A Year In Motion

Leaving Rio de Janeiro was tough, it’s a city that has so much to offer and the longer you stay in it, the more it sucks you in. Some people even declare that there’s no city in the world like it. 2 hours later we were flying over the coast of Salvador, Brazil’s Colonial Capital and fourth largest city. Salvador is rich in history and culture due to its colonial past and its old town has achieved UNESCO World Heritage Status, but in truth the main reason that brought us there was the fact that it offers the cheapest one way flights to Europe in all of South America. Salvador was our last stop in our around the world adventure, and we were going to spend three days getting to know it.

Salvador is surrounded by beaches all around, and the farther you get away from the center the more beautiful the beaches are. Due to its strategic defensive geographical position in the Baía de Todos os Santos, Salvador was chosen by the Portuguese as the seat of their government. Innumerable amounts of slaves were brought from Africa to work for them, hence the big African population and cultural influence. It’s definitely not as cosmopolitan and chic as Rio, but its colorful old town is as pretty as you can get anywhere. Old traditions and customs are still very alive in Salvador. It is here where you can take part in traditional Brazilian – African influenced activities such as Capoeira and Terreiro. The historical centre is known as Pelourinho, which literally translates as pillory or punishment post, a name that binds this beautiful Portuguese legacy with its ugly and brutal colonial past. The Pelourinho is divided into the Upper and Lower City which are easily connected by two Art Deco elevators. Here you will find the largest concentration of Baroque style architecture outside of Europe.

A walk through the old town is a delight in its own, like stepping into the past or into Africa. The vendors of street food are all women, dressed in big white costumes. The rhythm of beating drums flood your ears as the sound comes out of buildings everywhere. In the middle of one of the streets we found an outdoors beauty salon where black women uniformed in African animalesque outfits sit their customers in plastic chairs in the sidewalk to work on their hair. Street massage was also another trade we encountered. You never know what you will find around the corner when walking the streets of Salvador. The sights, the sounds and smells are unique each day. This area is carefully guarded by police as it has the reputation of being the place in Brazil where you will most likely get mugged or robbed; but even with all the police, the darker it got the sooner we wanted to get out of there. Better safe than sorry at our last destination.

We were invited to watch a group lesson of capoeira in one of the most famous schools. Capoeira is recognized as a Brazilian sport, which is a combination of martial arts and dancing to the rhythm of drums. More than a sport, it’s an old ritual that originated in Angola. The slave populations practised Capoeira as their masters believed it was merely a dance rather than a disciplined martial art. 5 minutes into the session and the participants had broken into a heavy constant sweat. It’s definitely a great form of exercise and no surprise why almost all Brazilian men are very much in shape.

Another ritual which we were lucky to be invited to was a Terreiro. Terreiro has many meanings; it’s the set of customs and beliefs of the descendants of the African slaves, it’s a place where the ancient religious rituals take place, and it’s also the name of the ritual itself. Earlier in the day, we had visited the Terreiro (the place) in a small house at the end of an alley and we had seen a full grown chicken smashed into the doorstep of a house – not a typical welcome mat. Many Brazilians, as Cubans, still believe in their Orishas, or gods in black magic, and voodoo as they do in Africa. These religions were prohibited as Catholicism was declared the official religion in colonial Brazil, but in modern-day Salvador there is no hiding it. We inquired if we could attend and at what cost, and we were granted permission as long as Tony wore light colored long pants, and the cost would be whatever offering we wanted to make to the Orishas. Our hotel was too far so Tony showed up wearing capoeira white pants, which was the cheapest pants we found. At the Terreiro session there was a strange altar to the gods with even stranger offerings such as popcorn. The high priest, a man dressed in white women’s clothing and shoes, moves around in circles through the crowd dancing and chanting repetitively, as in a trance, to the rhythm of drums. Every once in a while he throws yellow flour to the people, who rub it into their bodies; he also throws it out into the street. After 30 minutes, the room seemed to be too small as more and more devotees of African origin came in to chant, dance and pray. We were all sweating and the ritual was repetitive so we left wondering if later it would get more intense. We don’t know what happened as it goes very late into the night, but as we exited we did see abundant creatures having a feast next to the smashed chicken and the flour the high priest threw out into the street. The creatures? Hundreds of cockroaches! Or embodiments of the gods perhaps? Terreiro is definitely an interesting experience to take part in.

