Salvador, Bahia

A few weeks ago, I visited the city of Salvador in the Northeastern state of Bahia. Click here for a photo tour of my trip.

Santa Teresa

Dani and I visited Santa Teresa yesterday.  Located next to Lapa--an area known for its vibrant nightlife--Santa Teresa is an artsy, bohemian district of Rio where the colonial influence on architecture is still quite visible today. The district has so much of an Old World atmosphere that parts of it could convince even the most discerning of travelers that they were actually transplanted into a European town. Only the sounds of people speaking Portuguese or the smells of tropical fruit trees could interrupt the illusion.

Since Santa Teresa sits at the top of a steep hill, Dani and I took a bondinho, or trolley/tram, to get there. Below is a picture from behind the seats and in the very back of the bondinho. All of the seats were full, but there was still standing room in the back, so we summoned our sense of adventure and rode standing up. You have heard me complain before about crazy bus drivers in Rio. Now extrapolate that out to a trolley driver, who is driving up and down on tracks laid on cobblestone, and who likes to slam the gas and break pedals (or whatever the trolley equivalents are) in alternating fashion. (We did have pictures of each of us inside the bondinho, but not surprisingly, they came out blurry from the lurching ride.) While we held tightly onto the wooden posts from inside the bondinho, some fearless people jumped onto the steps outside the bondinho and held onto the side for the ride up. I'm not sure if they just liked the challenge or didn't want to have to pay the R$0.60 ($0.38) fare. 

We eventually did make it to Santa Teresa in one piece. We began exploring the winding streets and came upon a tiny model of the bondinho. Of course I needed a picture:

As we wandered further, we came upon a house that is used as a small visitors' center today. Can you get any more picturesque than this?

We spent much of our time in Santa Teresa at the Parque das Ruínas, or Park of Ruins. The building shown below serves as one of the main features of the park and was the house of a woman named Laurinda Santos Lobo. For decades, she invited all of the artists and intellectuals of Santa Teresa to gather at her home for live music, wine, and conversation. She died in 1946, and in 1979, the house was inaugurated as part of the surrounding cultural center.

On the other side of the house is a large patio area that overlooks the city. We stopped at the café for sandwiches and ran into a group of travelers: some Brazilians, two Germans, and at least one person from France. (I'm only certain of the Dani-Carioca on the left.)

After sitting on the wall for a while, enjoying the view and the gentle breeze, one of the Brazilians decided she wanted to explore the much narrower wall and concrete path below. She didn't want to take the stairs, though, (which we discovered later), but instead jumped and balanced from ledge to ledge ...

...until she saw two park guards watching her. Then she lost her balance and fell into the bush, pictured below. She was extremely lucky to have barely scraped anything at all. As she started to stand back up, one of the guards grabbed his ladder to climb the wall and see if she was okay. She was quick, though, and started walking back up to where the rest of us were before he ever made it over the wall. 

So between park guards, trolley rides, and meeting random travelers along the way, we had quite an exciting day in Santa Teresa. Let's just sit here a while longer and enjoy the view.

Climbing Corcovado

One of my housemates, Gerhard, and I decided to hike Corcovado yesterday. Corcovado is probably better known for its monument: "Cristo Redentor," the 40-meter statue of Jesus Christ that can be seen from just about anywhere in Rio. 

We started at the Parque Lage, the park that surrounds city's School of Visual Arts (both pictures below.) I had discovered the park and school accidentally one day while walking back from a Carnaval street party, but I hadn't known then about the nearby trail to Corcovado. 
 

After admiring the park, the school building, and watching the adorable monkeys that refused to stay still long enough for me to take their pictures, Gerhard and I embarked on the trail to Corcovado. The trail starts at the edge of the park and winds through the Atlantic Forest. The beginning of the trail is easy, but it soon becomes more interesting. Not only did we contend with steep slopes, but we also had to climb a few rocks and watch out for mud (and snakes) along the way. 

Every so often, we caught glimpses of Cristo Redentor, so we could judge how far along the trail we were and how much further we had to go. When we were at the halfway point, we came upon a "road," which turned out to be the tracks for the train that takes tourists up the mountain to Cristo Redentor. (Not everyone is crazy enough to hike it.)

We crossed over the tracks, after stopping to take each other's photos, and continued along the trail.   

We soon learned that we should have just followed the tracks. We did arrive at [behind] Cristo Redentor by following the trail, but when we tried to buy tickets to enter the monument grounds, we were told we couldn't buy tickets at the monument. Okay ... where were the tickets sold? Back down the mountain, of course. What?! Grumbling over the money-making scheme of not selling tickets at the monument (and thus forcing visitors to pay for transportation, which is "included" in the price of the ticket), we took a minivan a third of the way down the mountain, passing parts of the hiking trail along the way. We then waited in line for about 20 minutes for tickets. Once we had our tickets, we took one look at the line of 300+ people waiting for minivans that would take them back up the mountain, and decided it would be a better use of our time to follow the train tracks by foot.   

