A Colombian Adventure: The Beginning...

June 18-19: Buenos Aires-Lima-Bogota (6,000km, 1 stop-over, 8 hours)

After a delayed start (we were supposed to fly on the 17^th in the early morning, but our oldest daughter Edie got sick so we had to postpone our flight for 36 hours), and a mostly pleasant flight via Lima, we arrived in Bogota around 01.00am Saturday morning, June 19.

Getting off the plane and walking through the airport, one still feels the remainders of Colombia’s recent past; military are predominantly present, you feel you are being watched and controls are thorough. The lady at the money exchange is most definitely not the nicest person in the world (but who would be sitting there at that time of night) and in order to change 60 USD, one needs to fill in a form as if applying for a US visa, including hotel address, personal signature and fingerprints.

But that is just one side of things. Overall, people are friendly, very friendly. Most Colombians we encountered are genuinely happy with the fact foreigners come to see their country now; that they can show what they have. They do not only try to make you feel at home, or make sure you are safe; they are open and direct, honest and reality-driven. And on top of that, they are funny. Colombian humor, though black at times, seems to be what has pulled this nation and its people through its darker recent times. I am sure we will have a great time here, this time, and all the times in the future when we will come back to visit, and set up our office.

Colombia makes me think of Peru 15 years ago. Leaving behind a long period of civil unrest, the country is cautiously opening up its doors to the outside. People go out of their way to make sure you know you can travel here, that you should be careful, but not worry too much about safety; that the safety situation these days is similar to that of most countries in the continent. Hotels in Bogota still have small warning pamphlets in the rooms and the streets are crowded with police and military, but the atmosphere is joyful, busy, aimed forward. It is obvious this country is ready for a new era, an era of peace and connectivity with the rest of the world.

The capital, no, the whole country seems to be under construction; roads are blocked everywhere, not because of safety regulations, but because they are being repaired, widened, improved. Colombians are traveling outside the safety of their immediate environment and most of the streets in Bogota, and the main roads in many parts of surrounding Colombia, are teeming with traffic. All the work being done means delays at present, but soon traffic will be able to flow freely through a country that has been waiting to be explored for so long.

June 19: Bogota – Villa de Leyva (180km, 4hs)

We drove To Villa de Leyva yesterday afternoon, some 4 hours by car from Bogota. Only 180km separate the two towns, and most of it is (going to be) 4-lane highway, but due to uncountable road construction sites and the above mentioned traffic we hit an average of 50kmph, more or less. No problem at all of course; we are exploring Colombia, at last! First impression is that Colombia will make an excellent driving country, but for now this will be restricted. Car rental companies are mainly small and operate locally only; drop off fees do not exist or are forbiddingly high. Next to that hardly anybody speaks English and the recently introduced Satellite Navigation Systems do not have the maps of the country properly loaded yet. This will all change soon, no doubt, but for now we feel Colombia is a great country to visit either in a group with a bilingual tour conductor, or individually with a private guide and driver.

Villa de Leyva is a colonial dream town set in magical, cloud-forest-covered mountains and surrounded by numerous national parks home to geological, natural and historical treasures, most of them still inaccessible to the average visitor. We stay in the quaint, colonial style Hotel La Candelaria, on the northern end of town, an old mansion recently converted into this beautiful, 8-room boutique hotel.

June 20, Villa de Leyva

The main thing that made this trip, and our ten-year dream of opening an office here, feasible is Colombia’s newly found safety, wrought by leaving president, Alvaro Uribe, and his government of the past eight years. Today is Election Day and we talk to local people in the town of Villa de Leyva about who they will vote for.

Something truly phenomenal is happening here in Colombia. After decades of complete political uncertainty and lack of proper leadership, eight-years ago Alvaro Uribe came along, and ever since has been busy putting the country back on the geo-political map. Today, thanks to an absolutely fantastic, worldwide rebranding campaign, foreigners know Colombia as the country where “the only risk is that you’ll want to stay”, something opposite to its reputation in the recent past. Traveling here I can understand why this slogan was chosen. However, it would never have gotten hold had the country not been truly reorganized, safety returned to its streets and hope and trust restored in its people. I came to Colombia for the first time in 1992, at the end of the same 4-month trip that took me to Peru as well. Both countries were in similar circumstances then. Peru emerged from terrorism and uncertainty in 1995-96, when the Shining Path was largely silenced and its leader, Abimael Guzman, captured, by then president Alberto Fujimori. From that moment on, Peru slowly opened itself up to the outside world and, as mentioned before, our experiences there in those days have many similarities to what we see and hear in Colombia today.

