Down on the Farm

As part of an interdisciplinary field trip, the 9th grade class took a day trip to a historic coffee plantation about an hour from Campinas, known as Fazenda Ibicaba. Built in 1817 and run by a Senator by the name of Nicolau Vergueiro, the plantation has been preserved as an example of this era of coffee agriculture as well as to tell the story of the slaves and immigrant workers who went on to make up a large part of the Brazilian demographic.

The great thing about the tour was that the students were divided into small teams, each with a map and a different sequence of locations to visit around the massive area of land. At each location was a placard with information to read and gather. Several locations even had actors in period costumes who would appear from behind corners or closed doors to ask what we were doing there and then proceed to tell us their stories.

My group began with the plantation house, meeting Senator Vergueiro himself, who invited us to sit at his massive dining room table in the great room of the mansion where Queen Isabel and Dom Pedro had once dined. We all agreed we were the most impacted by the slave we encountered beneath the barn where the coffee beans were stored who showed us the dirt floor where he slept while shuffling around barefoot and shackled.

A view of the plaza-like area where the coffee beans were spread out to dry in
the hot Brazilian sun before being stored in the large storage barns to the right.

My awesome little group for the day.

The actor playing the watch-tower guard whose job it was to keep an eye on
slaves and migrant workers in case there was trouble or an escape attempt.

Eventually the immigrant workers from places such as Italy and Germany got
wise to workers' rights and demanded better working conditions than the African
slaves and were granted these modest houses in a far corner of the plantation.

Class of 2018 in front of the plantation's mansion.
This group, from places as diverse as Brazil, Korea, Canada, India, Japan,
Mexico and the US really come together for whatever adventure.

Back in Time...Again

The last time I visited the historic town of Ouro Preto I was alone and at the mercy of bus transportation. This time I came with friends and a rental car, both of which made getting lost in the small but winding town and to nearby locales a lot easier and much more fun. Visiting over a Sunday this time was also opportunistic in that many of the churches were open and we were able to see the insides in addition to the impressive masonry outside.

This visit was timed well in that the upcoming federal holiday is in honor of Tiradentes ("cheer-ah-den-sheez"), a martyred revolutionary against the Portuguese who was captured, hanged, and had the symbolic displeasure of his remains being scattered along the highway between Rio de Janeiro and Ouro Preto, with the final destination having his head displayed on a stake in the central plaza.

Ouro Preto: a veritable "Where's Waldo" of 18th Century churches.

Located south of the state capital of Belo Horizonte, Ouro Preto and the surrounding towns such as Mariana and Congonhas, among others, date back to the beginning of 1700's, many sharing founding stories with colonists finding mining opportunities. My previous trip was too rainy to visit any mines. This time, however, I was able to enter an old gold mine situated between Ouro Preto and Mariana, in addition to the small mine in town owned by Chico Rei, a slave and former African tribal king, as well as Brazil's first abolitionist.

In the Minas de Passagem, a former gold mine.
It's hard to tell but this track is inclining at about a
45-50 degree angle!

Part of the 2kms of a subterranean lake in the Minas de Passagem.

In addition to Chico Rei and Tiradentes, Aleijadinho ("ah-lay-jah-jeen-yo") is another famous Brazilian from this era with connections to the town and history. The son of an architect, he learned to carve intricate and beautiful façades and statues, despite not being able to walk and having to strap his tools to his limbs after loosing use of his appendages, possibly due to leprosy.

Aleijandinho's intricate façade on the stunning
Igreja de São Francisco de Assis.

Close-up of one of Aleijandinho's soapstone angels,
characterized by large, open eyes and long flowing hair.

Set apart on the Alto da Cruz is the "slave church"
Igreja de Santa Efigênia do Pretos.

Built by Aleijandinho's father, the Igreja Matriz
Nossa Senhora da Conceição de Antônio Dias features
a unique cross atop a sideways moon, signifying
the domination of the Moors by the Christians.

While Ouro Preto has, arguably, the highest density of 18th Century churches of this era with Aleijandinho and his contemporaries' work, nearby Mariana and Congonhas also have a few notable structures as well and were well-worth the visit.

