Rio de Janeiro: Part 1

It was a great pleasure to find myself with a set of research excuses to be back in Rio de Janeiro over the weekend. To share a secret, at heart, I think I might be a Carioca (person from Rio), or maybe I was in a past life. All I know is that I wouldn't characterize myself as a “city” guy, but there's just something about Rio that's infectious. Here are some thoughts on why I feel drawn to Rio:


It could be the beaches:

Max Relaxing at Ipanema

It could be the mountains which encircle the beaches:

Ipanema with the mountains known as Dois Irmaos (Two Brothers) in the background

It could be the juice culture:

 

It could be wonderfully hospitable friends who make amazing french toast with nutella topping, and who happen to have a stash of peanut butter!

It probably wouldn't be the fast food that people seem to subsist on when there not having their acai:

Hot Dog with Raisins

It might have something to do with the really cool graffiti and murals throughout the city (in all seriousness):

Unfortunately, it no longer can be linked to the neat little cable car that ran through the Santa Teresa neighborhood where my friends live. The cable car, which I vaguely remember from my time in Rio before, was shut down this last year after a cable car accident left 8 people dead. The neighborhood seems to be incredibly upset about the absence of the cable car, which is known as the Bonde (pronounced bon-gee) after James Bond due to a film of his that was filmed here.

And those research reasons I mentioned, well, participant observation (the bread and butter of the anthropologist's methods), of a march of people who are planning the “People's Summit” which will occur at the same time as the Rio+20, and serve as either a counter-summit, or simply a summit showing alternatives to global leaders, depending on who you talk to.

and yes, given the above reasons, this blog post is part 1 for there will surely be a part 2, if not a part 3, and part 4 as various family members and friends earn their gold stars by making the trip to the southern half to watch the toilets flush counter-clockwise.

Lar doce lar (Home sweet home): 1

Success! After a week of making cultural inroads, I was successful in finding us a house! It is owned by the settlement's governing council, and is in fairly decent shape, but does need a little work, which is getting done by some very eager beaver workers in the community. Here are some photos from the new home front:

Mopping mopping mopping

the casa de Che

and after all the work, all I needed to relax was a hammock, banjo, and old episodes of Lost

and when I woke up in the morning look who was my backyard....didn't know they came with the house.

Horses with cupucucu (a local Amazonian fruit in the background)

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In other news, I had a lovely afternoon after all the moving in helping some of my neighbor's girls knocking this local fruit called Jambu down with a twenty foot pole.

and a parting artistic shop.

Something's fishy

Another rainy beginning to a day

Another one of the jewels of Belem, depending on who you ask, is the morning fish market. Apparently it's also the morning acai and fruit market, but we got there 'late', i.e. at 6 am instead of 4. I just couldnt do it, not even for acai. Head hanging in shame.


The market is called 'ver o peso', which literally means see the weight. It is a historic market area that has been running for at least two hundred years if not more.

The pointed grey-blue building in the background is the symbol of Ver o Peso.

Boats in with their catch, and a good thing as the tide appears a little low.

Heading back out onto the Amazon...

The real Ver o Peso. Fish on a scale for all to see.

The fish market is a sight to behold, especially for K. who is a vegetarian, and hates the smell of fish! She was very accomodating though, and let me take nearly a ba-jillion photos, some of which made the cut, oh bad joke, and are below.

A morning cafezinho

Blurry line of fish

Faux artistic shots meant to convey the movement and vibrancy of the market, beware, I might start spouting Kerouac.

And then there were fish...

and more fish

and more fish

and still more fish

it's beginning to feel a little bit like Dr. Seuss, I think, one fish, two fish...

You gonna eat that fish, cause if you aren´t....

You want a fish, I got a fish for you!

And on the way home we came across the leaf cutter ant parade. For those who have never seen leaf cutter ants they are really a site to behold

The ants go marching two by two...

and that was that.

Coming back to the settlement

After about a year and half, I arrived back in the settlement that is my research community this last week. I'll definitely have more updates soon, but for now a few pictures that will fill the space where those thousand words are missing.

Acai-bem grosso (really thick)

Acai 2

One of the nicest things about coming back has been meeting the expanding family of one of my friends. Below is A. who we will be staying with for a little while as we get our housing situation figured out, and her baby.

A. and baby

Little guy

And one parting shot, as you never know who is going to get on to the bus..

Teatro do Paz

Another one of the jewels of Belem is the 19th century Teatro do Paz, which has been immaculately restored.

I have been lucky enough twice to be in town when there is a show on there, and it is always worth the price of admission to just sit in the theater.



This time, K. and I took the opportunity to take a tour of the theater during the day time.



It was pretty boring, actually, i.e. this marble came from Italy. This chandelier from France. But what was nice was to be able to walk throughout the theater taking photos of anything and everything.











Working on renovating one of the ball rooms


Close up of original wood floor built from local Amazonian woods


Purty tile floor made with tiles from Italy.


No way are you going to get that Amazonian mud on my floor! Wipe your feet on these fine brass treads from America!


wooden chairs-surprisingly comfortable


How much they spent on these fancy brass gutters... I don t even want to know...


Boa noite ao teatro