santa float were being constructed, starting with Styrofoam, then covered by paper mache, then painted. It was a fun and colorful morning.
The evening picked up the samba theme, as we attended a samba show at the club Plataforma. The audience was mostly tourists—from all over the world—but the performance was genuine samba. The costumes were colorful, the dance steps energetic and sometimes intricate, and the evening highly entertaining. The caipirinha (the national drink of Brazil) flowed heavily, making the evening a woozy one. It is said of the caipirinha that after one you feel good, after two you can dance the samba, and after three you can speak Portuguese.
In between the samba experiences, we were faced with making the most of our time in Rio on a rainy day. But we looked up from Samba City and realized that the cloud cover had cleared, so proceeded to the Corcovado, the mountain over the city on which the giant Christo Redentor statue perches. It is something of a trademark for Rio, and no trip to that city is complete without a visit to its base to take in the views of the city and its harbors. Intended to mark the 100th anniversary of Brazil’s independence in 1922, the Christo Redentor didn’t open until 1931 due to a funding shortfall during its erection. It is 98 ft high (on a 26-ft pedestal) and 98 ft between fingertips, and dominates the view above the city. When you see pictures of Rio, inevitably a photo of this statue turns up.
To get to the statue, a tram travels up the mountain through the Parque Nacional da Tijuca. At more than 8,000 acres, this is the largest urban forest in the world and one of the last remnants of rainforest on Brazil’s southern coast. The 20-minute ride up is a study in botany, with different areas labeled with the different plants on view. Every so often, you get a quick glimpse of the view below, but those glimpses are only teasers. About 15 minutes into the trip, suddenly the trees open up and a breathtaking view of the city below presents itself.
It had started raining again during our trip up, and we worried that the views would be obscured by clouds. Ha! Not to worry—the rain had stopped when we reached top, and the winds were so high that the clouds were blowing away at a rapid rate. Unfortunately, the winds were so high that it was nearly impossible to stand and look at the fantastic views for fear of being blown off the mountain. I have never been outside in winds like that before, so it was a new experience for me. The winds were high enough that they had closed the elevators and escalators that lead from the tram station to the base of the statue, so we’d had to walk up. We were told that, while it usually is windy up there, the winds that day were higher than any in recent memory. But we did get to see our views, and have a wind-swept experience on top of it. It was good that we went up when we did, as a fallen tree closed the tram later that day.
After that, we trolled the famous Ipanema and Copacabana beaches for a bit. For Brazilians, the beach is the center of life and activity. However, this was a rainy week day, so there were not many people on the beach that day. But the beaches themselves stretch for miles, with volleyball and soccer areas set up on the beach and plenty of vendors to provide whatever one might need or want. Sand sculptures were the order of the day, some extremely large and elaborate—and managing to hold up notwithstanding the rain. Christmas themes showed up in several of them, reminding us that it indeed is the Christmas season—hard to remember when it’s 90 degrees out, but Christmas falls in the summer in Brazil.
The next day was clear and sunny, with moderate temperature. In other words, perfect weather. So this was to be the day for the “other” view of the city—the trip up Sugarloaf Mountain. Rio is built in and among many mountains, but the Christo Redentor makes the Corcovado stand out, and Sugarloaf stands out because it sits at the mouth of the harbor. Access is by cable car—you board at the bottom and it takes you halfway up for some spectacular views, then you board another and it takes you to the very top. Life on Sugarloaf looks much like beach life, with opportunities for relaxation, family activities and picnicking. Once again the views were spectacular, though this time without the threat of being blown across the city.
From there, we returned to see the beach life on a sunny day. Though again a weekday, this time the beach was alive with activity—people walking, sunning, playing volleyball and soccer (in bare feet!), eating, drinking, and just generally living at the beach. Skimpy swim suits were the order of the day for both male and female, and no matter what the body shape of the wearer. It was great to see such a lack of self-consciousness.
We then paid a visit to the tiny but entertaining Carmen Miranda Museum, getting a short and informative review of her life and career. Apparently not that many people visit the museum, so we were treated like honored guests. From there, we went to a monastery with a chapel of elaborate wood and gold leaf, with both modern and old frescoes decorating the altar area. It reminded me of a similar chapel we saw in Oporto, Portugal—probably not a coincidence.
This was to end our visit, as our ship was sailing in the early evening. The sailaway was probably the most beautiful we’ve seen, as we headed out the harbor past Sugarloaf Mountain and the Ipanema and Copacabana beaches and out to sea for our trip up the Brazilian coast.
Our next visits are to Salvador da Bahia, Fortaleza and Belem. Each visit will be sandwiched between sea days, so it will take us another six days to cover the coast before we head out into the Caribbean for the final week of our cruise.
No comments:
Post a Comment