Tuesday 25 March 2008
Back in Toronto
I arrived back in Toronto on February 26th. That night was said to be the coldest of the winter, and the following week we had one of the biggest snowfalls of the year. In fact, today one month after coming back it is snowing again. Here are a few pictures I took around my building after the big snowfall. Everyone says I picked the right year to be away from Toronto.
Barra Grande
A few days after Lou returned home, we left for Barra Grande. Elci had been talking about taking me there almost since I arrived in Porto Seguro. Because the beaches were said to be beautiful, the water transparent, and I would be able to snorkel, I had been looking forward to it.
To get there we drove north in the direction of Salvador, the capital of the Brazilian state of Bahia. For about four hours we followed Federal highway 101 across a lush and hilly landscape. We came to an area that had once flourished with cocoa plantations, which are now mostly shut down. Large sprawling homes for the owners and rows of small cottages for the workers now sat empty.
When we turned off the main highway we continued through a rolling countryside with scattered farms and clusters of small cottages. In the window of one house I saw a young black woman leaning on her window sill watching the world go by, just like the wooden carvings I h
ad seen in some of the craft shops in Porto Seguro.
We arrived in Camamu around five and took a launch across a bay to get to the town of Barra Grande before dark. The next morning we rode on a truck with benches in the truck bed over a pot-holed sandy road to the Atlantic side of the peninsula where I was told I would be able to snorkel. When we arrived at the waterside I felt as though I had arrived in paradise. The water was clear and blue and the beaches stretched for miles. The reefs where I could snorkel were only fifty meters from shore. I asked Elci if she knew of a place where we could stay. She said there was a nice hotel down the beach. It was beautiful so we reserved two rooms for the rest of our stay.
After we settled in I went snorkeling. I had my best day of snorkeling in Brazil. Unfortunately, the first day was the best as there were a lot of clouds and some rain on the following four days.
On the third day, February 18th which was Elci’s birthday, we hired a schooner to do a little exploring. For about five hours the schooner, with a crew of two, took us wherever we wanted to go. Our first stop was a small island where Elci and Cassio went ashore while I snorkeled around the island in search of marine life.
Next we stopped at a small settlement where everyone is employed in building wooden ships. Some of them were enormous schooners destined for the tourist trade.
We made another stop in a blue lagoon, where Cassio and I dove into the water from the stern of the schooner. After that we docked and went ashore to a restaurant that served boiled langoustines on picnic benches. Cassio and I only ate the tails, leaving the head and spiny legs for Elci, who devoured every morsel. We watched in awe as the carcasses piled up; Cassio laughed and told his mother she was a cannibal.
That night we celebrated Elci’s birthday with a chocolate cake prepared by the staff. We took most of the cake back with us to Porto Seguro, where it took us another two days to finish it.
Before we left Elci took pictures of the lobby and some of the crafts that decorated the hotel. The hotel is filled with beautiful artifacts and crafts from Bahia. If you are ever in the area be sure to stay at the Pousada Taipu de Fora. Here’s their website http://www.taipudefora.com.br/
To get there we drove north in the direction of Salvador, the capital of the Brazilian state of Bahia. For about four hours we followed Federal highway 101 across a lush and hilly landscape. We came to an area that had once flourished with cocoa plantations, which are now mostly shut down. Large sprawling homes for the owners and rows of small cottages for the workers now sat empty.
When we turned off the main highway we continued through a rolling countryside with scattered farms and clusters of small cottages. In the window of one house I saw a young black woman leaning on her window sill watching the world go by, just like the wooden carvings I h
ad seen in some of the craft shops in Porto Seguro.We arrived in Camamu around five and took a launch across a bay to get to the town of Barra Grande before dark. The next morning we rode on a truck with benches in the truck bed over a pot-holed sandy road to the Atlantic side of the peninsula where I was told I would be able to snorkel. When we arrived at the waterside I felt as though I had arrived in paradise. The water was clear and blue and the beaches stretched for miles. The reefs where I could snorkel were only fifty meters from shore. I asked Elci if she knew of a place where we could stay. She said there was a nice hotel down the beach. It was beautiful so we reserved two rooms for the rest of our stay.
After we settled in I went snorkeling. I had my best day of snorkeling in Brazil. Unfortunately, the first day was the best as there were a lot of clouds and some rain on the following four days.
On the third day, February 18th which was Elci’s birthday, we hired a schooner to do a little exploring. For about five hours the schooner, with a crew of two, took us wherever we wanted to go. Our first stop was a small island where Elci and Cassio went ashore while I snorkeled around the island in search of marine life.
Next we stopped at a small settlement where everyone is employed in building wooden ships. Some of them were enormous schooners destined for the tourist trade.
