Just a Few Days in Rio

The Cidade Maravilhosa

We flew into Santos Dumont airport at about 9pm on a Thursday night, less than 1 hour after leaving Campinas, SP. There's an extreme thrill to landing on a tarmack that appears to be floating in the harbor; the vision is plane surfing at top speed. What a wonderful first impression of the cidade maravilhosa. My thoughts returned to that moment three days later as we made our way via bus to the international airport, Galeão, to catch our flight back to São Paulo. If i had flown into Galeão rather than Santos, i would not have thought of the cidade maravilhosa at first impression, but rather of the cidade de deus. Who planned that one? Scenic view for the domestic flights, but a fast-dash tour above the slums on the speed way for the international visitors? Slightly humerous. Either way, my lasting impression is that Rio is in fact, the cidade maravilhosa. While our overcast stay lasted only a few days and was limited mostly to where our feet would take us, the taste was sweet, and has made a certainty of the fact that it will definately not be our last adventure in Rio.

When we decided to take a mini-trip to Rio to visit our friend M in Copacabana, one thing i knew i would be thinking about was the bad safety reputation made all the more worse by the 2016 Olympics and accusative press. So, according to many, Rio is not a safe place for the Olympics. Slums, gangs, drug trafficers, thieves. Ah man ah man. But you know, you probably won't believe it, but there are two Rios. There is the third-world Rio rife with crime that you see in films such as City of God, in video games where you shoot drug traffickers in the run down slums, and on the news when police helicopters are shot down. This Rio of suffering is unfortunately real. But there is also the upscale Rio where one can walk the streets in a bikini on the way to the beach, drink coconut water while lying in the sun, dine at upscale restaurants, take in an opera, shop through the finery, and jog along the shore. This Rio of fancy is also real. Two extremes tucked in right next to each other. As tourists, which we were, we were well contained in the later of the two cities. Was there danger? Maybe. Was i walking in the streets afraid of being shot? Not exactly. Imagine being inside of a sims video game, in a photoshoped city on your desktop, or in a lego land pink palm tree toy set. Rio is the Rio of the glamour movie unless you leave it for a reality check. Walking on the beach is, well surreal. So are the Olympics going to be hell on earth for the visiting world population? No, it is not. Rio is only hell for those who are sadly and unjustly born into it. But how can two cities, two worlds exist in the same place? I don't know. That's Rio.

So what did we manage to do in three days. Well, as we were visiting our friend, the first night was catch up talk and dinner in her 1960's apartment two blocks up from the beach in Copacabana. When i say Copacabana, i'm talking about a district. Rio is split into many district of which famous beachs that lie within also happen to maintain the same name. The whole city is first split up into zones; the historic center (downtown), the South Zone, North Zone, and West Zone. Within the zones are districts, such as Copacabana, Botafogo, Flamengo, Leblon, Ipanema--yeah you've heard of all these famous beaches, but they are named after the districts they're in. There are dozens, probably even hundreds more districts in Rio that i am unaware of. But one that i did spend a great deal of time in was the Jardim Botânico, home of the--you guessed it--botanical gardens of Rio.

As i knew we would only have a few short days in Rio, my mind was made up that i didn't want to do anything except for sit on the beach and do maybe one or two of the you must do this in Rio tourist activities. But M had a few things planned for us. The Jardim Botânico was one of them, which we managed to get to on foot from Copacabana. After walking along the shore through Ipanema and Leblon, and the 7 kilometer -around Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas (a lake), i was just about ready to pull the why couldn't we just go to the beach line, until we rounded the corner and the massive avenue of imperial palm trees came into view. damn. The botanical garden of Rio is truly a lush oasis in the middle of the city. The gardens were established during the first years of the nineteenth century (that is, while Brazil was still under Portuguese rule) as a local for growing foreign spices and exotic plants. The garden is filled with regional, national and international flora from all over the world. In a way, it is a condensed showcase of what is natural and what has come to be natural in Brazil due to importation. The imperial palm trees are the most regal aspects of the park, yet they are not native to Brazil, they were brought straigt from Central America. The jaca tree that produces jaca fruit (also known as jack fruit) runs rampant through the gardens (and much of Brazil for that matter) but was originally brought from Asia by the Portuguese. Aside from being a tranquil rest from the city, the gardens are a living lecture on natural history.