Another impressive feat for a country so freshly back on track is the fact that today Colombians have the option to choose between two outstanding candidates for the Presidency: former Defense Minister and Uribe’s favorite, Juan Manuel Santos, and former Mayor of Bogota Antanas Mockus, preferred by the country’s students. Both candidates have a formidable political agenda, are very well prepared for the job and most countries’ people in this continent should consider themselves proud and very lucky to have the opportunity to choose only one of them. How Colombia managed to produce the political strength and vigor it shows in its current president and the two candidates to follow him, requires a deep political analysis, that has no place (yet?) in this story, but the mere fact earns Colombia and its people a lot of credit and respect. It also shows that Colombians are done with the past and ready for change, ready for a future that is in their hands - exciting times, for sure.

June 21, Villa de Leyva – Bogota

Pfff, seems the time difference is affecting the kids more than normally. They keep waking up around 4.30-5am, which even when corrected to their natural clocks (2 hours later), is very, very early. Must be the clean mountain air or something… Bueno, at least it gives me some time to write until breakfast is served. Let me finish where I left off yesterday:

The end of Election Day showed another interesting feature of Colombian thinking. After Mr. Mockus had initially sprung up in the polls to potentially win the elections, the first round showed a favorable position for Mr. Santos, something that was confirmed when the majority of the votes were accounted for and he was elected as Colombia’s next President. Today is “ley seca”; it is forbidden to drink alcohol in public from 24 hours before until right after the elections, so our waiter is serving our beer in teacups and hiding the bottles. He says: “I am a student and Mockus is by far my favorite because he is a former teacher himself and has vouched to bring education back to the top ranks of the political agenda. But today it is just a little early for Mr. Mockus to take the stand, we are still living uncertain times and safety needs to be restored completely before we can start thinking about further reforms. Mr. Santos has the better cards to make sure that Colombia becomes a safe and stable nation. Without safety we are nowhere; without safety we cannot move on. That is why I chose Santos today; I want my country to be safe. Next round will hopefully be for Mr. Mockus.”

For me this clarifies what is happening here; Colombian people are not only done with the past and ready for the future to be in their hands; they are also very carefully handling that new-found responsibility, and moving cautiously to make sure that today will truly mark the continuance of change for the better, and that a solid base will be created to build that future upon. We have seen many bad examples of political manipulation for ourselves over the past 15 years, so being here and listening to the people, seeing how they truly take up the task of making sure they get the right representation for this time, feels like a breath of fresh air. This country is getting ready for a bright future and we sure want to be here when it happens.

Brazil, a land of contrasts – Part 3

Hello and welcome to the final installment of my Brazil road-trip!

Morro de Sao Paulo
After Carnaval is over, most Brazilians just want to keep on partying, and so they decided to do just that! The ‘Resaca do Carnaval’ (Carnaval’s hangover) is possibly even bigger than Carnaval itself in terms of national tourism, and for most places this means that the party goes on for the rest of the week. There was a time when this would have been the perfect bait for me to hit Salvador for eight days and really turn the town inside out, but nowadays other pleasures and obligations are at the top of the priority list. So, we drove straight through Salvador, made our way past the party tents, and had a cab driver lead the way to the Mercado Modelo, next to which our ferry would leave to the Isle of Tinhare and the town of Morro do Sao Paulo. We managed to park our car in the Marina, not too far from the docks and crossed the strait between Tinhare and the mainland on a big Catamaran, surrounded by sleeping people on their way to the after party.

