I am sitting typing this by the light of the full moon, which is rising over the sea now. The reason for this is not because I am having another one of my legendary economy drives (like the time when I was living in Asia and decided to only fly with PIA – my life, what a dreadful few weeks that was!!), but because I seem to be having a problem with Brazilian light bulbs.
I am sure there is nothing actually wrong with the light bulbs I buy here, but I do seem to go through about four dozen a week. Actually, I secretly think this is divine retribution for me making cynical comments about the “world’s oldest working light bulb” in a church in Salvador last Christmas eve. Quite how this amazing phenomenon has escaped the guidebooks is a mystery.
So, each night when I return from work and settle down for a night of hard number crunching at my computer I go through the same routine; I turn on the light and the bulb blows. At first I started changing the bulb, moving ones from other rooms to my office until I came home one day and realized that I had not a single bulb in the house. After going to the supermarket again and buying a trolley load of bulbs, I tried a different strategy and each time a bulb blew I moved the computer to another room. After a few weeks I was writing sitting on the toilet. Nothing short of rewiring my apartment seems to work and as result I am now writing by moonlight.
Of course, I don’t mind having to keep going to the supermarket to buy bulbs. In fact I quite enjoy it, especially when they are doing free breakfasts (better than many hotels I have stayed in), but I always seem to end up in some inane conversation which the cashier who always has just enough words of English to confuse me. And they always seem to know that I am English. I don’t understand this, I have a Brazilian credit card and speak reasonable Portuguese – how do they know? Yesterday was no different; we progressed rapidly from why I was buying industrial quantities of light bulbs onto the state of the European market and how Austria was the capital of Europe! I only went to buy bulbs and it took three hours!
Whilst I have making these continual raids into the twilight zone of 24 hour shopping Brazilian style, I have tried to pick up some notebooks as well. Now call me old fashioned if you like, but you think that a country as large as Brazil where 75% of the people seem to be students of some shape or form, could manage to organize some decent writing materials. The problem is twofold, firstly the only notebooks available are stupidly expensive (about 20 R$ for a standard student issue one) and secondly they have the most insane covers. The choice is limited to either pictures of bronzed hunks with bulging biceps, or ones with JESUS LOVES ME plastered all over them. Plain covers…forget it.
Call me old fashioned again, and I have every respect for religion, but the last thing I want when I wake up with the mother of all hangovers and try to scribble up my notes bleary eyed is to be reminded what a sinner I am. I have been forced to swallow my pride and get my notebooks shipped in from Japan. (Actually, there is one place which sells funky zebra print hardback note books perfect for the traveler about town for about a dollar, but I am keeping the shop’s location a secret as they are already stressed enough having to order the books for me).
And then, if this wasn’t enough to cause a man to head screaming like a loon to the local bar is I have to go backwards and forwards to the supermarket on the bus. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love the buses, the maniac driving, the blaring radio and the good humored people. But how come it is that everyone, apart from me, has a student card and can travel for half price? I have spent more years in more universities around the world than most people, and if anyone deserves a student card I think I do – but can I get one? No way!
I don’t, of course, object to the barely clad cuties which clutter up my department having student cards, but I got quite upset the other day when a little old lady, who looked like she was around about the same time as Dom Pedro II, pushed in front of me at the queue for the cinema only to whip out her student card and get in for half price. Quite why she was interested in the porno flick playing is beyond me….I shall leave you to ponder this as I present this month’s guide.
Festas De Sao Joao
We are now heading into another important festival season here in the NE – the month of Saints. Among the most expressive saints worshipped here in the NE are Saints Antony, John and Peter who are especially remembered each June.
Saint Anthony, the saint the Brazilians believe has a special gift to arrange marriages is refereed on June 13; Saint John, Christ’s favourite apostle, is celebrated on June 24; and Saint Peter, another apostle who became the first Pope and the man who send rains and holds in his hands the keys to heaven is celebrated on June 29.
Saint John has, among the three, the biggest number of devotees. According to the popular faith he is the responsible for the harvest of corn and of a local kind of green beans that occur at that time. Even when there are no bountiful crops the saint is celebrated with much faith and many parties.
The Festas Juninas are big family gatherings at night when people get together around a bonfire to eat several specialties of the season, most of them sweets, drink quentão (hot sugar cane liquor with ginger and sugar) and hot wine, dance the quadrilha (square dance), and play different games like the wedding, the jail or correio elegante (elegant post office).