After the gardens, from which you could see the Christ way up on his little hill (Corcovado is the name of the mountain) we decided to find the way up. First step naturally was finding ice cream, and the second finding a bus. We took a city bus all the way to the bottom of Corcovado from which we were herded into the Jesus van by an overenthusiastic sales man. You speaky English my amigo americano, the man said to my husband who since arriving was mistaken as an American at every chance possible. Grrr. how much is it? he asked the man in Portuguese. You speaky a Portuguese? I thoughta you were grigo! He said in astonishment. Poor H, he is no longer Brazilian because of me. The next day i forced him to wear his São Paulo jersey to look more Brasileiro, but that only brought cat calls from Flamengo and Botafogo supporters. Ah Rio. After the bumpy van ride up the mountain, we were deposited at the ticket booth where you wait in yet another line to take yet another bus up to the top where you then go up an elevator and then an escalator. Jesus Christ (literally) it takes quite an effort to get up to see Christ the Redeemer, an icon recognized the world over. The view is unpayable, no where else in Rio can you get a view of the entire city, Atlantic, and all the neighboring hills. Just remember that if you go in the evening on a smoggy day, don't expect ideal lighting for your photos.

After spending R$100 for both of us to get up to the Christ, we decided that Sugar Loaf (Pão de Açucar) could wait until our next visit to Rio. The next two days were spent being lazy, the overcast gray sky and wind helped out on that one. We made it to a music cafe with live popular Brazilian music (that's an actual genre of music) and spent a few cold windy minutes on the beach. That's what you get for going to Rio in the winter. No matter, Sunday was a bit warmer, and awarded a few hours of beach lounging followed by the World Cup final at the "Fan Fest" on Copacabana beach. As Holland was the reason Brazil was eliminated, i can tell you that there were a great many more Spain fans in the crowd. I personally was rooting for Holland, for family reasons. Either way, the Fifa Fan Fest is an enclosed event on the sand (with a lot of security officers) with stalls, vendors, live music, and of course a really big scren on which to view the game. I couldn't imagine how crazy the place would have been if it was Brazil in the final, either way, watching the game with a thousand other people sitting in the sand was definately a once in a lifetime experience, even with the unfortunate outcome.

So Rio, to be honest i was not expecting too much. Before coming to live in Brazil, i never cared for the country or anything in it, so Rio was never one of my dreams. But after a quick glimpse, i can tell that there definately is something to Rio. I never want to live there, that's for sure, but i have no qualms with visiting again, and again and again. The service at the restaurants was extremely mediocre (ok terrible, but i was warned) and the food didn't taste as good as it does in São Paulo (i'm just saying), and the air was a bit (a lot) humid, and without visiting the beach everyday (i suppose even Cariocas have to work) life might not be so great in the city, but there is something charming about Rio, and i'm excited to get back for another visit.

All in all, i'm glad we're in São Paulo state. Cariocas may have the reputation, and the men are comfortable enough to wear Haivaianas outside of the house, but for me that's what vacations are for. I prefer to have a closed-toe shoe wearing Paulista.

Hell yeah that's a monkey.

a bientôt

Ad Interim

chapter seven place holder

It's Friday, I've been here for two weeks, why is there nothing posted yet? Well, baking in a kitchen not your own can be a bit difficult; particularly when there always seams to be a meal in the making. Who likes to feel in the way. Likewise, getting my mind wrapped around a suitable Salty Cod topic just doesn't seem to be happening right now. Porque? Too much going on. What? Well, our house is not finished yet, ergo we're not living in it yet, and are instead continually working on it. Every weekend is yet another trip to the Home Depot-esque store or marble cutter's yard, tile work or painting. To continue the whining of which i am quite eloquent at, i'm also having a bit of bureaucratic paperwork woe - that being put very nicely. Foreign marriage and immigration is not easy in any state of any country. So don't ever let the word Brazil fool you; flip flops do not mean that all things are as laid back as we are apt t believe, in fact they are yet more stringent (if possible) than anything i am used to. So another trip to the American consulate in Sao Paulo is inevitable...

Either way, i am positive that next weekend there will be something new posted on our salty white sheets here. Don't give up on us. Until then, I've backup material to splatter. An article i wrote last June about traveling through the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais was(is) recently printed in the (get ready for it) annual issue of the Spokane Sizzle (the magazine i used to work for in Spokane; a city on the border of Washington and Idaho). I was very lucky to be given two full pages for text and photos. Along with the Minas article, they ran a gluten free dining article as well as a few restaurant reviews i wrote. J & J, if you are out there reading this, thank you for your faith in me and the opportunities you presented. Good luck!

