Cachaça Day in Brazil

My people are on the move.  Cachaça tourism... nice. This was first published here.  Check it out.

Sep.13, 2011
Cachaça Day in Brazil

When the first sugarcane plants were introduced in Brazil by Portuguese colonizers in the early 16th century, brought from Madeira Island, the creation of a genuinely Brazilian drink would soon follow.

Yet, though the origins of cachaça date back to the Sugarcane Cycle (16th to 18th century) and manufacturing processes taking place at the oldest engenhos, or sugarcane plantations and mills; though its production is intrinsically intertwined with Brazil history and the formation of a national identity, cachaça tourism has only recently begun to take shape as a trend in Brazil travel.

The potential for development is enormous - according to IBRAC, the Brazilian Cachaça Institute (www.ibrac.net), Brazil has 40,000 cachaça producers, 99% of them micro-companies. Many of those are located in the same regions where African and Brazil-born slaves first distilled the drink at sugar mills - and developed a product which, tragically, would be used in triangular trade.

A deeper contact with Brazil's past, particularly its black history, and journeys through scenic destinations, such as Paraty, the Paraiba River Valley or the colonial towns of Minas Gerais, are some of the pluses of cachaça tourism besides the discovery of the drink's variegated flavors and textures.

Superb regional culinary is often part of the experience; some of the distilleries are on farms which also have restaurants, and most cachaçarias specialize in local dishes as well.

In view of the importance of cachaça in Brazil culture and economy - for example, in the generation of 600,000 jobs and exports to over 50 countries - IBRAC initiated a campaign to make September 13 National Cachaça Day. A bill sponsored by a Santa Catarina representative awaits voting in the Chamber of Deputies.

September 13 was chosen because on that day in 1661, an uprising put an end to a Portuguese royal decree which prohibited the production of the drink in the colony.

Favela tour in Santa Marta

[Note: As soon as we got on the bus from Niterói to Rio we realized we had forgotten our camera. Please know that all of the photos included here were taken by Peter Mountain and were previously posted on a similar account of a favela tour of Santa Marta over on the very enjoyable Sem Destino blog.  Do go check them out.]

My first experience with a walking tour of a favela community was with Zezinho in Rocinha.  Nobody does it better. But now with Luiz in the tour guide biz, his class was taking a tour of Santa Marta, a favelinha climbing the hills behind Botofogo, in Rio. I tagged along to see how they do it.

Santa Marta was the first favela community to be so-called “pacified” by the police chasing out the criminal syndicates that often control favelas. Now the Rio police occupy the “top of the hill” office space.  Residents report being grateful for the calmer quality of life these days.

This community is nearly vertical.  It is amazing how houses have been built on such a dramatic slope. But there are thousands of houses.  I was nervous about having to climb hundreds of stairs to take the walking tour, but to my relief they have an electric tram (free) that takes residents up the hillside.

We started out by taking the tram to the top and then walking a bit further up to get spectacular views of Rio. The tour guide focused on the pacification process, pointing out bullet holes in cement walls. She kept it light, but also seemed to want to dazzle us with the danger of past years.

There is an unlikely football court on the top of the community.

We stopped by the tour guide’s home, where she introduced us to her (very cute) husband and darling little daughter. The house, while small, was quite comfortable.

From there we slipped further down the hillside and went to the now-famous little plaza where Michael Jackson filmed the “They Don't Care About Us” music video (much of which was also clearly filmed in Pelorinho, Salvador). It has since become a fountain of money for local entrepreneurs. There is a little bar, a cocktail vendor and a hot dog stand.  While we were there a group of men showed up with instruments and started some terrific pagode.

Finally, long after the sun went down, we wormed our way through the maze of walking paths and stairways to a tram stop and rode it back down to sea level.

While I did not find the tour as informative or inspiring as that which Zezinho provides in Rocinha, it was nice to see the flow of cash from tourists (in this case tourism students) into the community.

Check out this video made by the folks at Sem Destino.

Favela Santa Marta - Rio de Janeiro (English subtitles) from Pedro Serra on Vimeo.

Visiting Santa Teresa in Rio

Santa Teresa is one of those neighborhoods in Rio where you are transported back in time.  You can see the slowly gentrifying buildings and the expanding number of super cute restaurants and the unparalleled souvenir shops/galleries, but then an original wooden streetcar rattles by and you flash back to the 1950s.

The galleries and gift shops are the best in Rio - really.

Many of the buildings were very large single family homes when first built, larger than most residential buildings in the city, and with gardens. Beautiful. It is a ‘hidden’ Rio.