In the jail game, sheriffs can imprison anyone for no reason and he or she will only be freed after performing some specific action such as buying a ticket for some entertainment or activity. In the correio elegante game, boys and girls are encouraged to send signed or anonymous messages to someone he or she is interested in. A mail carrier works as the messenger.
Among the delicacies consumed at these parties are peanut brittle, yam and pumpkin sweets, paçoca (roasted and crushed peanuts with sugar and manioc flour), roasted pine nuts and popcorn. In some cities of the interior the party is preceded by a procession carrying the flags of Saints Anthony, John and Peter. People pray, sing religious songs and carry lighted candles while others join the procession on its way to the place of celebration. At the end of the walk, the saints’ images are placed on the top of a tall pole. Before raising the pole people kiss the images and ask for favors.
The Festival of Saint John is perhaps the most important festivals outside of carnival and the big events attract up to a million people. Up and down the country now you can see the traditional colored flags and blazing bonfires that are used to mark the festival’s arrival. The festival is the normal drunken revelry that we have come to associate with Brazil.
Fire seems to play a large role in this festival and often the opening, or pivotal point of the festival is based around a battle of firecrackers. Traditionally the local population chooses a tree in the height of at least 15 meters, that after chopping it down to the sound of the music and songs of folkloric groups, it is decorated with gifts and placed in the center of the main square. At the party I went to, the tree in question was a cashew tree and it had hundreds of bottles hanging from it. The idea is to encourage the cashew fruit to grow inside the bottle, which is then filled with the local firewater and drunk over Christmas.
Besides the dancing and the fires, traditional foods play a prominent part in the festival. Many of these foods are (thankfully) unique to this time of year and every effort should be made to sample them. Varied cakes and pies based on milho, beijú (corn) base and cashew seem to be the main attractions. Some of the drinks, especially those based on fermented stale bread defy description.
Well, this ends another Fortaleza update. I am once again off to the Amazon region. It is my intention to write in the next few months a guide to trips in this region (under duress from the number of begging emails I get) – watch this space for news! Have a good month wherever you are in the world, and happy travels.
Geography
Located just under the equator, in a clearly tropical position, is the Cearense coast. The greenish-blue water is warm all year around. The average temperature ranges from 25 to 28°Celsius.
Fortaleza is the capital of the North Eastern Brazilian state of Ceará. It is a large, modern city where bold, new architecture contrasts with beautiful beaches and tall coconut palms.
Why ask? It’s going to be hot, between 27 – 33 degrees, blue skies and heaven is a local call.
Accommodation falls into three categories. Hotel, motel and pousada.
Hotels range from the reasonably priced such as the Hotel Passeio (tel/fax 085 252 2104) which has doubles for about R$30 a night, to the mid priced Olympio Praia Hotel (about US$100 a night) which includes a massive breakfast (tel 085 244 9122) to the massive Ibis Hotel (silly price).
Motels are a Brazilian institution and most rent by the hour. Mostly, or so I am told, they are clean and reasonably priced. If you are considering staying in one it might be a good move to check the room before handing over any cash.
Most people stay in a pousada. These small, often family fun hotels generally offer excellent value for money, clean rooms and friendly service. There are about 65 officially registered pousadas in central Fortaleza. Unless you are arriving in the height of summer, finding a nice room shouldn’t be a problem.
Health
Generally Fortaleza is a healthy place – the odd hangover permitting. However, there is some concern about a recent outbreak of dengue fever. As always, plan ahead and ask your local doctor before travelling. Malaria is not an issue in this area. Up to the minute updates can be found at:
And more specifically on dengue.
Travel
Fortaleza is three hours flight, or two days by bus from São Paulo the main gateway to Brazil. The flights are not cheap, but sometimes Varig has special deals.
The best way to travel around Brazil is with an air pass, which must be bought outside the country.
The Author
The author is a harassed, and often confused Englishman, who has been living in Brazil for 7 months now. He has traveled extensively in Brazil and is often to be found hanging round the airport at 2am waiting for a flight to somewhere even the check-in desk hasn’t heard of. He thoroughly recommends Brazil as a travel destination – unless you want to buy light bulbs as souvenirs that is!