Belém from the air

Here are some shots of Belém I took on my most recent trip:

Mangeirão stadium, Marambaia neighborhood, and Baía do Guajará

Rio Guamá entering the Baía do Guajará and view of downtown Belém

Merry Christmas!

This is the giant plaster Santa I mentioned in the previous post, and he's not alone. Christmas decorations started to go up last weekend. It is kind of funny how an equatorial, third world city has adopted aspects of global culture that are totally out of place, like reindeer, snow, and fat men in heavy coats asking for a heat stroke in the 95 degree weather. This particular store of Wal-Mart-on-the-Amazon is four large city blocks from my house.

Random news items from today

Today’s edition of "O Liberal" had some interesting stories worth brief commentaries.

The telenovela* América ends today. Basically, the series covers the life of an illegal immigrant to Miami who gets deported back to Brazil. I don’t have a TV and have only seen portions of a few episodes, so I can’t vouch for the quality of the program. América is very popular here and people say that it is good.

Speaking of deportation, there was also a story about the third plane load of illegal immigrants being shipped back to Brazil, this time departing from Texas. Many of the illegal immigrants to the U.S. from Brazil come from the southeastern state of Minas Gerais. The state has paid for the entire cost of the flights, and the governor of Minas is complaining that it is not fair for his state to have to pay for the flights when they contain residents of other Brazilian states. He is also concerned about the image of Minas. He proposes that the federal government share in the costs of the flights and that the flights stop in various Brazilian state capitals. Minas Gerais is one of the richest states in Brazil.

Some people have asked about the drought in the Amazon. Most of the stories in the international press have been about Peru, although Brazil is also affected by what is said to be the Amazon's worst drought in 40 years. A story in today's paper focused on the problems communities near Santarém are having problems with transportation, potable water, and the spread of disease. It hasn’t rained much Belém, but the water level is normal. I plan to investigate the effects of the drought with a visit to the Santarém region in a few weeks.

Belém was rated by the Fundação Getúlio Vargas as the second worst place to live among Brazilian capitals, bested only by Rio Branco, the capital of Acre state in the western Amazon. According to the study, Belém’s biggest problems are violence, vandalism, and lack of adequate sanitation. Brasília, the federal capital, has the best quality of life.

And for some levity, one letter to the editor complained about the ever-earlier Christmas decorations that are starting to pop up all over Belém. It isn’t even Halloween, but I guess Brazilians can’t jump the gun on Thanksgiving. Yamada, which is basically Wal-Mart, has gigantic plastic Santas outside of one of its stores. I’ll try to remember to take some photos.


*A telenovela is like a soap opera that runs every night of the week for 3 – 4 months and then ends.

Sorvetology, part 3

The Cairú store on Avenida Conselheiros Furtado in Batista Campos

Banana carmelada: carmelized banana.

Sonho de Valsa: milk chocolate with chips of chocolate covered cookie wafers.

Ki-passas: coconut icecream with raisins.

Goiaba: guava.

Uxí: no translation. I think this is a nut. The ice cream is light brown w/ darker brown flecks and reminds of peanut, but there is an interesting spicy kick as well.

Back in Belém

DC was good. The interview went well and I got to see some friends and family along the way. Still, getting there was a major pain in the ass since I spent 30 hours in flight, excluding airport time, and was on a plane every day for the past five days for at least two hours. On top of that, I had to change 5 of the 6 legs of the trip due to an initial scheduling problem and the hurricane. I really don’t understand why airlines don’t allow passengers, especially those without checked luggage, to parachute out as the plane flies over their final destination. That would have saved 10 hours today.

Piles of Fruit

I've had an expensive, annoying day, spending about US$40 on phone calls trying to correct a flight that arrives after my interview is supposed to begin. Way to proof read, schedulers! And I still managed to go to class. But all should be good, provided that something totally off the wall like a hurricane hitting Miami doesn't happen. For serenity now, here are some pretty pictures of piles of food:

Piles of coconuts for agua de coco - R$1 each

Piles of pineapples - R$1.50 each.