About ten minutes into our hike along the tracks, we came upon a group of Brazilian teenagers. They apparently had hiked the track once before, and so they knew they could get to the monument by following the tracks on foot. It was a steep climb, but certain.  We stopped once for a break and eventually arrived at Cristo Redentor 30 minutes later. We were all elated to finally see the famous statue, and this time, we were allowed to enter.

Conseguimos! Success!

At Cristo Redentor, we spent about half an hour being typical tourists: taking photos, reading informational plaques, and enjoying the view of the city. I'm still in awe of the size of the statue. What exactly inspires someone to build a statue 40 meters tall that overlooks an entire city? On the one hand, it's a symbolic monument, so there's plenty of inspiration involved, but on the other hand, just think of the construction logistics! I'm sure they didn't haul all that concrete and soapstone up the hiking trail!

Eventually we left Cristo Redentor and began hiking down the mountain. We passed several groups on our way down and were glad we left when we did. We had started our day at 8:00am and by this time, it was 1:30pm. Even though the sky was cloudy and the sun was not as intense as it could have been, it was certainly humid. Technically, we were hiking through the Atlantic Forest, but it felt more like an equatorial rainforest at times.

About 2/3 of the way down, a colorful creature caught my eye. It was a caterpillar, but not one I had ever seen before. This one had a thick, black body with neon yellow rings and bright red at either end. According to this site, the caterpillar would probably later turn into the Frangipani Hawkmoth. 

The bright colors warned me to stay away--it might be poisonous--but later I learned that it "just" bites. 
After the caterpillar, we only had about 20 minutes of trail left. All along the way, we had seen trees like the one below, which have flexible, almost rope-like, branches. I had been using the branches along the way for balance, but by the end, I was ready for a break ... a tree-swing break, that is.

All in all, I had a great time hiking Corcovado and visiting Cristo Redentor. The hike was a little steeper than I had expected, but I enjoyed the challenge. I can now cross another place off of my "must-do-in-Rio" sightseeing list!

Jardim Botánico = Botanical Garden

Apparently, I wasn't supposed to walk to the Botanical Gardens from Gávea, or at least not in the 95 degree heat.  My landlady told me (or so I thought) that it was just on the other side of the university, which is only a 3-minute walk from the house. I either misunderstood her or we were conversing about directions at perpendicular angles. By the time I walked through the university campus, around the lake (did I mention there's a lake in the middle of Gávea?), and finally began following traffic signs to the gardens, what should have been a 40-minute walk turned into about an hour and a half. Thank goodness I brought a bottle of water with me. Now I know that the tall, super-straight palm trees, pictured at the left in this picture, make the garden easy to locate from afar.  You live, you learn. (Actually, that may be my motto for this trip!)

John VI of Portugual founded the Botanical Garden in 1808 (Fun fact: In typical Portuguese fashion, John VI's full name is "João Maria José Francisco Xavier de Paula Luís António Domingos Rafael de Braganças.")  He originally wanted to cultivate various trees and plants for spices, but 14 years into the project, the garden grew so large that it was opened to the public.  Today the park covers about 140 hectares (~0.5 sq. mile) and is home to more than 6,000 species.  Half a square mile doesn't look so impressive on paper, but when you're surrounded by half a square mile of trees for as far as you can see, you begin to change your perspective.  I saw a small portion of the garden and hope to return soon to see more. 


I started with this trail:

and came upon a tree with an interesting fruit: 

A prickly guava?  An oblong, unripened lychee?  

I still don't know.
[UPDATE: Thank you, Dani, for informing me that this is a jaca, or jackfruit.]

What I do know is that I was hit in the arm by a falling lychee later that day and it hurt! Tropical cities should have tourist courtesy signs:  "Caution: Watch for falling fruit!" 

The two photos below are from the water / hydroponic section of the garden. 

Anybody need some bamboo? I've seen more bamboo in Brazil in the short time I've been here than I've seen in my entire life. (And yes, the background image to this blog is bamboo, not sugarcane.)

Those steps (below) look so inviting. The little gazebo at the top almost looks like the beginning to a Japanese garden. It's not, but I do hope to visit the actual Japanese garden next time.

On the way out, don't forget to thank Demeter, Goddess of agriculture, harvest, and fertility.  (Or you could just enjoy a maté and croissant in the adjacent café and peruse the gift shop, where I almost bought a shirt made of bamboo-fiber. I still might ...)