We made another stop in a blue lagoon, where Cassio and I dove into the water from the stern of the schooner. After that we docked and went ashore to a restaurant that served boiled langoustines on picnic benches. Cassio and I only ate the tails, leaving the head and spiny legs for Elci, who devoured every morsel. We watched in awe as the carcasses piled up; Cassio laughed and told his mother she was a cannibal.
That night we celebrated Elci’s birthday with a chocolate cake prepared by the staff. We took most of the cake back with us to Porto Seguro, where it took us another two days to finish it.
Before we left Elci took pictures of the lobby and some of the crafts that decorated the hotel. The hotel is filled with beautiful artifacts and crafts from Bahia. If you are ever in the area be sure to stay at the Pousada Taipu de Fora. Here’s their website http://www.taipudefora.com.br/
Trancosa and Espelho
Cassio (Elci’s son) and his girl friend “Lou” came to visit us during Carnaval. One day we took a bus to Trancosa, which I had heard so much about. The countryside bordering the road to Trancosa was beautiful and the town is charming. I didn’t think too much of the beach though. The water was shallow and the beach a little muddy but that didn’t stop Cassio and Lou from enjoying themselves as you can see from the first two slides.
The bus ride home on an old comfortable coach was magical. The warm night air washed over my face as I leaned out the window to admire the stars and a crescent moon low in a solid black sky. Because the area we passed through was without electricity, which is only now being installed in some areas of rural Brazil, there was no light pollution to mar the night sky.
Lou stayed with us a week. On her last day we rented a car and went to a beach called Espelho, said to be the third most beautiful beach in Brazil. We retraced the route to Trancosa before turning onto a dirt road that would take us to Espelho. Cassio drove and we followed the windy though graded road through a thick forest up and down hills until we finally descended to a vast valley floor that stretched to our left and right as far as the eye could see. Black cattle belonging to a “fazenda” (ranch) dotted the valley to the horizon. After we crossed the valley we passed through several Indian villages where if we had enough time we could have stopped to buy some unique crafts. Finally we arrived at our destination where a collection of posadas (inns) and private homes snuggled in a hollow between the surrounding cliffs.
It was all breathtakingly beautiful. As soon as we arrived I swam out to the distant reef that can be seen in the third slide, and snorkeled for a while. The sand along the beach is like powder and you can walk for miles at the foot of chalky cliffs. Our base was one of the posadas where we lounged on platforms covered with bamboo mats and colorful cushions.
The day passed slowly but when the light began to dim we had to leave so that we wouldn’t be caught in the dark on the dirt road leading back to the main highway.
Suddenly as we sped along in the darkest part of the forest Cassio shouted, “did you see that spider on the road; it was as big as my fist.” I glanced in my side mirror and saw a large furry black ball fading into the distance. It could have been a bird-eating spider, which is not a serious threat to humans but can be fatal to frogs and small birds.
Again, back on the main highway, where I thought we were past all danger, Cassio cried, “look at that, there’s a coral snake on the road.” A hundred meters past the snake, we decided to turn back to take a picture. As we approached the snake a big truck passed over it. Still we managed to take a picture before more traffic made it look like a deflated balloon. According to Wikipedia “coral snakes are highly venomous, being the only relative of the cobra found in the New World.”
The bus ride home on an old comfortable coach was magical. The warm night air washed over my face as I leaned out the window to admire the stars and a crescent moon low in a solid black sky. Because the area we passed through was without electricity, which is only now being installed in some areas of rural Brazil, there was no light pollution to mar the night sky.
Lou stayed with us a week. On her last day we rented a car and went to a beach called Espelho, said to be the third most beautiful beach in Brazil. We retraced the route to Trancosa before turning onto a dirt road that would take us to Espelho. Cassio drove and we followed the windy though graded road through a thick forest up and down hills until we finally descended to a vast valley floor that stretched to our left and right as far as the eye could see. Black cattle belonging to a “fazenda” (ranch) dotted the valley to the horizon. After we crossed the valley we passed through several Indian villages where if we had enough time we could have stopped to buy some unique crafts. Finally we arrived at our destination where a collection of posadas (inns) and private homes snuggled in a hollow between the surrounding cliffs.
It was all breathtakingly beautiful. As soon as we arrived I swam out to the distant reef that can be seen in the third slide, and snorkeled for a while. The sand along the beach is like powder and you can walk for miles at the foot of chalky cliffs. Our base was one of the posadas where we lounged on platforms covered with bamboo mats and colorful cushions.
The day passed slowly but when the light began to dim we had to leave so that we wouldn’t be caught in the dark on the dirt road leading back to the main highway.
Suddenly as we sped along in the darkest part of the forest Cassio shouted, “did you see that spider on the road; it was as big as my fist.” I glanced in my side mirror and saw a large furry black ball fading into the distance. It could have been a bird-eating spider, which is not a serious threat to humans but can be fatal to frogs and small birds.