Gas prices

Based on an unrepresentative survey of Belém's gas stations involving a sample size of one (the Shell station closest to my house), gas in Brazil costs R$2.69 a liter. With 3.8 liters to the gallon and 2.24 reais to the dollar, that comes to US$4.56/gallon. Brazil also sells alcohol, a blend of gas and fuel made from sugar cane, for R$2.09 a liter, or US$3.55/gallon. Almost all fuel stations sell both regular gasoline and alcohol, and most cars can run on both fuels.

In other car news, I rented out my apartment's parking space to a neighbor.

Forest mythology

After binging at an all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet, I went to central Belém’s largest park, the Bosque Rodrigues Alves. The park is a fragment of rainforest that was set aside in the late 1800’s when Belém’s political leadership was trying to create a Paris of the tropics, complete with its own Bois Boulogne.* The fragment is definitely a fragment – the park only covers about two city blocks – but has nice trails and is a good place to enjoy an afternoon if you can tune out bratty children. The most interesting things in the park were the two statues depicting creatures from Amazon Indian mythology.

The iara is basically a Siren of the rainforest: beautiful woman, irresistible voice, hangs out by waterfalls and lures Indians to their death. This one was perched by a little lake on which children take canoe rides:

Iara

The curupira is a little more imaginative. This forest creature can become invisible and has feet that point backwards. I’m not sure how much of this is re-envisioned environmental mumbo jumbo, but the plaque said the curupira protects regular forest dwellers so long as they only hunt for food and use forest resources for what they need. If the Indian uses the forest in an unsustainable manner, the curupira becomes his enemy and can make him get lost in the forest, always coming back to the starting point.

Curupira

I wonder what the curupiras are doing about the topic raised in this article in today’s “New York Times.” The article is about illegal logging in the Amazon, and all of the places mentioned are in the state of Pará. One thing I’m working on at my internship is alternative sanctions to environmental crimes since the penalties established in the laws don’t work. With the drought in the Amazon and the dry season just beginning, this is certain to be a very bad year for logging and forest fires.

Get busy, little curupiras.


*This isn’t as far-fetched as it sounds. For most of the 1800’s, Brazil had a monopoly on the production of rubber, which was in great demand during the Industrial Revolution. Because of the rubber trade, Belém and Manaus became fabulously wealthy.

Alcatraz on the Amazon

Last night I went to one of the islands in the Rio Guamá. The organizers for the excursion only run the tour twice a year, and this was the fourth time they had gone. The cruise and island visit was definitely aimed at tourists, although I was the only non-Brazilian and it seemed like almost everyone else in the group of 30 or so was from Belém.

The boat left around 7:30 and cruised for about 20 minutes before entering an igarapé, or a channel that runs between river islands. The music on the way was good. After passing the homes of several ribeirinhos, the name for people who live on the islands and along the river, the group got out and encountered a gigantic canoe filled with fruit.

Annoying lady with microphone next to the fruit canoe

I pigged out on bananas, watermelon, cashew fruit, star fruit, acerola (red, tiny, and tart), papaya, and cacao (from which chocolate is made).

I also helped myself to some tacacá. Tacacá is an indian dish found all over Belém and is quite tasty. It is made from tucupi (lemony-tart juice of cassava) and is served with jambu (alkaloid spinach), and salty dried shrimp. It also has goma, which is made from finely ground cassava and has the consistency of snot. My first experience with tacacá was not very good as there was WAY too much goma in my serving, so I felt like I was drinking a bowl full of warm loogies. But this serving was more balanced and very enjoyable.

After the food, I could have left. Some people sang and dance around the campfire but I opted to stare at the almost full moon through the tree branches. The group of people I came with also wanted to leave, and by 10 we passed the time by making fun of the tour guide who would not leave the microphone alone. Finally, a little after midnight, we returned to Belém.

Children’s Day

Today was Nossa Senhora de Aparacida, a holiday honoring Brazil’s patron saint. The day is also referred to Children’s Day, a tradition that started in 1920. Nothing really special happened in Belém, especially since the city just binged on Círio festivities. There was a long line to get into the zoo and for some reason there was cake at the gym.

