Brazil Travel Blog

You might think it’s an optical illusion but the fact is that a sizeable number of tower blocks on Santos’ beachfront are anything but straight. Take an unstable soil and add a pinch of property developer’s negligence and you end up with nearly one hundred buildings that in some cases are leaning even more than the Leaning Tower of Pisa. In actual fact, Italian specialists that worked on the Tower of Pisa were brought in to help secure the buildings in Santos.

The apartments are inhabited and structural engineers give assurances that the blocks are not going to collapse. I wouldn’t spend a night in one of those apartments!

One popular urban legend in Santos goes on saying that the collapse of a building would trigger the domino effect, giving a completely new visual (building-free) to Santos beachfront. Specialists deny such catastrophe could ever happen, as the buildings tend to collapse vertically.

The Antiques and Crafts Fair at Praça (square) Benedito Calixto is São Paulo’s modest answer to Buenos Aires’ San Telmo’s fair. It runs every Saturday during most of the day.

The square is not large and can be visited in a morning, with more than enough time for a coffee, a beer or any other drink. All sorts of old (and odd) objects can be found along the way, providing endless amusement to the visitors.

In the middle of the square there is a food court where you can listen to the old guard playing samba.

- website of the Féria de Artes, Cultura e Lazer da Praça Benedito Calixto.

- How to get to the Praça Benedito Calixto using public transportation:

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On our last trip from Congonhas airport, in São Paulo, we were lucky enough to take off on the direction of the Moema neighbourhood, where a high concentration of high-rises is found. On the approach route, we also went through the same neighbourhood. With my compact digital camera I shot two videos of both the take-off and the landing stages. As you will be able to tell, the aircraft shook quite a bit - it was cloudy and with gusts of wind.

Bear in mind Congonhas airport is a bit of an anomaly. An incredibly busy airport bang in the middle of a heavily built city, as you will be able to see on the satellite image:

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The first video shows the first seconds after taking-off from Congonhas on a north-west direction (depending on the time of the day the video might take a while to load; load it first, watch it then):

despegando de Congonhas from tony galvez on Vimeo.

The second video shows the final approach to Congonhas, when it feels as if the airplane wing could be touching at any moment the roofs of the skyscrappers.

aterrizando en Congonhas from tony galvez on Vimeo.

The only taxi company authorized to operate at the international airport of Guarulhos is Guarucoop. Their taxis are white with two blue stripes. They go to different parts of the city and they always charge a fixed fare that changes according to the distance travelled.

On the external side of the departures level there is a Guarucoop counter, where you can find out how much your fare will cost. On the company’s website you can check the fares too.

Japanese temakis (large cone-shaped pieces of nori on the outside and the ingredients spilling out the wide end) are well known by fans of Japanese food, especially in São Paulo. And unknown to the vast majority of the population.

Out of a sudden, temakis became popular in Rio de Janeiro, where they are referred to as cones. In a short period of time several temaki restaurantes have opened and there is even a fast-food chain specializing in temakis. Among the reasons for their success, the fact that they are eaten with your hands (no need to use chopsticks), they contain rice (Brazilian staple food) and they are prepared with natural ingredients in a healthly way (no frying pans to be seen).

On June 18th, 1908, after 52 sailing the oceans (literally), the ship Kasato Maru arrived at the Port of Santos with a load of 781 Japanese inmigrants. Many ships followed the first one and hundreds of thousands of Japanese moved from the land of the rising sun to somewhat more tropical latitudes.

Today, it is estimated 1 million and a half Japanese descendants live in Brazil. 75% of them are found on the state of São Paulo. 10% on the state of Paraná. And the remaining 15% are spread through the states of Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina. The population exchange works both ways. The Japanese Ministry of Justice estimates that in 2006 there were 313.000 Brazilians (descendants from Japanese emigrants) working in Japan (they are known as dekasseguis).

One hundred years later, Brazil gets ready to celebrate the hundreth anniversary of the arrival of the first Japanese inmigrants in Brazil, and to pay homage to their vast contribution to the development of the Brazilian nation.

All the information related to the activities organized to celebrate the centenary can be found at the website of the Associação para Comemoração do Centenário da Imigração Japonesa no Brasil. The calendar of events has just been announced and can be consulted, month by month, at the following pages: January, February, March, April. As new months are added to the list we will do so as well at this blog.

The outstanding moment of the centenary celebrations will be the Japanese Culture Week, which will take place in São Paulo from 13 to 22 June and will be crowned with a big party on the 21 and 22 June (Saturday and Sunday) which will be attended by Nahurito, Crown Prince of Japan.

Usual readers of the blog are aware of how fond we are of Japanese culture in their Brazilian embodiment. The oriental quarter of Liberdade, in São Paulo, has popped up a few times at this blog:

- Liberdade Japanese quarter, São Paulo
- Toyo Matsuri in São Paulo
- Tanabata Matsuri in São Paulo

P.S.: thanks to the Press Office of the Centenary Association for the information pack they sent us.