The department of Bahia is reputed to have Brazil’s best food. We tried out their most famous dishes and they were really good. Acaraje is the staple street food. It’s a fried patty made of white beans which is filled with shrimps, spicy sauce and a nice yellow dough thick sauce. Traditionally most dishes in Salvador serve two, so if you are on your own or can’t agree on an item it’s an issue. The most famous dish is probably Moqueca, generally a prawn stew with coconut and served with rice and of course manioc (yellow flour). Breakfasts in Brazil are excellent as well. In all the hotels we stayed we had big tasty free breakfasts. There is a large variety of fresh fruits, a huge variation of sweets bread, egg variations and many meats; but we really liked their variation of omelette, a Beiju. It’s a sort of hard pancake with fillings inside, like an omelette, but no egg. They also grill big lumps of fresh cheese and serve it when the outside is crusty and the inside melted. Yummy!

Salvador is not just about sun, beaches and caipirinha, but a vibrant and authentic expression of Afro-Brazilian identity moving to a relentless beat in one of the most beautiful colonial settings in the world. It’s edgy, it’s beautiful, it’s rich, it’s poor, it’s Brazil! What a country to finish A Year In Motion! We are already thinking of coming back for the Football World Cup in 2014. And so, this is the end of 375 days of continuous travels, but definitely not the end of our travels, just a break which we approach with a whole bag of mixed emotions and what seems like a lifetime of memories. So Ireland here we come! And let the journey continue forever!

Time was running out for us, but we could not leave without visiting the UNESCO World Heritage Iguazu Falls shared by Argentina and Brazil. Both parks, on both countries received the UNESCO status due not only to the natural beauty, but to the great amount of rare and endangered fauna and flora. The falls are now a finalist for the “Natural Wonders of the World” Competition. Unfortunately we could spare only one day for the visit. Normally that would be ok for visiting one side, but we wanted to do both the Argentinian and Brazilian sides. We had to take our luggage with us and go through immigration at the border in between the visit as that was the end of Argentina for us and Iguazu was our entry point into Brazil. It was one hell of an exhausting marathonic day, but well worth the trouble for the impressive sight the falls are.

Our visit took place during the last days of rainy season so we ended quite wet, both from the constant rainfall and the powerful mist of the cascades on the Brazilian side; but they say this is the perfect time to visit the falls as you get to see them at their mightiest. Iguazu Falls consist of 275 falls over a course of 2.7 km on the Iguazu River, with 80% of the falls being on the Argentinian side. The falls separate the Iguazu river into upper and lower river. In the Argentinian sides there are walking trails where you can opt to see the falls from the middle or from the top. The biggest concentration of water is at the U shaped falls called the Devil’s Throat (Garganta del Diablo), the actual border between the two nations. This is where the cataracts are at their mightiest and tallest, at an altitude of 80 meters high. An eco-train takes you close to the Argentina’s Devil’s Throat and from there you walk 1 km along the walkway over the Iguazu River to reach it. The amount of water falling at the site, its power and speed is a delight to watch, nature at its wildest. From there you are just a a few steps from Brazil, and you can even see the spectators at Brazil’s side and version of the Devil’s Throat.

Water is the main player at Iguazu but the fauna and flora are also part of the show. Plentiful bright green diverse vegetation gives Iguazu its beauty. A large variety of over 400 butterflies inhabit the area, some with an unbelievably beautiful combination of bright design on its body; as well almost 500 birds call Iguazu home, one of the largest concentrations on earth. We saw an amazing species of small birds that actually live inside the falls. You can watch as these birds fly directly at a high speed into the falls with no hesitation and find a resting spot behind the water. And the resident pet of the falls is the coati, a mischievous raccoon – opossum type mammal that will steal your food if it has its way, if unsuccessful you will find them digging the ground with their elongated noses to get aliments. They look cute and are very accustomed to visitors, they will let you touch them; but that would be a bad move as some of them carry rabies. We also got a glimpse of a mountain rat, which looked very cute with freckles and all, but a rat nonetheless. While we were there the rainy foggy day and the dark clouds gave the setting an ominous feeling, which to me went perfectly well with the site it is. The Guarani indigenous tribe was the original inhabitant of the region, but sadly Portuguese and Spanish conquerors destroyed their habitat, enslaved or killed them.

Because of our deadline and our reluctance to take group tours we opted to take a costly taxi ride from the Argentinian Falls to the Brazilian Falls stopping at immigration. Now we know it was unnecessary. We saw everything on both sides without getting up so early and still had time to spare at the end of the day, the cheap public bus option would have suited us fine. The border crossing was really fast and easy, first time we didn’t even have to get out of the car.

