Then it was south to Vitoria on the bus again, and again it rained!
Forty km inland from Vitoria is the charming and sleepy little town of Santa Leopoldina. This was for half a century a very important port! The river winds inland from Victoria towards a rich coffee growing area until it reaches some impassable rapids, where the port was founded. In the absence of roads the coffee was shipped down in boats – I imagine small barges. There is a chute still in existence down which the coffee bags were slid for loading. Even allowing for shrinkage in the size of the river it can never have been big enough for sea-going vessels, so the coffee would have been transhipped in Vitoria for the journey to Salvador, Rio or overseas. We also heard that it was used as a port for the mining and industrial produce from Minas Gerais before the Belo Horizonte – Vitoria railway was built.
Santa Leopoldina was the centre of a conglomeration of European colonies founded from around 1850 – Austrian, Italian, Pomeranian etc. The names of the surrounding hamlets and fazendas still reflect this process: Tirol, Holandinha, Bragança. We visited the Museo do Colono in the house of a well-to-do Austrian merchant family, descendants of man named Holzmeister who immigrated in around 1860 and made his fortune. The family sold the house and contents to the Municipality in the 1980s. There was a plethora of European knick-knacks and china, a curious selection of books, many in French (I suspect the part of the old man’s library which was unwanted by his descendants), a large radio/gramophone ca. 1960 and a touchingly Victorian memorial to a son born 1888, died 1890, with a lock of very pale hair.
We stayed a couple of nights in the Pousada Tirol in the hills some 20 km from Santa Leopoldina, actually run by an Austrian who emigrated a dozen years ago, together with his Brazilian wife.
It is very “gemütlich”, and we were served huge and delicious meals in which Austrian and Brazilian cuisine were combined. The pousada is set in 200 hectares of Mata Atlantica forest, mainly untouched, and has 60 km of well-maintained trails.
They have an excellent tree reference, but take your own bird-book! The photos on the wall include views of the Alps and some butterflies – Hubert was a passionate butterfly enthusiast and has a huge collection upstairs.
From Vitoria we came to Santos, where we are really saying goodbye to Brazil – and catching up with our friend Edirle from Temuco.
Santos is also an ancient port, but is anything but sleepy, and you have to dig to find the charm!
The historic centre behind the port is rather run down but they are making a big effort to tidy it up and develop tourism.
We took a 15 minute circular tram-ride then visited the old coffee exchange, now the coffee museum. The railway line up to São Paulo is sadly no longer running, although our 1992 Lonely Planet claimed that there was a tourist train at weekends – let’s hope they reinstate it one day as it must be a fantastic trip. We came down by bus and that was quite dramatic.
Originally settled in 1545, for the last 150 years Santos has been THE coffee port for Brazil.
Coffee was introduced into the country in 1727 for the internal market but by 1840 they were producing sufficient to start exporting and Santos was where all the São Paulo coffee was centralised for export. The tiny old port grew and grew, a railway line was built, over 2 million immigrants (mainly Italian and Japanese) were welcomed to work in the plantations, the coffee exchange was built (1922) and the port went on growing to become the biggest in Latin America today, with 13 km of wharfs. Looking at old photographs of the muddy chaos in the 1880s it is hard to believe…
We walked up the Monserrate hill which offers a fine view over the city, the port and the coastal plain, to where the land starts to rise, apparently almost sheer, some 800 metres towards São Paulo and the interior. The little church of Our Lady of Monserrate goes back to about 1600 – it was badly modernised in the last century but there is work afoot to restore it to something simpler and more in keeping.
Fascinating also was the 1927 funicular – the top station is huge, with the original German machinery and a large banqueting hall which you can hire for events!
The splendid Prefeitura (town hall), built in 1937 with coffee money, is open to the public on Saturdays, and there is a large theatre (the Santos Coliseum). We visited a baroque church, also being repaired, which belonged to a Carmelite convent, the earliest religious foundation in the city.
Finally we had a beer in the Café Paulista (1911), where coffee apparently used to be negotiated (shades of Edward Lloyd!) before the exchange existed.
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Volvimos a Arraial para despedirnos (nuevamente) y para que yo pudiera terminar una traducción urgente.