Again, back on the main highway, where I thought we were past all danger, Cassio cried, “look at that, there’s a coral snake on the road.” A hundred meters past the snake, we decided to turn back to take a picture. As we approached the snake a big truck passed over it. Still we managed to take a picture before more traffic made it look like a deflated balloon. According to Wikipedia “coral snakes are highly venomous, being the only relative of the cobra found in the New World.”
Carnaval
As everyone probably knows Carnaval is a big deal in Brazil. I watched most of it on television. I couldn’t believe the enormous and imaginative floats that stretched for miles on the streets of Rio and Sao Paulo. The breathless television commentators called the floats “fantasies;” truly they have to be seen to be believed. There was nothing like that in Porto Seguro; though one day the municipal street cleaners—who do a great job of keeping the city’s streets clean—marched up our street dressed in colorful orange costumes. The big draw in Porto Seguro is the music. Thousands of youths from all over Brazil come for the beaches, the parties and the “trios”. Several of these groups perform every night beginning around ten and lasting until dawn. One night a small trio passed in front of Elci’s balcony. The major trios play along the waterfront on top of tractor trailers with speakers the size of small cars. Though we only went out one night near the end when the crowds had left, during the ten nights of Carnaval the music was so loud I hardly slept. Every year there is an official Carnaval song, but the unofficial song that summed up the whole Carnaval experience for me had these lyrics: “Beber, cair, levantar—drink, fall down, get up”, repeated over and over.
Friday 25 January 2008
Fisherman's Wharf District
Yesterday I went back to the area where the fisherman of Porto Seguro tie up their boats and bring their catches to the fish plants and markets along the wharf. To renew her drivers licence Elci had to pass some written tests at a drivers school in the area. Elci told me I should walk around and take pictures of the historic homes in the area.
The slide show titled Fisherman's Wharf District begins with pictures of a boatyard, where a carpenter is shown working on a new wooden boat. There was also a finished fishing boat in the boatyard, which I took a picture of. Next to the boatyard there is a square where I took a picture of a fisherman repairing his nets. The sign in one of the pictures says that the square will be restored in 2007. Looks like they are a little behind schedule. Opposite the park there is house for sale, which I think has an art deco fascade. It could probably be picked up for $10,000 or so. Great location I think.
I think this area which parralels the riverfront will undergo a facelift in the near future. Many of the houses in the area have already been restored.
The slide show titled Fisherman's Wharf District begins with pictures of a boatyard, where a carpenter is shown working on a new wooden boat. There was also a finished fishing boat in the boatyard, which I took a picture of. Next to the boatyard there is a square where I took a picture of a fisherman repairing his nets. The sign in one of the pictures says that the square will be restored in 2007. Looks like they are a little behind schedule. Opposite the park there is house for sale, which I think has an art deco fascade. It could probably be picked up for $10,000 or so. Great location I think.
I think this area which parralels the riverfront will undergo a facelift in the near future. Many of the houses in the area have already been restored.
Wednesday 23 January 2008
Beaches and Porto Seguro harbour
The weather has been getting hotter, though not uncomfortable thanks to cooling breezes from the Atlantic, and we have been going to beach every chance we get. So far the only beach where I have been able to snorkel was in Arraial d'Ajuda, which is across the river from Porto Seguro. As you can see from the first photo the water there is calm because of the reef which is close to shore. You only need to go out a few meters, just beyond the boats, to meet up with the reef and its inhabitants. The next photos are pictures of one of the ferries that cross the river and the harbour.
We have a great view of the harbour from Elci's rooftop deck. The schooners, whose masts you can see in the two pictures from Elci's deck, take tourists out to a reef and marine park where they can walk around the reef and snorkel. I haven't gone yet as the schooners tend to be packed.
I think we may have found what I have been looking for at the beach shown in the last two pictures. The breaking waves in the distances mark the reefs of Coroa Vermelha. They are a little too far to swim to and the day we went was rough. However, there is a spit of sand from which you can reach the reefs when the tide is low. I haven't talked about the tide before. The difference between the low tide and high tide here (I know there is a name for this but I can't remember it) seems to be about 2 meters.
Carnaval begins sometime next week when thousands of tourists will again fill the streets of Porto Seguro. Carnaval here is supposed to be quite spectacular. I will try to get some good pictures to show on the blog.
Thursday 3 January 2008
Feliz 2008
Brazil celebrates the New Year big time. Every city has fireworks displays that are huge. Elci and I watched the fireworks in Porto Seguro from her rooftop deck. We were right in the middle of the action. We spent the weekend in Cabralia, which is about half an hour from Porto Seguro, with Elci's friends Amilcar and Lea. Lea is a good cook. On Sunday afternoon we had a feast of some traditional foods. Afterwards, Amilcar and I went fishing on the river in his 3,5 meter aluminum boat with a 4 HP Yamaha. The mouth of the Rio (river) is separated from the Atlantic by a reef. In the picture you can see waves crashing on the reef as we motored down the river.
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