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.)

More Than Fun To Say

I admittedly have not gotten to travel much during the last ten months living in Brazil, something I hope to remedy in the next year.  Regardless, sometimes I am forced to travel, such as on class field trips!

The 7th grade class trip this year ventured to the northern coast of São Paulo state to town of Ubatuba.  About four hours away from Campinas by bus, this place must rank near the top of lists of places that are fun to say, such as Walla Walla, Djibouti, and Sheboygan.  A vacation hot-spot during the summer months, it is often nicknamed "Ubachuva" (chuva is "rain" in Portuguese) during the off-season.   Fortunately, we were blessed with very little precipitation during our three days learning about this region.

First up was a stop at Ubatuba's aquarium.  Modest in size but of good quality, the aquarium showcased the diversity in marine life in and around Brazil.  Also, there were penguins, which are not endemic, however, who is going to complain about seeing penguins?!?

The marine area around Ubatuba lays claim to being the seasonable home to four out of the five sea turtles found along Brazil's coast.  Thus, with good reason, the Projeto Tamar, a research and rehabilitation center for sea turtles, in located here.

On the second day we hopped on a boat and headed across the water to one of the many islands that speckle this part of the coastline.  Ilha Anchieta - now a State Park - was once a prison that is famous for a (almost) successful mass escape attempt.  (Side note: since I've been in this country, I have now visited a total of three shuttered prisons, two on islands.)

Sometime during the mid-1900's, the prisoners devised a plan to earn the guards' trust by essential being really, really well-behaved.  It took two years, but they eventually got to a point where they were essentially seen as a non-threat.  The prisoners, now trusted companions to the guards, waited for the day the scheduled supply boat would come to the island to turn on the guards.  They killed who they needed to then went to the dock to wait, but the ship was late due to unfriendly seas, leading the prisoners to get nervous and restless, ending with what amounted to a bloody massacre amongst themselves on the beach.  When the supply ship arrived, the prisoners who were left boarded and subsequently crashed/sank/overturned near the mainland, thus drowning most of those remaining.

Even though the island is only about 500m away from the mainland at its narrowest point, the guards had convinced the inmates that the waters were infested with sharks by occasionally placing shark skeletons and skulls on the beach as "proof." Due mostly to the embarrassment of the escape incident itself, along with the damage incurred from the beach riot, which also involved setting fire to many of the buildings, the prison was immediately and permanently shut down.

Listening to the history of the prison.

Now a protected State Park, the island is a unique preserved example of a unique ecosystem, the Mata Atlântica (Altantic Tropical Forest), that once covered much of the Brazilian coast and is now mostly limited to the stretch between Rio de Janeiro and just north of the city of São Paulo.  A few hours of hiking the island's trails, visiting a few beaches, snorkeling, and poking around in the tide pools, we were all exhausted and ready to head back to the boat.

Island flora and fauna: flower (top), vulture tracks on the beach (middle),
and Spanish moss dangling from a tree (bottom).

This is a beautiful area of the country - rich in nature, culture, and history.  I hope to be able to return in the near future to explore more of this coast, including Ilhabela and Paraty, perhaps with a little more beach beach time and a little less chaperoning!

Looking down the dock toward the mainland from Ilha Anchieta.

A Taste of "Sampa"

Mão (Hand) by Oscar Niemeyer

Despite its proximity to Campinas, I have yet to explore the largest city in all of the Americas and the capitol of the state I reside in.  I think the very closeness of this megalopolis is what makes it so easy to put off visiting, like people who know few of the attractions in their hometown until visitors come.

I've been to São Paulo before for various conferences and in-transit stops at airports and bus terminals, but those hardly count. At only about a 90 minute journey down the highway by bus, I really have no excuses!

Last weekend we were finally officially introduced.  On a day-trip with the Portuguese language school I attended - hopelessly, at times - twice a week, we visited several cultural points of interest in the city.  The first stop was the Memorial da América Latina, a large, predominantly concrete plaza and separate buildings designed by famed Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer.

The Niemeyer-designed Salão de Atos Tiradentes (Hall of Acts)

The complex included a museum of Latin American art from Brazil and many other countries including Mexico, Peru, and Guatemala, among others.  There was also an impressive map of South America set within the floor that visitors could literally walk above and cross in a few large strides.