Tinhare, and Morro in particular, have in recent years become THE place to celebrate the Resaca, so we had booked a small “Fazenda” (farm hotel) outside of town. There are officially no cars on that part of the island (we later found out there are several, but they are kept out of sight) and an army of “taxistas” (in this case strong men with wheelbarrows) offer themselves to carry your bags and suitcases from the port to your hotel. Since our fazenda was located on Praia 3 (the third beach from the port) we reluctantly paid the 20 reais (some 10 USD) to have our luggage pushed through the sand, up and down the hills to our next resting place. It turned out to be a great decision as it was 35 degrees Celsius outside and the walk was a lot longer than expected. Dao, our wheelbarrow-driver turned out to be a great guy, so we contracted him for the way back as well. Tinhare is a great spot to relax. Hammocks, sundowners on the beach, great ocean views, a little swimming in warm natural pools at low tide, tremendous amounts of palm trees, hunting for crabs and monkey spotting filled our time during most of our four days there. Great for us and the kids to get our batteries recharged and move on with renewed energy. Sadly our trip was almost over…

Salvador
Even though we did not visit due to Carnival, I want to say a little bit about Salvador de Bahia. With its fantastic swimming beaches, the largest collection of colonial architecture in Latin America, and a vibrant modern culture, this city has perhaps the richest living cultural mix in the country, with a multitude of Afro-Caribbean bands and performers. We sadly did not have the time to really explore this exciting city, but I will certainly go back in one of my upcoming trips.

Itacimirim
We took the ferry back to Salvador (very strong currents this time, so we all got sea sick, something to keep in mind when you make this crossing), grabbed a cab to the marina and had an excellent lunch at the Soho Sushi bar. We were somewhat surprised by the high-end cliental, as we ourselves looked like a couple of sun-burnt hippies with two semi-wild kids running around the place. After lunch we picked up the car and drove to Itacimirim (5km short of Praia do Forte on our way back north), where we stayed in the Pousada Praia das Ondas, on a beach with the same name. We had planned for one night, but ended up staying another one as both the food and the company were great, plus it was our last chance to relax on the beach. Itacimirim is a small place, but very nice, a little like what Praia do Forte must have looked like before it was developed for tourism. If you are not looking for all the fancy stuff, and if you like bigger waves (the ocean is a bit rougher here, a nice change after hundreds of kilometers of bounty beaches), this is a great spot to use as a base to get to know the area. Around the corner from Praia, close to Salvador and 6 hours driving from Lencois - Itacimirim certainly did it for us.

Maragogi
On the way back to our final destination, Recife, we stopped in Maragogi at the beautiful Posada Maragogi, run by a Dutch/Brazilian couple. After some good Dutch koffie and a relaxing couple of hours overlooking their beach we drove on to Praia Carneiros, where we had lunch at a place called BoraBora. This is one of the most beautiful beaches of the entire region and it is frequented by locals and Brazilians from all over the country. Located on a private Fazenda, BoraBora does not see that many foreigners, and as always we were met with friendly, though somewhat surprised looks from people not used to hearing Dutch, or seeing a man walk around with a backpack containing a two-year old child. That child being our Noa, with white-blond hair, large deep-blue eyes and a one-month Brazilian tan… one can imagine I got a lot of attention. Young fathers, this is your chance to shine!

After lunch we went for a walk along the beach and of course lost track of time, and yet again ended up driving in the dark. When we arrived in Recife, instead of trying to find the hotel for our last night, we drove directly to the airport, unloaded all our stuff, plus one month’s worth of dust, sand, rocks, empty water bottles and more good news, returned the car to our hire company and had a cab driver take us ‘home’. One short night later (we had to get up at 3.50am), we were on our way to the airport for a flawless set of flights back to Buenos Aires, where we were welcomed by the last thunderstorm of the season. Home sweet home, even if only for two-weeks before my next flight out…

Epilogue
What did strike me in Porto Galinhas (and probably because I was reading the final pages of “A death in Brazil”, an amazing book about the country, and especially that area, by Australian writer Peter Robb) is that Brazil is a very particular country with a very particular people. Sitting there in that big resort, between a couple more resorts, smacked down in the middle of what must have been stunningly beautiful nature once upon a time, but is now surrounded by heavy industry, it became utterly clear that I needed to look at Brazil in context. This country has only known democracy for roughly 15 years; it has the most thoroughly mixed races of all of the former European colonies and its history is one of oppression of the vast, poor majority by a small elite group, until very recently. Brazil is largely self-sufficient and its mostly independent and strongly growing economy does not really seem to need foreign tourism. As a matter of fact some hoteliers I spoke to explained they depend about 80% on local tourism for most of the year.