The jury is out as to whether most people feel safe staying in the many (and growing number of) cute pousadas in the neighborhood.  Certainly during the day all is fine, but at night people report being nervous on the streets and the occasional strong-arm robbery.  But then, this is Rio, these incidents are not confined to any one neighborhood. For me – I would go for it.

There are some incredible restaurants in this close knit, bohemian neighborhood, many with stellar reputations, views and artsy atmospheres.  This is a must. Go for lunch, go for dinner, and certainly go for a romantic meal when the occasion calls for it.

I had the pleasure of visiting Santa Teresa yesterday with Rachel. There could be no better company to wander through galleries, bicker with the shop owners who did not want their picturesque, antique Portuguese-tiled produce storefront photographed, or sip chopp from an elevated patio. Rachel is a stylish chameleon who morphs from confident, unyielding urban driver to chatty, philosophical observer of architecture, to pensive Rio resident contemplating the future of a waning jewel of a neighborhood. (Not to mention being a super mom.)

The Mineiro - a must for a drink.

We had a wonderful afternoon visiting Santa Teresa.  I highly recommend it (with or without Rachel).

Terrific archetectural detail at the entrance to this large home.

A day on Paquetá Island in Rio

Last Friday we spent the day touring Paquetá Island in Guanabara Bay.  That is, we took a ferry from Praça IV in Rio to the island, about 15 kilometers – it took about 80 minutes.  We had a great time, in spite of the grey and chilly weather. I highly recommend a visit to this peaceful local getaway. No motorized vehicles are allowed on the island.  It’s all about horses and bikes.

Paquetá is actually a neighborhood of Rio, but its history is quite unique.

Carriages wait for you at the ferry terminal.

Paqueta is as old as Rio itself.  The first record historians have of the island is in 1555.  It has been an independent entity, a part of neighboring mainland communities, fought over, re-incorporated, etc. – the tiny island has a rather tumultuous history, which you can read about in rich detail on their website here.

I loved how fully grown trees were in the middle of the streets.

This small, figure 8-shaped island has a total area of just 1.2 square kilometers, just 8 kilometers in circumference.  There are about 4,500 permanent residents, mostly from families with long ties to the island. Tourism is the main source of income, but in fact most residents work for the City of Rio in municipal positions such as water treatment, governance, teaching, grounds keeping, etc.

Luiz and I visited the island as part of a group from his tourism course. We took a horse drawn carriage around the edge of the island, stopping at featured points such as a lovely park with a path to an elevated lookout. The carriage driver was very informative and took pains to share his knowledge of local history, along with some critical political remarks.

The island has some really scenic beaches (although the water is not always safe to swim in) and some beautiful parks.  The views of São Gonçalo, Niterói, and Rio are great. The place is SUPER peaceful – perfect for a romantic picnic. It is also quite safe – so families can enjoy the shoreline without worry.

I suggest if you have a sunny day in Rio and you are looking for somewhere to go – definitely consider Paquetá.  Enjoy the ferry ride, rent a bike or ride a carriage, tour the island, settle on a beach or in a scenic park, later have lunch in a bay-side restaurant.

It’s not Martha’s Vineyard. It’s not Mackinac Island. It’s not Key West. But it has its charm and you will definitely feel very distant from the cacophony that can sometimes characterize Rio.

Zezinho featured in Forbes

Hey Zezinho - who's your promotions manager?  Good work landing the article in Forbes online. Nice!

That ought to drive some clients your way. Congratulations.

Favela Tourism Provides Entrepreneurial Opportunities in Rio
Posted by Felicity Clarke

Rio de Janeiro has long been the “face” of Brazil and is the most visited city in South America. Tourism represents a significant area of the city’s economy, and one which is only set to grow with the forthcoming World Cup 2014 and 2016 Olympics. In recent years, there has been a huge increase in visitors to the city, adding a favela tour to the traditional must-sees such as Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf Mountain.

While the vast majority of the tours are operated by companies outside the communities, the growth in favela tourism is an area of entrepreneurial opportunity for favela residents.

One of the most visited favelas in the city is Rocinha. Located close to tourist hot spots Ipanema and Leblon, it is the largest favela in the city with an estimated 250,000 residents living in the vertiginous, tight wall of brick and concrete housing that covers the entire hillside.

Zezinho da Silva, 48, is a Rocinha resident whose enthusiasm and pride in the “city within a city” is evident on sight, from his 100% Favela T-shirt to his extensive favela tattoos.

Born in Rocinha to a father from the northeast of Brazil and American mother, Zezinho grew up in the favela before living in the U.S. on and off until 2008, when he decided to return to Rocinha for good. He says: “I wanted to live somewhere with a sense of community, which is something I didn’t feel in the U.S.”