O Liberal, one of Belém’s daily newspapers, also had a report on child labor in the city. I forget the exact numbers, but it is estimated that there are almost 150,000 child laborers, or about a third of the city’s population of under 17 year olds. Most of these kids work on the street or as domestic servants.

Sorvetology, Part 2

My brain needs a break. The readings for tomorrow’s class were both in Spanish and I am trying to write the stupid reaction paper in Portuguese that basically says I did the reading. At least I’m brushing up on my Spanish/Portuguese false cognates.

With all the walking around the city I did during the holiday weekend, I passed many outlets of Cairú and continued my research into the ice cream chain’s unusual flavors. Since the last post on the same topic, I sampled the following flavors:

Tapioca: tasty but tame like the pudding.

Mestiço: açaí + tapioca.

Romeu e Julieta: cheesecake + guava jelly + flecks of cheddar cheese. The “Romeo and Juliet” is a popular food combination in Brazil. Pieces of white cheese with guava spread served as appetizers and a cheesecake both go by the same name.

Milho: corn. Not as bad as it sounds, but a little much for an entire scoop, especially when it could have been…

Carimbó: awesome. Cupuaçú + castanha do Pará (brazil nut). One of the best so far. Named for a regional music and dance.

Círio Sunday

Today was the big day, where the relic was honored with yet another procession from the Catedral da Sé to the Basílica de Nazaré. The procession started at 7 AM but was too early for me so I didn’t show up until around 10.

Our Lady of Nazaré

The procession was similar to the one on Saturday night except there were a lot more people. I heard estimates of two million floated but that seems too high and might have been a count for the entire weekend. Anyway, it doesn’t matter as Círio claims the title of Brazil’s largest religious procession without an apparent rival.

The other difference was that today some of the participants carried the wooden house, boats, and wax body parts mentioned in an earlier post. I didn’t see as many as I expected and there were more boats than anything else. Also, some of the houses were made out of Styrofoam, which I guess is a modern adaptation.

This guy was limping.

Posters calling for justice for Dorothy Stang, the murdered American nun

Another difference was that the corda was cut, which is sometimes done to protect both the people pulling it from being stampeded and the relic from toppling out of the carriage. When it is cut, people want a souvenir for what ever reason. There was a mini-mob trying to get a piece of the rope right where I was standing. I did my good deed for the day by picking up an about-to-be-smashed little girl and setting her on top of a drink cart.

Círio Saturday

Basílica de Nazaré at dusk

On Saturday evening there was yet another procession, and this was the biggest one so far. The relic was moved from Colégio Gentil just east of the Basilica through the city to the Catedral da Sé, in the original part of the city. There were a couple hundred thousand people at this event, but the crowd was stretched out over almost 4 km so things did not get out of hand.

The new addition to this procession was the corda, which is basically a big rope that pulls the carriage holding the relic down the streets. The barefoot faithful* pull the corda along the route and try not to pass out or get smashed between the person on either side.

Photo of the crowd that shows the relic and a stretcher

This year, the procession from Colégio Gentil to Catedral da Sé took about five hours. Afterwards there was a big party called Festa de Chiquita in Praça da República.


*or, more accurately, the high school and college students who signed up because their friends did.

Círio Effigies

Our Lady of Nazaré performs many miracles, and if you have a particular need you are supposed to accompany Sunday’s procession while carrying a representation of that need on your head. Need a house? Carry a small wooden house. People who are sick carry wax body parts in the hopes that they will be cured. Problem with your leg? Carry a wax leg, even if it hurts your real leg to spend eight hours pushing your way through a crowd of hundreds of thousands of people. Most body ailments are represented by a more generic head or body, so you don’t see people with leukemia carrying around wax white blood cells. Or maybe you do, but the cells are too small to be seen without a microscope.

street vendor selling wax effigies

The images have expanded into a cottage industry that makes brinquedos de miriti, brightly colored toys made out of balsa wood. I bought a little fish.