The Toyo Matsuri, held at the beginning of December in the oriental quarter of Liberdade, in São Paulo, is, along with the Tanabata Matsuri celebrated in July, the most important festival of the Japanese community in São Paulo. The festival has been held for 39 years now. If during the Tanabata Matsuri the streets of the Liberdade were decorated with bamboo shoots, for the Toyo Matsuri white banners were hang.

This year the media didn’t contribute to the promotion of the festival - it seemed more concerned with promoting consumerism on the run-up to Christmas. Because of the lack of publicity, the quarter wasn’t as crowded as it was during the celebration of the Tanabata Matsuri. Thank God for that, as it was a really hot and sunny day. The program for the weekend included all kinds of folk performances.

Some of the performances were identical to the ones we saw at the Tanabata Matsuri - we didn’t mind at all. Other performers introduced new elements, customes and colours.

For us, the main event of the festival was the taiko bands (the traditional Japanese drum).

Taiko bands represent traditions from different regions of Japan.

The energy put into the performances is contagious.

The complete photo album of the pictures taken on Saturday is here: Toyo Matsuri in São Paulo.

Make a note, the Toyo Matsuri festival is held yearly at the beginning of December.

Pot-holers [spelunkers] will be thrilled to hear of the existente of PETAR, in the south east of the state of São Paulo, between the villages of Iporanga and Apiaia, near the border with the state of Paraná [Google Maps]. PETAR stands for Parque Estadual Turístico do Alto Ribeira (Alto Ribeira Tourist State Park) and is best known for its more than 300 caves - it is a nature preserve set in the middle of the Atlantic rainforest, very rich in limestone. Some of the caves cannot be visited, others are restricted to spelunkers, and a good number of them are opened to the general public. Being in the middle of the rainforest, PETAR offers, as well as the opportunity of exploring caves, interesting treks along rivers and waterfalls.

Our friend Emília has just been to PETAR and has published on her A Turista Acidental blog a very thorough guide to the park. It is written in Portuguese. Emília is a very friendly Brazilian who will answer queries if you have any - she speaks English. Her blog entries on the subject are:

Petar: Páginas Amarelas
Petar: módulo diversão
Petar: Na trilha do Bethary
Cavernas: curso básico
Virando morcego

One of the most complete websites about the region is PETAR Online. It doesn’t have an English version - as a matter of fact, it’s only in Portuguese. As well as information on pot-holing, it contains a section devoted to adventure sports on the area.

There is a youth hostel in Iporonga, the Capitão Caverna Hostel.

For those interested in images of the region, Alex Uchôa, an exceptional photographer, has an album of PETAR online.

You can reach the region using public transportation. The bus company Transpen goes to Apiai, on the area of the park (it leaves from the Terminal Barra Funda bus station in São Paulo). There are four buses per day, the trip lasts 6 hours and costs R$54,70 in November 2007. But a private car comes very handy when it comes to moving around the PETAR area; without a car you will have to pay someone to take you to the different points of interest.

I have recently published a series of posts on my Blog de São Paulo (in Spanish) on the Costa dos Alcatrazes, a stretch of coast on the state of São Paulo that contains some really wonderful beaches (see map next).

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The Costa dos Alcatrazes is a couple of hours away from São Paulo. For that reason, it is an excepcional alternative for a weekend getaway. Unfortunately, being so close to São Paulo also means the coast is usually overcrowded during the weekend and bank holidays. Go there during the week and you will find absolute peace and quiet.

The region combines destinations appropriated for families and those seeking rest (Barra do Una, Barra do Sahy, Juquehy) with destinations for those eager for action and nightlife (Camburi, Maresias).

INFORMATION ON THE INTERNET

The website Costa dos Alcatrazes contains a basic introduction to the region (in Portuguese only). Praias Online and Guia do Litoral are good sources as well.

TRANSPORTATION

The advantage of reaching the area on your own car is that you able to hop from one beach to another at your own pace. However, it is not impossible to get by using the public transportation system. There are frequent buses linking all the beaches on the region. As it is often the case in Brazil, you will not find their schedules on the Internet, you’ll have to ask when you get to the region.

ACCOMMODATION

Do not be surprised when you find out that prices on the region are considerably higher than the Brazilian average.

There are two youth hostels on the region: one in Camburi and the other one in Maresías. Both have websites filled with information and a clear explanation of their price structure.

ENTRIES PUBLISHED IN THE BLOG DE SÃO PAULO (in Spanish):

- Juquehy
- Camburi
- Maresias
- Barra do Sahy
- Barra do Una

PHOTO ALBUM:

On Costa dos Alcatrazes you will find several of my photo albums with piccies of the region.

One thing that makes the beaches of the northern coast of São Paulo (and the southern coast of Rio, and other bits further south) unique is that they are found right by the Atlantic rainforest. The biodiversity of the Mata Atlántica, as the forest is known in Portuguese, is unrivalled. The scenery too. The sequence of water, sand, forest and mountains can’t be found anywhere else in Brazil.

The contact with the tropical forest brings the visitor in close contact with different bird species. You only have to sit and rest and wait for the birds to appear. The birds that appear on this entry where all photographed within the space of an hour on the little village of Barra do Sahy, state of São Paulo.