Brazilians in general are very nice and warm people, friendly, welcoming and genuinely interested. The fabulous Brazilian kitchen, some truly amazing sights, a rough but intriguing past, the vastness of the Amazon Basin and thousands of kilometers of stunning beaches combine to make Brazil a fantastic destination that can’t fail to grow on you in one way or another. Treat it with proper respect and prepare for a true adventure into a nature, a culture and a gastronomy that will have you hooked, and most likely leave you wanting to visit time and time again.

Happy trails!

Bart

Fire & Ice - from volcanic ash to a BAires hail storm

After watching coverage of the volcano in Iceland over the weekend, yesterday I was confronted with a miniature natural disaster of my own in the form of a hailstorm of epic proportions! After an overall beautiful, sunny, late-summers day in Buenos Aires, the sky all of a sudden darkened and lightning started flashing overhead with fast-increasing intensity. After a while it started to rain lightly, soon more and more water was falling from the sky - and then the hail began. For about 15 minutes our house was pummeled by rock-hard balls of ice the size of tennis balls.

I was working in our attic office/playroom, where my desk is located just under a large sky-window. Karin asked our daughters if they wanted to go downstairs with her to watch the garden as the rain was beginning to fall. After some minutes I decided to get a drink and so I followed them downstairs. That was a lucky decision.

I arrived downstairs at 8.15, just when the serious hail started to come down. We were standing on our back porch, under a tiled roof as the first icy bombs came down, hammering into the grass and turning the pool into a wild spectacle. Trees in our garden were rapidly “shaven”, as thousands of ice balls bombarded them, ripping off leaves, branches and taking out the occasional bird on their way down. We quickly ran back into the safety of the house and I started to close the blinds on the most exposed windows.

Each room I ran into echoed with the thuds of ice slamming into the windows, and each time I feared that one would come straight through. By the time I was done most of the hail had subsided and was replaced by a torrential rain that seemed like a huge bucket of murky water was being poured out over our neighborhood. At some point we could hardly see our garden anymore, covered as it was in white icy rubble with massive curtains of water sweeping before our eyes. Then I remembered the attic…

I ran upstairs to find my desk covered in glass, ice and water. Somehow most of the window had managed to miss it and my laptop and auxiliary screens were still functioning. I stood there, frantically looking from left to right, not knowing exactly what to do first, it was as if a giant tap had been turned on directly above what used to be my work space - water was pouring everywhere. And then, all of a sudden, the rain stopped, and at the same moment the entire neighborhood went pitch black.

I managed to find a flashlight and went back down to Karin and the kids. They had had a great time watching the storm and had no clue what had happened. We put the children to bed and went upstairs where we cleared the area of glass and actually managed to salvage most of the equipment. We found some flattened cardboard boxes and a couple of planks and went about with hammer and nails.

Later Karin reminded me it might be a good idea to see if the “vigilante” (the private security guys you see guarding street corners in cities across Latin America) had survived the storm. So I went outside and made my way through a thick carpet of leaves and tree-branches, looking at the cars as I passed; windows shattered and round dents in roofs, hoods and hatches. Our security guy was fine and did not need water or cigarettes, so after chatting to him and our neighbor about insurance policies and how both our dogs had taken this weird natural event, I went back inside. It remained dry for the rest of the night and this morning the sun came out and another sunny day started as if nothing had happened…

The garden, however, told another story, with branches lying all over the place like a jungle floor and the grass dotted with potholes. Power stayed out until midday and with it internet, phone lines and the comforts of working from home. We had enough to do however, especially when we saw what else had happened in those 15 minutes. Roughly 60% of the tiles on our roof had been shattered and our garden furniture was smashed to smithereens. Another window of hardened wire-glass in our garage was hit in three places and had opened up like paper. There were large holes where the ice went straight through and glass shattered all over the cars, which luckily otherwise remained intact. We spent most of the day collecting glass and rubble and it was then that I realized how extremely dependent on all those modern-day comforts I have become.