Two churches border the Praça Minas Gerais in Mariana.

Congonhas boasts the unique Basílica do Bom Jesus de Matosinhos, famous for
Aleijandinho's last work (built between 1800-1805), The Prophets, which consists
of twelve soapstone statues lining the entrance to the church.

Pretty Olinda

Olinda is a small picturesque town located just north of Recife.  Literally translated, "o linda" means "the pretty one."  Early Portuguese settlers built the city in the 1530's on a hill as a means of defense against neighboring Dutch settlements, who at one point burned it to the ground.

The central area is currently a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the best way to visit is simply to wander up and down the labyrinth of narrow cobblestone streets.  The day we went was a bit wet and rainy but that didn't dampen (pun intended) the beauty and charm several hundred years of history has made.

Igreja do Carmo, built in 1580, is the first church in the Americas of the
Roman Catholic order of Carmelites.

Walking out front of the Convento de São Francisco, the oldest Franciscan
convent in Brazil.

Alissa posing with a "costume" used in a past Carnaval.
In Olinda the parade is free and takes place in the street
with no bleachers or set spectator areas. 

Oh, what these streets have seen over the years...

City of Reefs

The city of Recife (pronounced "heh-see-fee") is located in the most eastern Brazilian state of Pernambuco, and gets its name from the plentitude of reefs off the coast.  This both makes the sea here more calm, but also attracts a lot of sharks.  Originally a Portuguese settlement in the 1530's, it was captured by the Dutch and grew under their control during the mid-1600's, at one point serving as the capital of Dutch Brazil. Today, Recife is the 5th largest Brazilian city with just under 4 million inhabitants.

While the majority of the city in not a tourist destination, it is a good jumping off point to visit nearby Olinda, hang out on the beach of the Boa Viagem neighborhood, and take a stroll through Recife Antigo (Old Recife) to admire the architecture and imagine traveling back in time.

A colorfully decorated street in Old Recife.

Brazilian fans on their way to the FIFA Fan Fest area, located (poorly) on one
of the narrow streets along the water in Old Recife.

Many buildings in Recife Antigo date back to the 1600's.

Fans watching the Brazil vs Chile match overflow from a bar into the street.

Monument by artist Francisco Brennand in Recife's
Parque das Esculturas. 

Praia Boa Viagem on a nearly cloudless afternoon.

What could make a beach day better?  Grilled cheese on a stick, of course!

Photo of the Francisco Brennand monument taken by Dan Monfre.

The Capital Treatment

Imagine you had the opportunity to design a city.  Not just any city, but a capital city.  A city that would become a metropolis of national and international importance. What would you have it look like?  How would it be laid out?  

This was basically the question facing Brazil roughly 50 years ago when it decided to end the debate over where the new capital of the republic should be located and simply build a new city out of nothing in the dead center of the country.  Thus, in 1960, Brasilia was born.

From above, the main plan of the city looks like an airplane.  The body of the plane is mostly an open grassy mall, with the various governmental buildings, ministries, courthouses, palaces, etc. lining the sides.  The wings of the plane, situated in a north-south orientation, contain the living and commercial areas of the city.  

A floor-sized model of the city shows the "airplane" plan from above,
looking essentially east to west.

Designed by Lucio Costa with architecture by Oscar Niemeyer, who both aligned themselves with communist ideologies, the city was aimed to created a "Utopian" feel.  I went for a run down down the southern axis of the city and can equate it to an old Bugs Bunny or Roadrunner cartoon where the aforementioned protagonist is fleeing his foil - Elmer Fudd or the Coyote, respectively - and the background animation keeps looping over and over again. Strip of store fronts, parking lot, small park, residential strip, large park with bus shelter, residential strip, small par, parking lot, commercial area, larger street/intersection, and repeat. Tucked behind all of this is the same neighborhood layout again and again. If you lived here you would easily be able to find your exact counterpart house in the next neighborhood.