Processions a Plenty

Yesterday the relic of Our Lady of Nazaré was transferred from the basilica in Belém to the suburb of Ananindeua where she spent the night. I skipped the procession and mass during the heat of the afternoon and instead went to Auto do Círio, at night in Cidade Velha, the original part of the city. In the plaza between the old fort and the Catedral da Sé, various groups acted out the different stories associated with the legend of Círio and re-created the weekend’s events, such as the various processions and the carrying of the cord, which takes place on Sunday. The best I can describe the event is that it had a low-key Brazilian Carnivale atmosphere structured around passion journey plays. Like an idiot I forgot my camera, so I don’t have any photos of people in costumes. People participating in the plays wore all kinds of weird costumes, many seemingly unrelated to Círio. For example, one person dressed as a clown.

This morning there were more romariais, or processions. The relic moved from Ananindeua to the fluvial suburb of Icoaraci where it embarked on a big boat and sailed the ten nautical miles from Icoaraci to Belém. Accompanying the relic’s boat were some fifty large boats and maybe another fifty smaller boats, all decorated with balloons and flowers. I watched the arrival of the Romaria Fluvial (boat procession) from Estação das Docas, a redeveloped area of the port. A helicopter dumped rose petals before the relic disembarked.

NS de Nazaré arriving on the big white ship. The relic is on a pedestal with yellow flowers.

After the Romaria Rluvial, the Romaria dos Motociclistas began. Along with hundred of people on motorcycles, the relic went up Avenida Nazaré, a major street of Belém, to Colégio Gentil, which is next to the basilica. Later this afternoon there will be yet another procession transferring the relic to Catedral da Sé.

Romaria dos Motociclistas

Círio is in the air

Círio de Nazaré, Brazil’s biggest religious festival, is this coming weekend.* I’m very shaky on the details and symbolism, so I’ll refrain from posting much background except to say that the festival dates back to 1793 and has something to do with Our Lady of Nazaré, the patron saint of Pará, performing some miracle for a fisherman. People fly into Belém from all over Brazil, and more than a million people will flood the city streets on Sunday. Highlights of the festival include a procession from the docks to the the Catedral da Sé and then to the Basilica de Nazaré (about 10 blocks from my house), people engaged in a giant tug-of-rope (with Jesus?), and the slaughter of thousands upon thousands of ducks for the traditional dish of the festival, the extremely tasty pato no tucupi.

Doomed.

For Catholics in Belém, Círio is more important than Christmas. There are similarities between the two events. Lots of shops are decorated with images of the virgin of Nazaré, the guards at my apartment complex put out a little contribution box (I contributed), and people are running around in a frenzy buying things. Perhaps because of the frantic shopping or the sky-high price of duck, my laundry lady tried to charge me 50% more than usual for washing my clothes (I refused).

And, like Christmas, there is tacky commercialization, except here the religious imagery is more explicit. I took some photos of my favorite billboards around town:

Maratá coffee: strong like your faith

Círio. Faith never breaks.

(by Companhia do Vale do Rio Doce, a huge mining company)

Our Lady of Nazaré, light up (enlighten) our families.

(by Celpa, the state electric company)

*Brief background information in English, although there are some inaccuracies like the size of the procession (i.e., hundreds of thousands, not thousands).

Laranjal do Jari

I heard from a missionary that there was a cool waterfall in Amapá, so on Saturday I made the 6 hour bus journey to the town of Laranjal do Jari. Both the town and the waterfall, Santo Antônio, are marked in the southern corner of this map.

The entrance to the passenger area of the bus station in Macapá had sobering reminders of Brazil’s problem with human trafficking. The advisories posted beneath the city plaques state that “no child and/or adolescent can travel without necessary documentation” and that “the child who is not in the company of parents, siblings, aunts or uncles, or grandparents, must present judicial authorization.” With that happy send-off, I embarked on an uneventful trip through rainforest, former rainforest, and savannah.

I quickly discovered that apart from visiting the waterfall, there is nothing to do in Laranjal do Jari. I took a boat across the river and re-entered the state of Pará just because I could. I also walked around the port area for a while. The town is dominated by one big road that runs to the water. On either side are buildings and houses on stilts with connecting plank walkways.