Latin American art of all types!

Standing above the continent (top).
Looking down on Brazil (bottom).

Next stop was the Museu do Futebol (Soccer Museum).  Located underneath part of the stands of the Estadio Municipal Paulo Machado de Carvalho this is a "must see" and I would gladly take anyone here.  Exploring all things Brazilian soccer, each room and exhibition is sensory experience unlike anything I've experienced.  Strangely, though we were allowed to take photographs in all the other museums filled with preserved artifacts, taking pictures of any kind was prohibited here.

Proof of my visit: the outside, the field, ticket stub.

After that healthy dose of national pride we headed to the Memorial da Resistência (Resistance Memorial), a museum implemented to remember a darker time in the city's history.  Originally built as a railway depot, the building was later made into a place where political prisoners were held, officially called the State Department for Political and Social Order, from 1940 to 1983.

A view up at the Memorial da Resistência from the only
outdoor prisoner area, a stretch of hallway open to the elements.

Our final stop before heading back to Campinas was a quick stop along the Avenida Dr. Arnaldo, where a section of curb several blocks long is filled to the brim with flower stalls, open 24 hours a day for whosoever might need them.

Até mais, Sampa!  I'll be back...

Big Island, Big Reward

The emerald-hued coast of Brazil between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro can't be described as anything less than majestic.  The Atlantic seems to rise up to meet the brilliant green coastal slopes as they plunge into the sea.  This spectacular view is what we were greeted with every morning from our rainforest lodging on the hillside of Ilha Grande.

After hitching a ride to the historic sea-side town of Paraty, taking a couple hour bus ride to the small port-city of Angra dos Reis, followed by a 90-minute ferry ride, we finally arrived on the shores of Ilha Grande, the largest of a smattering of islands just off the coast of Brazil's mainland.

The village and bay of Abraão.  Mainland Brazil is in the distance.

Being awakened by parrots isn't such bad vacation wake-up call.

Making progress on my 52 in 52...

Breakfast of champions

Now-a-days Ilha Grande and its more than 70 scattered beaches is tourist mecca, filled during holidays and summer weekends with day-trippers from Rio, wandering hippie back-packers, surfers, and Argentines on a cruise-ship stop-over.  But that wasn't always the case.  Though never continually inhabited, even by indigenous populations, until the 1800's, the island has served many purposes in its short civilized history.

A short walk from the largest town, Vila do Abraão, one can find the ruins of Lazareto, a quarantine facility used for immigrants from Europe as a way to keep cholera from making landfall.  This same building was a used later for a number years as a jail before being imploded.  In some of the tinier inlets, small beach communities exist, as do the remnants of long-gone sardine canneries.  On the south side of the island, facing the open sea, in the town of Dois Rios, lie the remains of Brazil's Alcatraz, the Instituto Penal Cândido Mendes (IPCM).  The prison was active for roughly 100 years until it too was imploded in 1994 (notice a pattern here?).  Dois Rios also goes down in infamy as the home of a wealthy plantation owner who, from the relative isolation of his location, supported the continued trade of slaves well after its national prohibition.  Without the economic stability of illegal human trafficking and the jail, Dois Rios is a now sad shadow of its former self, albeit one with a gorgeous beach.

Praia Lopes Mendes - at around 3km long, this white-sand beach is touted
 as one of the most beautiful beaches in the country.

The remains of a window from the imploded jail at Dois Rios.

The Instituto Penal Cândido Mendes' outer wall.

The 200 year old aqueduct in the jungle used to bring water to the
quarantined immigrants just outside of present-day Abraão.

There are no true roads on Ilha Grande, save for the dirt one connecting Abraão and Dois Rios, and the only vehicles on the island are government related, so the only mode of transport from one site to another is by trail through the rainforest or water taxi along the shore.  Ilha Grande has found a balance; its tourist infrastructure is intact and healthy, but so is its ecology.  Whether you're looking for wildlife and rustic communing with nature, a candle-lit shrimp dinner on the beach, a look back in time, or a day of rowdy drinking surrounded by thong and speedo-clad revelers, Ilha Grande can deliver.  The reward is simply getting there!