De allí, para el sur hasta Vitoria de nuevo.
A cuarenta km de Vitoria se encuentra la pequeña y dormida ciudad de Santa Leopoldina. Durante medio siglo era un puerto importante! El río cruza el campo desde Victoria hacia una rica zona de producción de café, hasta topar con unos rápidos que ningún barco puede pasar, y allá se fundó la ciudad. Por falta de caminos, se llevaba el café hasta Vitoria en barco – me imagino en pequeñas barcazas. Existe todavía una rampa por donde tiraron los sacos de café para cargar las barcazas. Aunque el río haya sido mayor en aquella época, nunca habría sido suficientemente grande para barcos de alta mar, entonces habrán transbordado el café en Vitoria para enviarlo a Salvador, Rio o Europa.
Santa Leopoldina era centro de una agrupación de colonias de origen europea, fundadas a partir de 1850 – Austriacas, Italianas, Pomeranas etc. Los nombres de los pueblitos y fazendas reflejan este proceso: Tirol, Holandinha, Bragança. Conocimos el Museo do Colono en la casa de una familia rica de mercadores Austriacos, descendentes de un tal Holzmeister quién inmigró alrededor de 1860 e hizo fortuna. La familia vendió la casa a la municipalidad en los años 80. Contenía muchas cerámicas y otros cachureos europeos, una variedad curiosa de libros, muchos en francés (sospecho que serán los que no les interesaban a los descendentes del viejo), un radio/tocadiscos grande de ca. 1960 y un memento a un hijo nacido 1888, muerto 1890, con una mecha de pelo muy claro.
Alojamos dos noches en la Posada Tirol en la montaña, a unos 20 km de Santa Leopoldina, actualmente propiedad de un austriaco quién emigró hace unos 12 años, con su esposa brasilera. Muy acogedora, y la comida rica y abundante, una mezcla de las cocinas austriaca y brasilera. La posada está ubicada en 200 hectáreas de Mata Atlántica, con 60 km de senderos.
Desde Vitoria viajamos a Santos, donde nos estamos despidiendo de Brasil – y compartiendo con nuestra amiga Edirle de Temuco.
Santos también es un puerto antiguo, pero nada de dormido! El centro histórico al lado del puerto está en proceso de rehabilitación, y están desarrollando el turismo. Hicimos un viaje en tranvía de 15 minutos, luego fuimos a la antigua Bolsa de Café, ahora el Museo del Café – muy interesante.
Poblado originalmente en 1545, por los últimos 150 años Santos ha sido el principal puerto para el café brasilera. El café fue introducido en el país en 1727 para consumo interno pero ya en 1840 se producía suficiente para su exportación, todo el café del estado de São Paulo se concentraba en Santos. El pequeño puerto creció rápidamente, se construyó el ferrocarril al interior, llegaron más de 2 millones de inmigrantes (principalmente de Italia y del Japón) para trabajar en la producción, se construyó la Bolsa del Café (1922) y el puerto siguió creciendo – hasta transformarse en el más grande de América Latina, con 13 km de muelles. Cuando uno mira las fotos antiguos del barro y del caos de la década de los 1880, es increible…
Subimos El Monserrate, de donde hay una vista hermosa sobre la ciudad, el puerto y el llano costal, hasta donde el terreno empieza a subir – en forma casi vertical – unos 800 metros hacia São Paulo y el interior. La pequeña iglesia de Nuetra Señora de Monserrate data de alrededor de 1600 – fue modernizada de mal gusto en el siglo 20, pero están trabajando para recuperar su simplicidad original. Existe un elevador - como los de Valparaíso pero más grande – construido en 1927. Todavía posee la maquinaria original – alemana – y una sala de eventos que se puede arrendar!
La magnífica Prefeitura (municipalidad), construida en 1937 con plata del negocio del café, está abierta para visitas los sábados; existe también un teatro grande (El Coliseo de Santos). Conocimos una iglesia barroca, también en reparación, que perteneció a un convento Carmelito, la primera fundación religiosa de la ciudad. Finalmente, tomamos una cerveza en el Café Paulista (1911), donde dicen que se negociaba el café antes de la construcción de la Bolsa.
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