Read the entire article here.

Being a tour guide in Rio state

Luiz is everywhere these days. Regular readers know he is taking a two-year course at the state university to be licensed as an official tour guide.  It hasn’t been easy.  He wakes Monday through Thursday at 5:20 a.m. to catch a bus at 5:50 a.m. to get to school in Rio on time. Classes go until 12:30 p.m.

In addition to his new friends, the fun bits about the course are the many “technical” tours he takes of places of interest: museums, the botanical gardens, historical districts, forts, etc.

On Friday I went with Luiz and his classmates to the largest water treatment plant in the world, located just outside of Rio.  This filtration plant, built in 1955, treats 43 cubic meters of water every second, 24/7/365.  It produces all of the clean drinking water for the city of Rio de Janeiro, plus some neighboring cities. It was quite impressive.

Yesterday Luiz went to the Copacabana Fort for a behind the scenes tour.

Nowadays, as we ride the bus through Rio, Luiz points out various places and describes some little known fact about them.  He’s loving this new adventure.

I’m very proud of him (and I love the free tickets to cool stuff!)

Balls of steel

Have you seen this? A tourist crawls out to the lip of a near 1,400 foot cliff to view the Fumaça waterfall in Chapada Diamantina, Bahia.  Meanwhile a local guy (perhaps a capoeirista - from the way he is dressed?) stands above the tourist, his feet just inches from the edge.  Yikes!

Not me... but I can proudly say I once ate my lunch with my legs dangling over the sheer edge of Half Dome in Yosemite.

The Fumaça waterfall looks like a beautiful spot.

Luiz as tour guide in Rio

As you may know, Luiz is in a Tourism course sponsored by the state of Rio de Janeiro.

He’s so cute in his uniform shirt that gives him free bus passage and a basic lunch every day at the school. The class elected him the official representative to the highers-up and he has been providing assistance and scolding as needed to the fellow adult students in his class.

What’s been fun for us is the many freebees he gets from the Department of Tourism (maps, booklets, T-shirts, pens, note pads, tote bags…) and also the many invitations to art openings and other premiers co-sponsored by the Rio tourism office.

It’s nice to be “in the loop” for a change. Who doesn’t like some free champagne and chocolate once in a while? I don’t have the wardrobe to do this every night, but who’s looking at me anyway!?

Luiz is perfectly suited to be a tour guide. He loves to connect with others and he instantly puts them at ease. Now he is learning the details of the history and culture in our area so he can share that with others.

And I get to eat swanky hors d'œuvres and drink good wine while he schmoozes the crowd.

Back to school daze

These days I’m packing a daily lunchbox of snacks for my schoolboy. He looks so cute in his government-issue student Tshirt. And I grin from ear to ear seeing him leave the apartment carrying his backpack filled with school supplies.

Luiz is back in school. The good news is that he’s having a lot of fun and that he will emerge the other end as a certified Tour Guide in the state of Rio de Janeiro. His classes include a broad range of topics from how to treat senior tourists, to learning about the history of dozens of cities, to how to give bus boarding instructions in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese.

The bad news (sorta, it was his first choice) is that the school runs three sessions a day: morning classes, afternoon classes and evening classes and Luiz is attending the morning classes. Monday through Thursday he leaves the apartment at 6:00 a.m. to get to school by 7:00 a.m. Classes run until 12:20 p.m. after which he is provided with a public school free lunch (we’re talking basic beans, rice and pasta with a slice of fruit for dessert). So he gets home by about 2:00 or 2:30 p.m. I have become a lonely stay at home by myself husband.

Luiz is a natural. He loves people and people love him. He can talk about just about anything. What he doesn’t know for sure he will make up without skipping a beat. It’s all about the charm.

As Rio and Brazil gear up for the increase in tourism driven by the upcoming World Cup and Olympic games, demand for official tour guides trained by the state tourism board is great. Luiz is riding that wave.

Part of his training includes many field trips to local points of interest as well as to a few neighboring cities and towns. Luiz is very excited about this new venture.

But from now until early July I’ll be sitting at home working up lesson plans in an empty apartment. On the bright side, I’ll get to set the dinner menu more often.

Rio Carnaval tickets for sale

Thanks to the forever unexplainable ongoing good luck that is my husband (he wins everything) we were able to purchase more tickets to Rio’s Carnaval parade than we need.  In fact, within our circle of friends we had a good year and many people were able to buy tickets, so our extras are not needed among our group, which goes to the event almost every year.  Having extra tickets is not an easy feat.  Tickets sold out (for both nights) in less than 10 minutes.  Look here for more about our phone-frenzy morning the day they went on sale.

