The first leg took us overnight to Victoria on the coast 600 km south of Arraial. We arrived in time for breakfast – the inevitable coffee and pão de queijo, a delicious cheesy puff the size of a golf ball. It is common in most places in Brazil, although different areas have their own recipes.
Victoria is a busy city and port for the industrial zones of Espiritu Santo and eastern Minas Gerais – one of the earliest railways in the country linked it to Belo Horizonte. The city has been quite heavily developed and the centre is stretched along the back of the port and the noisy waterfront road. However it contains a number of interesting and attractive buildings. We enjoyed the Carlos Gomes theatre from the beginning of the twentieth century (supposedly a scale model of La Scala) and there are a number of old churches dotted around the centre.
The most interesting sight was the Convento de Penha, also a place of pilgrimage, perched up on a rock on the south side of the river mouth. It stands guard over the original C16th foundation of the city, Vila Velha, which now has been swamped by modern development, but a little church in the main square (locked!) and a few old houses remain. The convent above was founded very early by the monk guilty of converting Brazil to christianity, one Padre Anchieta. Associated legends include a vision of the heavenly hosts which frightened off an Dutch raiding force – there is a C19th century painting in the church. We climbed up the steep 500 metre path on foot although there is now a road and taxis tout their services at the bottom. Serious pilgrims do it on their knees! The top offers a magnificent view north across the port to the city and beyond it to the green hills. North and south runs the eternal beach of the Brazilian coast, built up for a few km each way, then reverting to sand and vegetation. The highest part of convent, which is still functioning, is a church dating back to the C16th, but several times restored and now mainly baroque in character. There are pews, pulpits, a reredos and other furniture of beautifully carved black jacaranda wood and the whole is light and airy – not least because the open doors look out over the void so that you are constantly aware of being raised above the hurly-burly of daily life.
The next night bus took us on to São Paulo. This vast city is an inevitable magnet as you pass through the centre of Brazil. It was also where our flight for Chile departed from! The highlight of the visit was seeing the University of São Paulo where Magda studied. It is a huge green area with modern buildings which used to be on the edge of the city – however the tide of growth has flowed on and left it an island of vegetation among the development. There is a free bus service to take students and staff (and visitors) around the campus. We visited the Physical Education Faculty and Magda found a secretary whom she remembered from her student days who gave us a cup of coffee!
The São Paulo Art Museum (MASP) contained an exhibition of Brazilian painting which we enjoyed, seeing European trends transformed through a Brazilian lens. There was also an exhibition of photographs of the city from the 40’s down to the present. At the end of December thieves broke in and stole a Picasso (which we didn’t see) and the “Coffee labourer” by Candido Portinari, a C20th Brazilian artist, which we did. I couldn’t imagine paying what it was said to be worth…
We visited the Cathedral in the centre – gothic revival from around 1900 – and went to some of the Cebos (second hand bookshops) in the area of the Praca da Sé. In the Praca the old Treasury building has an area devoted to artistic activities and we saw an excellent performance of modern dance.
Another evening we went to a recital of songs by Oscar Lacerda, who was present, celebrating his 80th birthday. A tiresome man behind us kept clapping before the last bar had been played, and finally applauded twice in the same song when it was far from finished. He retired in confusion under a storm of furious looks. We also went to see a film, ‘La Vie en Rose’ (the life of Edith Piaf).
Our last night we went to the Bar Brahma – close to our hostel – a long-established Sao Paulo favourite, where they had live jazz: a trio circulating among the tables consisting of alto trumpet, tuba and percussion (washboard, bell and claxon)!
Our two weeks in Chile were fairly hectic. We took in Temuco, seeing friends and a bit of Admin. I skipped up to Talca from there for a day’s interpreting and back. Then we spent Saturday in Valdivia with Blanca (Magda’s sister) and family. We went to see the site where they plan to build a house beside Lago Ranco – real Chilean lake district…
Back in Santiago for the second week, arriving on Sunday, as I was working on Monday and Tuesday – interpreting for a seminar on plants! We went to Gorgias’ Christmas concert in the classical Santa Ana church – wind quintet and small choir. We also had a day in Valparaiso, taking us to the Pacific coast as a symbolic completion of our circumnavigation.
That’s enough to complete the year; will come up shortly with some comments on Arraial and the strange human fauna which it contains! A final comment for all those not up to date: much as we are enjoying Brazil we have decided for a variety of reasons, some practical, some cultural, that we will not stay here beyond our present 6-month tourist visa, so we will be moving on in March, heading towards Chile.
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