Still we have been lucky, very lucky in fact. Buenos Aires is not usually prone to serious natural upheavals, apart from a tropical rainstorm every now and then. Other parts of the world are not so well off. Natural disasters are happening more and more often and in many cases have tremendous effects on the world economy, as recently the Financial Times described in an article about the volcanic eruption in Iceland, of which I hereby copy the intro (reply to this post and ask me for an official forward and I will try to send you the entire article!):

“(April 16^th 2010) Volcanic disruption

Pandemic flu, blizzards, volcanic eruptions: Mother Nature seems resolved to hurl grit (or fine ash) into the turbine blades of economic recovery. Disruption to international air traffic caused by a rather different Icelandic blow-up from the one 18 months ago is already the most serious since 9/11, and may outstrip it. A Sydney-based consultant, the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, forecasts that if the disturbance extends even three more days, it could affect 1m passengers, and cost airlines $1bn in lost revenues. Yet as with other recent natural phenomena, the overall economic impact may ultimately prove insignificant…”

Of course then there is the human aspect of these occurrences, not only for the people directly involved in them, but also for those that know, are related to, or have simply met them at some point. As my formerly Asia-bound colleague Beth says:

“…the tsunami that hit Sri-Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia was a disaster on a huge scale, but what struck me about it was the world response. It was the height of the Christmas season and most everyone I know knew someone who was there, heard first hand stories of the day, or had been there themselves in the past. News wasn’t just on the TV, it had happened to someone you knew, millions of first-hand stories were transmitted by word of mouth on a global scale.

I have many great memories of Thailand beach holidays, and essential to these memories are the people I met while I was there – the guys who cracked open fresh coconuts for me on the beach, the father and son who took us out in their fishing boat, the girls making seashell necklaces and running along the beach to sell them – all of these people’s faces came back to me when I heard the news, and I wondered how they were and what they lost. I think that this was the same for everyone, and that this is the reason why the world showed such solidarity. It wasn’t something just effecting international airlines and multi-national hotel chains, it was the guy who made you fresh mango juice on the beach in Ha Tien. Yes, it was all going on far away in a distant land, but it was something we could all relate to on a human scale.”

This is one of the positive effects of globalization and ever-increasing world travel, we have, and should have, an increased understanding, empathy and solidarity with our world neighbors. Tourism and travel bring great responsibility on many levels, be it related to preservation of natural habitats and heritage or simple material transactions that keep local economies moving. The way in which the world has developed means that many, many people in many countries rely almost entirely on tourism for their livelihood – if this is suddenly cut off, for example by a natural disaster, what happens to them?

In our globalized world everyone is connected, and so in turn everything that happens and how we respond has repercussions all around the world. The big volcanic dust cloud recently grounding flights across Europe, has all sorts of myriad effects on people around the world, from the plantation worker in Jamaica to the hotel cleaner in Egypt. As soon as the dust settles the world will be up and flying again, but the effects will continue to be felt, if not by you, by someone else in some distant land that you may one day travel to. This volcano reminds me of all the other disasters in recent years, of Chile, Haiti, New Orleans, Thailand, Sri Lanka… the list goes on. And it reminds me that the privileges and pleasures of travel go hand in hand with a responsibility to the people and the places that we travel to.

Our 15 minute hailstorm was an ever so small taste of the destruction that nature can wreak, and it made me realize just how small we really are, and how futile and vulnerable most of the security-net is that we try to pull up around ourselves. Without that net, how long would we hold? Because without all the 21^st century shields we reinforce ourselves and our lives with, we are pretty much useless when it comes to surviving in raw natural circumstances. I had to think about “The Road” and wondered what would happen if we had a hailstorm like yesterday’s, but for, say 1 month. …Note to self, must remember to buy batteries and enough freeze-dried food for at least 4 weeks tomorrow!

…signing off now, just got my internet, home computer network, flat screen TV and media PC working again; and it’s time for some channel surfing with a chilled beer, an ordered in pizza, the pleasant hum of the air conditioning and the already fading notion of a different reality, and how it almost bit me…

Brazil, a land of contrasts – Part 2

Dear Fellow Travelers,

Here we go with the next installment of my Northern Brazil adventure!