The Brazilian side was a different story: very modern and efficient administration, plenty of transportation options, credit card facilities, and better personal service. Certainly they only own a small portion of the falls, but it’s the best. You have a picture perfect view of the multiple falls on the Argentinian side on the trail that leads you to the grand finale, Brazil’s Devil’s Throat. You can walk to it and get soaked by all the heavy mist. There is also an elevator which takes you to a viewing point on top of it all, from where you can watch the magic being created.

On the Brazilian side there are also plenty of adventure activities to do. Rapelling, Rafting, Kayaking are part of it, but most people do the boat ride which brings you upclose to the base of the Devil’s Throat. On The Argentinian side all adventure activities had been canceled for the moment due to a recent mortal accident. We had a fabulous time and if we had a choice to go back to one side it would definitely be Brazil. To learn more about the history of the falls and the doomed fate of its original inhabitants watch the excellent award winning film “The Mission”.

All our pictures on the Argentinian side can be found here, and the Brazilian ones here.

Cape Town had spent over 6 months at the top of our chart of the Best City in the World, although Ninfa was probably by now a little fed up of my constant reminder that because we still hadn’t seen Rio de Janeiro, the jury was still out. Now Judgement Day had come, is Rio really a heaven on Earth? Our case was going to be based on a leisurely examination of the scenes around Rio’s world famous attractions.

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We arrived into Santos Dumont airport on a domestic flight from Sao Paulo where we had connected from Iguazu, and took a public bus from there to Copacabana. The bus drove us through the Centro district of Rio, and numerous colonial buildings stood out gracefully amongst the concrete jungle of high rises. When we arrived in Copacabana, we made our first stop at the Rio tourist office. We had at least expected to get past Tourist Information before encountering our first linguistic hurdle, but the staff there spoke little to no English or Spanish. This was to prove a quite recurrent theme during our stay, although you can’t fault the Cariocas for effort in their helpfulness. We asked the lady at the tourist office if there were any no-go areas, and she waved her hand over half of the massive city map and said “it’s all safe”. Apparently, crime had ceased to be a problem in one of Latin America’s notoriously dangerous cities. A great start!

We had spent a good bit of time prior to arriving checking out hotel prices, and had decided to book nothing and pound the pavement and see if we could get a last-minute rate. Now Rio is huge, the Copacabana beachfront is itself 4km long, so this was perhaps not our brightest idea. On the other hand, when we went to see hotels in person that we had considered on the internet, they were little more than stinky prison cells. We ended up settling on a hotel a block from the beach at the tip of Copacabana in an area called Leme. It would have been fine for about $50 or $60, but in Rio, we paid $180! Heaven on Earth apparently has its price.

One of Rio’s lesser known features is that extensive stretches of rainforest still grow within this tropical capital’s city limits. And while there’s no rainforest without rain, we hadn’t expected our first night strolling through Ipanema to be spent running from canopy to canopy to find shelter from the heavy downpour. We took shelter in the formerly authentically famous and now touristy premises of the Garota de Ipanema cafe. It was here, in this cafe, that the legendary and multitalented Brazilian writer Vinicius de Moraes penned the lyrics to a song which Tom Jobim composed into the soundtrack that defines Rio to this day – Garota de Ipanema, The Girl from Ipanema.

Two caipirinhas later, we were back on the streets of Ipanema making our way to Brasileirinho. Brasileirinho is the sister restaurant of the better known Casa de Feijoada, but is about half the price, and is supposed to work out of the same kitchen. We took a table at the window and ordered the signature dish, Feijoada. Feijoada has its origins in Brazil’s colonial past, when the slaves, too poor to have meat, would collect leftovers from the master’s kitchen and stew them in beans. Leftovers generally took the form of ears, tails, feet and some similarly tasty bits left over for sausages and jerky. Since then, the humble Feijoada has climbed the social ladder to become one of Brazil’s most famous culinary delights. First out was a delicious bean soup served with chilis, which our Chilean waiter warned us to use with caution. Caution was optional and we were soon both breathing fire. And then came the full spread of a bowl of bean stew bubbling with the aforementioned meats, some crispy pork rind, extra beans, deep-fried yucca, rice, some farofa to thicken the sauce, and some slices of orange to aid digestion, and some lemon-infused cachaca which also helped digestion. It was a feast, a beggar’s banquet!