The wings of the plane are organized into "sectors" - commercial, hotel, recreational, etc.  Within the sectors are "quadrants."  It makes finding an address pretty easy, but at the same time there's not a ton of variety in urban design.  Every neighborhood is theoretically the same, making the communist subtext all the more apparent.  Being a UNESCO World Heritage site for design, few infrastructural changes are allowed to be made. 

A part of the National Museum, showing a lot of Niemeyer flair.

Standing outside the (top) of the Metropolitan Cathedral.
The entrance is below ground level.

The inside is spacious and full of light. 

The National Congress Building.
The Senate is under dome and the Congress is under the bowl. The towers are
offices and are purposely situated asymmetrically to the left for visual balance,
but I must be architecturally ignorant because it looks uneven to me still.

The newly remodeled Mane Garrincha Stadium, ready for World Cup action.
(More on that later...)

With all due respect to President Dilma, while Brasilia is an interesting and easily navigable city, unless i were coming here for a specific reason - oh hey, World Cup! - it probably could be done in one solid day.

The South Will Rise Again (Part II)

Today I walked through a cemetery decorated with Confederate flags, tucked under a grove of pine and palm trees in the middle of a sugar cane field.  Patsy Cline was singing "Walkin' After Midnight" and people in antebellum dresses were sitting in the shade, eating fried chicken and biscuits.  "Where am I and what is happening?!?" I kept thinking. 

Several weeks ago a few friends and I visited the Museu da Imigração in the town of Santa Bárbara d'Oeste, a museum dedicated to the small but concentrated group of immigrants from the southern part of the United States who came to Brazil just after the end of the American Civil War.  Though small in number compared to settlers from other parts of the world, the Confederados influence on the area - non-Catholic churches, certain fried foods - remains to this day.

As does the divisive Confederate Flag.  However, where this is often seen as a symbol of racism and ignorance in the US, Brazilian descendants of the original Confederados see it simply as the representation of the land their ancestors came from, much like a third generation Italian may still feel pride hoisting an Italian flag.  When the Confederados left home for the last time, in their minds they were leaving this country; despite the fact that they lost the war, they carried the symbol with them to represent where they came from.

Many generations later the Fraternidade Descendência Americana (Fraternity of American Descendants) hosts an annual Festa Confederada (Confederate Party) as a fundraiser for their organization's community projects.  The kicker is that the the event is held in a cemetery where the original Confederados are buried.  (At the time, the Catholic church wouldn't allow these non-Catholics to use the Catholic cemetery so they started one on a piece of land outside of town on a farm.)

Becca and Jason model the theme of the festival.  I feel it needs a hashtag.

A group of us Gringos - some southerners, a couple Yanks, a Brit, and a few Canucks - ventured out to the cemetery to see what this was all about.  I went in with no expectations.  I left feeling like I had stepped through some Twilighty Zone where nothing bad happened.  I may be being dramatic but I still have the initial gut reaction of discomfort when I see a Confederate flag, half expecting to see a sea of pillow case headdresses and flaming torches, so the shear abundance of them was disconcerting.  In the end, it was strangely just part of the decor.  I couldn't complain about the people-watching either!

Festival paraphernalia.
Even the "tickets" used to buy food were faux-Confederate dollars.

Yeah, I don't think I'll be running for public office with this photo
floating around the interwebs...

The presentation of the old Confederate states' flags.
Please note the stage floor...as if it could be missed!

The oldest tombstones dated back to the late 1860's. 

Great people watching; I became unapologetically paparazzi-esque.

And what Confederate festival wouldn't be complete without some southern rock?

The South Will Rise Again (Part I)

Brazil is a diverse country.  This is evident in the food, music, dance, and faces of its people.  Brazil claims Portuguese, German, Italian, Lebanese, and Japanese in its melting pot of foreign immigrants.  But there was a time when a significant number of (ex) Americans were making their way to the southern hemisphere in droves.

A little known piece of history about the settling of Brazil has direct ties to the Civil War in the United States.  After the Confederates lost the battle to secede from the Union, and thus the right to keep slaves, the economy was not exactly healthy and many once comfortable families were then struggling.  In stepped Brazil, wanting to increase its own agriculture and economy by enticing new potential citizens - of the "right" color and breeding, essentially - to move and help settle Brazil.