Laranjal do Jari as seen from across the Jari River

I spent almost all of Sunday at the waterfall. I first had to hire a boat and driver who would take me up the Rio Jari to Santo Antônio. This wasn’t difficult and only involved a little bargaining as the prices are pretty set. The trip up the river in the morning was good. It was too late to see much wildlife, but cruising up a branch of the Amazon River in the cool morning was very relaxing. Although it is the dry season and the flow of the river over the falls wasn’t as heavy as it could have been, the falls were still very impressive and the setting couldn’t be more exotic.

Cachoeira Santo Antônio

After a big group of Brazilians left, I was the only visitor at the falls for a few hours. The good thing about there being less water was that I could get very close to the falls. I spent the day swimming in the river, climbing along the rocks, and frolicking in the falls. I took care not to pee while swimming so as not to attract the candirú fish.*

I would have preferred to take a boat back to Macapá for variety, but none were leaving on Monday morning. The return bus ride was more eventful than Saturday’s trip. The woman in front of me puked up an orange out the window in the second hour of the trip. Fortunately I saw this coming and closed my window just in time. I did have to look at a barf splatter for the rest of the trip, but that is better than having it on your face. Upon arrival in Macapá, I noticed that something, beer I think, leaked all over the backpack I had to carry around with me until my flight left at 1 AM.


*While reports may be exaggerated, the fish is real. I saw a preserved specimen in Manaus in 2003. Few things sound more unpleasant than having a catfish shoved up my urethra and feeding off of me. Why take the chance?

Macapá

This past weekend I went to Amapá, the state to the north of Pará. I decided to fly. At US$100 round-trip flights were pretty cheap; the 12 hour fast boat between the two capitals of Belém and Macapá is no longer an option, probably because a 40 minute flight costs only slightly more than what the fast boat used to cost. Slower boats that take 24 hours still run at irregular intervals.

I arrived in Macapá around 2 PM. The state tourist kiosk in the airport was useless, having neither a map of the city or state, bus schedules, nor information on attractions. After giving me some glossy brochures with pretty pictures, the person suggested that I visited the main office downtown. I figured that at least I could get a map, but I figured wrong. In addition to some erroneous information, I was again offered the same glossy brochures with pretty pictures. At least I got free coffee and was able to confirm that unless I wanted to take the late bus from Macapá and arrive in Laranjal do Jari around 1 AM, I would have to wait until the 8 AM bus on Saturday. Not being a fan of traveling in a bus along unpaved roads through the rainforest at night, I waited until Saturday.

On Friday I explored the pleasant and sleepy capital city. After finding a hotel, I visited the big and impressive 18th century Fortaleza de São José which was built to solidify Portuguese control over the upper Amazon and fend off challenges from the French. While Amapá is Brazilian, the French still partly succeeding in taking over, as restaurant menus are bilingual in Portuguese and French and there is a large French cultural center. There were also quite a few French tourists in the capital, and I sat in front of a family speaking French on the 6 hour bus ride to Laranjal do Jari on Saturday.

The next post will be about Laranjal do Jari, so I’ll recount the remaining attractions of Macapá I visited on Monday. The capital sits on the equator, and city planners are trying to cash in on geography with a cheesy “Marco Zero” monument and stadium.

Marco Zero football (soccer) stadium

with the equator running through the center of the field

Last week Macapá hosted the first annual “Meio do Mundo” (middle of the earth) tourism conference which apparently no one outside of Macapá knew about. For readers wishing to perpetuate the urban legend about the Coriolis effect and the direction of a flushing toilet, I offer the inconclusive piece of evidence that the water in the bowl of the toilet I used at the Marco Zero visitor center neither spins clockwise nor counterclockwise but instead flushes in all directions.

On the outskirts of Macapá is the quilombo of Curiaú. A quilombo is a community descended from runaway slaves that supposedly maintains African traditions. The slave-descendent aspect of Curiaú was a bit of a disappointment as all I saw were wooden houses and a bunch of black people going about their business, but the settlement is near the Curiaú river which has a relaxing place to watch wildlife at sunset.

Curiaú river