Brazil’s culinary richness did not stop there. Wherever you go in Brazil, you will be treated to some of the freshest and most abundant fruit on the planet – papaya, mango, strawberries, melons… and juice stores abound on almost every street corner. A little more upscale than your regular juice store are the palatial surroundings of the grand Confeitaria Colombo (http://www.confeitariacolombo.com.br), a belle époque café similar to the Cafe Tortoni in Buenos Aires, more Paris or Vienna than Rio de Janeiro. The Confeitaria Colombo provided a ray of sunshine on a second continuous dull day in Rio de Janeiro, some sort of record I’m sure. Ninfa opted for a selection of delicious Salgadinhos, deep-fried, salty, breaded balls stuffed with cod, prawn, crab or chicken among others. I chose one of the afternoon teas, the Cha Virginia Lane, which included more mouthwatering Salgadinhos, and a selection of the house pastries – Virginia had taste! Confeitaria Colombo is in the Centro area, and because of the poor weather, we spent a lot of our second day in Rio around here. The receptionist at our hotel had told us that this was a safe area, although his interpretation of safe was along the lines of “don’t wear a watch, and don’t bring a wallet”. Isn’t that the definition of dangerous?

Our next morning, a sunny morning!, we visited Corcovado, the site of the majestic Cristo Redentor statue, one of the landmarks of the world. A small train took us up the side of the towering mountain to the feet of the statue overlooking the city of Rio de Janeiro and the Guanabara Bay. The view was fantastic – tropical island mountains rising out of the bay, the long stretches of Copacabana and Ipanema beach, the lagoon, the bay of Botafogo and the domestic flights swerving around the Pao de Acucar (Sugarloaf) mountain. I don’t know if Jesus was consulted on his view, but it is divine! About 15 minutes after we arrived, a bank of cloud blew over covering us on almost every side – time to go.

From Corcovado, we made our way to nearby Santa Teresa. Santa Teresa is a formerly noble and now bohemian district that sits atop one of the mountains near the centre of Rio. We strolled along its streets, its well-supplied fruit shops, its designer boutiques (all local), and quirky cafés. We had been hoping to hitch a ride on one the famous bondinhos, Rio’s only existing tram service, but the schedule seemed to running a little slow. Instead, we continued downhill and on to the massive mosaic of the Escalera de Selaron. The brainchild of an eccentric Chilean artist, Jorge Selarón, the Escalera is a staircase of over 200 steps which he has been decorating with tiles for over 20 years. It’s a kaleidoscope of colour and you could spend hours admiring the tiles from all over the world – there’s even a few from Honduras and from Ireland. All tiles are donated, and the artist sells a few himself from his workshop along the stairway. We were lucky enough to bump into the man himself at work. Our wandering ended nearby under another of Rio’s landmarks, the Arcos de Lapa, an aqueduct which connects lower Rio Centro with the hills of Santa Teresa. At that moment, it was time for the beach. There was a hot tropical sun, and we weren’t taking it for granted.

We spent the rest of that evening and the following day beachfront along some of the most famous beaches in the world. What go by the name of promenades in other cities could best be described as catwalks in Rio, as the “tall, tanned, young and lovely” Cariocas, stroll along the trademark black and white mosaic footpaths which line the white sand beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema. We went swimming at sunset in the furious waves that crash in onto the sand. I asked a lifeguard if it was safe to swim in the waves, and he said no. So I asked if maybe it was better in Ipanema. He said no, it was worse. Even with no watch and no wallet? We still couldn’t resist taking a dip, but the strength of the ocean commands respect. We were being thrown around like pinballs only in the foam of the waves. It was awesome! On our last day, we did the same in Ipanema, and a little bit of last minute shopping for souvenirs of a city we both loved. And finally, on our last night, we met up with Abdes, an old friend of Ninfa’s who had also met us in Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic. He had just been transferred to Rio for his work, and we caught up over a few caipirinhas on what had been an eventful three months for all of us since last we met.

So what did the jury decide? Did Rio top the charts? Well, the jury’s still out on that one. This was my second time to Rio, and I still would go back at the drop of a hat. You don’t really need to do much in Rio to love it. It’s something to be felt as much as it is to be seen. So it’s still my number one, if there’s sun! And it was probably the cloudy weather in Rio and the warmth of welcome of the South Africans that kept Cape Town at the top of Ninfa’s chart. But we’ve agreed that 6 months in each city would be a workable compromise.

Check out our photos here, and read our next post for news from colonial treasure and cultural hotspot, Salvador do Bahia.

Travel Tips:

Feijoada is traditionally only served on Saturdays, and you will find a much better choice of places to eat on that day. Brasileirinho serves feijoada every day, and is less formal and less expensive than Casa de Feijoada – perfect for a dish which may not be to the liking of everyone.

Book your train ticket for Corcovado on the internet and try to be there early or late to avoid the crowds. Check the weather forecast too because if it’s cloudy, you’re not going to see anything.