We have six tickets for sale for Sunday, March 6^th in Sector 3, the night we will be attending. They are available for R$275 each (that’s reais, not dollars).  (The trusted website many folks turn to for tickets sells the same ticket for R$375 – but they are already sold out.)

Our group of friends is a bit crazy about Carnaval.  We go to many, many pre-Carnaval samba school rehearsals.  Most everyone knows all the words to all the Schools’ sambas before the parade.  And this year four of our friends will be parading with Beja Flor on Monday night (well, actually at 4:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning, but hey…)

Sector 3 is the second section up on the left, the first is Sector 1

Sector 3 is right near the beginning of the parade.  The seats are up in the bleachers with a great “looking down from above” view of everything.  As is true for most Sectors, there are not assigned seats.  You have to arrive early and camp out to get a good spot.  We always bring sandwiches, salgadinhos, fruit and treats – along with beer and water to last us through the night.  You just can’t bring in glass containers. 

The insiders among us will tell you that Sunday has a “better” lineup than Monday.  That is, the more popular or accomplished Schools will be parading Sunday, with some exceptions.  The champion from last year, Unidos da Tijuca, will be parading then.  And the night includes Mangueira, the oldest and some would say the most popular and traditional of all the schools.  For the full schedule, look here. It promises to be one heck of a show.  Plan to spend all night.  The competition begins at 9:00 p.m. and continues until the sun rises.

Overall safety is not an issue within the Sambadromo.  Everyone brings their camera.  Food and beverages are sold by vendors throughout the night. It’s a good idea to bring a little stadium cushion to sit on!

Anyway, I will write more about how a night watching the Carnaval parade in Rio works as we get closer.  WAY too much info for one post!

Let me know if you have any questions or if you are interested in the tickets.  Bom Carnaval!

UPDATE: Two tickets have been sold. (That took 4.5 hours...)  Just four left. (Selling only in pairs.)

Fortaleza Santa Cruz in Niterói

Entertaining out of town guests is always a great opportunity to see the local sights – some of which we rarely get to on our own.

Everyone has heard from a 45-year old Rio resident who reports he has never been to Corcovado, or from the Carioca grandmother who has never seen the view from atop Pão de Açucar.

I think I lived in San Francisco, CA for 18 years before I visited Alcatraz Island, and then only because I was accompanying my out of town friend.

This week we went to visit the Santa Cruz Fortress that sits at the very lip of the entrance to Guanabara Bay. Bill, one of our guests, grinned with curiosity when I mentioned it as one potential day outing. He is a tribal art dealer and has a strong interest in all things combat.

The location could not be more scenic, that’s what I enjoyed. The details of the numerous ways prisoners were tortured and killed kept Bill engaged, but were it not for the need for translation I would have wandered from the tour group.

Here are some facts as reported to us:

- the defensive site was first effectively occupied by the Portuguese in 1584

- the fortress, an earlier version of what now stands, was first built in 1612
- from the beginning the fortress has contained the biggest and most powerful cannons available

- the fortress now encompasses 7,153 square meters in an irregular polygon shape (the shape being quite traditional as fortresses go throughout history).

- starting in 1831 the place became a self described political prison and torture chamber

In 1748 on French traveler wrote:

"The Fortress of Santa Cruz, the country's most important, is situated on the edge of a cliff, a place where all boats entering or leaving the port are required to pass at a distance less than the range of a musket shot. The fortification consists of a compact piece of masonry from 20 to 25 feet tall, lined with white stones that seem fragile. Their artillery has 60 pieces of cannon, 18 and 24 inches in diameter, installed to cover the outside the harbor entrance, passage and a part of the bay [Guanabara]."

Present day visitors are encouraged not to miss:

- the sun dial, dated 1820

- the Chapel of Santa Barbara (tiny but cute)

- the dungeon (complete with grizzly tales of alleged torture)

- the place where people were hanged (again, the young male army tour guide smiled with tales of inhuman behavior)

- the wall of shooting (do you see a pattern?)
- the prison (where prisoners were not meant to survive their imprisonment)

Ah... war, fortresses, cannons, torture, hangings… no wonder we have not visited this place often.

Since 2005 the fortress facility has been the Headquarters of the Artillery Division of the 1st Army Division. It is an active army facility.

But the views of Rio are great!

The site is open from Tuesday through Sunday 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Admission is R$4. Guided tours are hourly.

And there is a terrific, creatively designed bar/restaurant with good food and relatively good prices just outside the fort entrance. Very nice.