Article Published in the 2010 issue of 'The Spokane Sizzle' (sizzlencuisine.com)

Get Outta Town
Destination: Minas Gerais, Brazil

When most Americans think about Brazil, images of white sandy beaches, Amazonian wild life, teeny-tiny bikinis and Carnival costumes most often come to mind. But just as it is impossible to define the United States solely with either the image of the Texas ranch, plastic California glamor or New York City lights; it is impossible to define Brazil with any one word other than, well, Brazilian. It would take a lifetime to discover the many gastronomic, cultural, historical and botanical travel treasures that make up the South American nation that stretches its borders across more continental landmass than the United States. So, if a lifetime is all that is given, then Spokane, we better get started.

Don't bother packing the bikini, that is unless you are planning on jumping into passion-fruit creek—today we are not going to Rio, we're going inland, and under-land. Brazil is comprised of 26 states, with our destination being the state of Minas Gerais; the fourth largest and second most populated state in the country. North of São Paulo, and west of Rio, the Portuguese minas (mines) and gerais (general) refers to the state's natural richness in minerals and gemstones. Today, the gold and silver mines have run dry, but the state is still the No. 1 producer of mined minerals and stone. The capital city, Belo Horizonte (beautiful horizon) is a fast-paced metropolis similar to any of the bigs in the US, with shop-lined avenues, manicured parks and giant white skyscrapers. A short bus or car ride from the airport at Belo Horizonte will get you to one of the many historical cities of Brazil, including Diamantina, Tiradentes, Serro and the UNESCO world heritage site of Ouro Preto—city rich in “black gold.” When gold and gemstones were discovered in the region in 1697, Portuguese colonials living in Rio de Janeiro started the construction of the estrada real, the "royal road" that began the extensive mining production that helped Ouro Preto become the state's first capital.

Today, Ouro Preto is a time capsule of Brazil's colonial past, and as a protected UNESCO site, will forever remain so. Like many European cities, the main gist of tourism in Ouro Preto and the surrounding cities lies in the many Baroque cathedrals and museums. From historical mining museums to showcases of the city's most famous artist, Aleijadinho, one could spend weeks touring the churches and museums trying to uncover the past. But what sets Ouro Preto apart form other 17th century historical towns are the myriad mines open to the public. Many of them are tight squeezes (crawls) through damp narrow passages that were once lined with the poor soles of African slaves chained together as they scraped the rock for gold. In Ouro Preto, the mina do Chico Rei was first opened to the public in the 1940s when it was discovered by a woman who purchased the land to open a restaurant. She now offers entrance to the mine (for a $R10 fee) and her restaurant is still open and thriving. Another mine in the area worth exploring is the mina do passagem, located a short drive outside of the city of Ouro Preto in the neighboring town of Mariana. The mina do passagem is the largest gold mine open to the public in the world.

Minas cuisine is the quintessential equivalent to the farm-house country-cooked meal in America. What makes mineira cuisine authentic? The variety. Traditional Minas cuisine is comprised of large pots of rice-and-bean dishes cooked over open fires, as well as a variety of chicken, pork and beef dishes accompanied by vegetables. Beans, feijoão, are a staple throughout the country, but undoubtedly were made nostalgic as the backbone of mineira cuisine. Feijoada, a stew comprised of beans, spices and a variation of meats is a classic dish that has become quintessentially Brazilian and can be found at nearly any authentic restaurant in the city. Tutu à mineira, another Minas specialty made from pureed beans and manioc flour is the taste of simplistic perfection at its finest; eaten alone or scooped over rice is enough to make a meal. When searching for a restaurant, browse the menu first, if you do not see a reference to traditional mineira cuisine, move on.

Aside from the wood-fire traditional cuisine, other savors that have made Minas cuisine famous include the pão de queijo (cheese bread) and queijo (cheese). Driving the highway, one will pass a myriad of casas de quiejo; cheese houses where—you guessed it, one will find a plethora of fresh mineira cheese for sale. Ouro Preto and Mariana are cities with high volume tourism each year, so the chances are that if you request a menu in English, you will get one. When staying, there are many high price hotels in the region, though more common are the poussadas, the Brazilian equivalent to the B&B. These homes are smaller than hotels, more private, quiet and oftentimes more nostalgic in the fairy-tale town setting. They cost much less than a traditional hotel, usually between 50 and 100 US dollars a night, and usually come with breakfast. Hope you like Fresh papaya, freshly baked breads and, of course, cheese. There are many tourism resources in the area, from tourism offices to personal tour guides for-hire.

Ouro Preto is a vacation out of the ordinary that won't put you at the mercy of being lost in translation. For history, for natural beauty, for a gastronomic retreat—Minas Gerais is the other Brazilian getaway, the one that doesn't leave sand in your shoes.

a biento