Thus, beginning in 1866, most of these "Confederados" began settling in what is now the state of São Paulo, around the municipality of Campinas, as it was one of the few parts of the country where Catholicism was not the dominant faith.  Here Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Baptist, Episcopalian, and other Protestant communities were in abundance.  This became especially true of Santa Bárbara D'Oeste and the neighboring, appropriately named Americana, both of which still exist today.

"Nationalities of Immigrants Entering São Paulo State from 1827-1936"
The Ex-Americans would likely have been classified as "não especificados"
as many of them did not identify with the United States of America as it was.
Also, the total of Confederado immigrants was only about 10,000 people.

To oversimplify things would be to say that these Confederates were bitter about losing their right to slaves and moved to some place that still allowed them, however, most of these immigrants were too poor to afford slaves once they got here and ended up working the land themselves for wealthier land owners, though in better conditions than the existing slave workforce. Nevertheless, their presence brought increased population and progress to the area, as these new immigrants brought with them their Southern traditions and agricultural methods.  Ironically, slavery became illegal in Brazil less than twenty years from when the Confederados first arrived.

In what was once an old town jail in Santa Bárbara D'Oeste, today stands the Museu da Imigração, a small testament to the reason why the Confederate flag can still be seen in a country thousands of miles and a continent away from where it was conceived.  In fact, there is a festival* in April of each year - in the cemetery where most of these immigrants are buried, no less - celebrating the bygone antebellum days.  (Herein lies "Part II"...)

Top: A baseball team composed of Confederados and their descendants
circa 1900.  Bottom: A Confederate $2 bill. The museum had many remnants
of life, such as this, likely brought with during the migration and left in the
bottom of drawers and closets for future relatives to find.

*I highly recommend checking out the website (As a Yankee northerner - redundant? - I enjoy the "Heritage, Not Hate" part.)

Don't Ever Change

The tiny colonial seaside port town of Paraty (say: pah-rah-CHEE) has seen many incarnations since it was first settled in the 1500's.  Since then, this modest town has played part in the import of miners and export of gold from the adjacent state of Minas Gerais and then for coffee after that.  Each industry eventually ended their mutual relationship with the port after the development of roads from other coastal locales such as Rio de Janeiro or São Paulo, which proved to be time-saving in terms of travel.

Consisting mostly of one or two-story white-washed colonial-era buildings with brightly colored doors and windows, Paraty is an easy place to get lost in.  Not physically, since it spans only a handful of blocks in any given direction, but mentally, as any visitor is easily transported to a simpler time.  It is not difficult to imagine horses clomping down the cobble-stoned streets, now off-limits to cars.  (And these cobble-stones are not small; it behooves pedestrians to keep one eye on their next step at all times.)

For a small town, it is strange to find so many churches scattered throughout its historic center.  Though small, and all Catholic, it turns out each was intended for different congregants: one for wealthy whites (built in 1800), one for slaves (1725), and another (1722) for mulattos - children of mixed race, but not necessarily slaves.

Before numeric addresses, most postage was directed to a street name and
door color, making it preferable to not have repeated colors on the same block.

The bay of Paraty is dotted with many small islands leading out to the open Atlantic Ocean.  We boarded a schooner for an afternoon of island hopping and enjoying the unique and majestic views of this region's coastline, known as the Mata Atlantica, a geographic and ecologic region with characteristics unique only to here (which I've had the pleasure to visit twice before whilst in Ubatuba and Ilha Grande).

Afternoon on the schooner Moana, touring the Bay of Paraty.

The beaches in Paraty are nothing to write home about, however, those of the islands in the bay, as well as several a short drive to the south are among the best in Brazil.  We ventured to the community of Trinidade, an old fishing village now filled with pousadas, restaurants, and hostels, to settle on Praia Meio for an afternoon.

Excuse the duck-face and douche-y peace sign - too much sun and
beautiful scenery make me a wannabe a surfer-bro.

It was a great decision that Brazil made Paraty a National Historic Site back in the 1960's, thus preserving its character for that niche group of tourists who want some sun and sand with a lot of timeless charm.