Pipa

The next day we left for Pipa, close to the town of Natal and some 450 km to the north of Olinda. After driving in the wrong direction again (and this time in broad day light) we thought it might come in handy to have a map of some sort. We had packed hastily for this trip (as we usually do) and some things had sadly been left behind. After several stops at gas stations, supermarkets, and other places where one might expect to be able to buy a map, we finally found one at a local pharmacy where, as it turned out, everybody buys their maps. At least that was the fact in Olinda (at the end of this journey, we stumbled upon the “Giua Cuatro Rodas”, an excellent guidebook, with all kinds of tips, directions and hotel options in the country, along with an excellent road map; so we’re all set for our next trip!). Now it became a lot easier to find our way and within no-time we entered the famous BR101 highway. The BR101 is undergoing many repairs these days, so long stretches are “en obras” (under construction), which means our trip took a little longer than expected and we arrived to Pipa after dark, yet again. Another thing we quickly came to realize is that even though we were visiting a neighboring country of our beautifully southern hemispheric Argentina, we had come quite close to the equator, and the sun here sets at 6.30pm sharp, something to take into account if you are planning a full-day’s drive.

Pipa turned out to be amazing. Lovely beaches circled by high cliffs, lagoons, Atlantic forest and dolphins. Pipa has cobbled streets and good surfing beaches, in addition to a lake full of manatees (in neighboring Tibau do Sul). It is an old hippy colony and was recently discovered by Brazil’s traveling youth. Even though the town can get a bit crowded at night it remains a beautiful little spot to relax and enjoy nature.

We spent our days here walking along one of the beaches, spotting dolphins from a small speedboat, and eating… The place was called Panela do Barro and we went back three times. Located in the heart of town, sitting on the cliff, overlooking Pipa’s central beach, their seafood Moqueca is a feast. The ways various African, Portuguese and indigenous ingredients, and cooking methods have merged through the centuries to create this wondrous dish I cannot describe, but man it was good! I really need to get that recipe, or better still, find me a good Brazilian restaurant in town… It can be said though; food in Brazil is GOOD!

Porto Galinhas

From Pipa we moved on to Porto Galinhas, which was not really worth visiting. Supposedly home to the best beach in Brazil, the town changed from a fishing village into the playground of Brazil’s rich and famous and later became a popular vacation spot for domestic travelers. The town has a questionable history as the “chicken port”, so called by the Portuguese during the time when the English started getting bossy and imposing their power to try and force the Portuguese to abolish slavery - just as the rest of the world had done before. On paper, Porto Galinhas was a port where poultry and other livestock arrived from Europe, but that was only to deceive the British; what actually came off the boats was slave trade business as usual, and it would go on like that for many more years. Today Porto Galinhas does not have too much to offer to the discerning traveler. We relaxed in one of the huge resorts there for a couple of days, but were happy to move on.

Praia do Forte

Praia do Forte on the other hand was a very nice surprise. We stayed in the Tivoli Eco-Resort, which is a pleasure in itself, and explored the surrounding area from there.

The Tamar Project (TAMAR being short for Tartaruga Marinha, Portuguese for Sea Turtle) is definitely worth a visit. The story of marine conservation in Brazil coincides with the creation of the TAMAR Program. Seventeen years ago the Federal Government, in tune with international demand and increasing environmental awareness in Brazilian society, began to adopt measures aimed at marine protection. In the beginning of the 1980s, the Brazilian Institute of Forestry Development (IBDF), created the TAMAR Program with the objective of protecting sea turtles in Brazil. The work started in Bahia (Praia do Forte), Espírito Santo (Comboios) and Sergipe (Pirambú), and was then extended nationwide. The project focused on the identification of different species, their main nesting sites, their reproduction period, and the main socio-economic problems related to the exploitation of sea turtles by the coastal residents. Technical staff spent two years traveling along the Brazilian coastline gathering information. In 1982 and 1986, SUDEPE (the Fishing Development Agency) passed regulations prohibiting the capture of all species of turtle.

From April through November one can also go out to sea to spot Humpback Whales, something that I would love to do. Unfortunately, we arrived off-season this time, but I will certainly go back one day to see these wondrous creatures.

Lencois

From Praia do Forte we decided to escape Carnaval (absolutely a great party, but a little too much with two small kids) and head for Lencois, some 450 km inland. Until 1996 this was the wild, wild, west where some 80,000 people tried their luck at discovering diamonds. Lawlessness ruled and the area was notoriously unsafe and environmentally irresponsible. Come the mid 90’s the Federal Government decided enough was enough and diamond mining in Lencois was made illegal. The area almost immediately shifted to tourism for its income, and today Lencois, and the few towns surrounding it, are the heart of the Chapada Diamantina National Park. This is a beautiful area of natural springs, waterfalls, weird rock formations, quaint little towns and large underground cave-systems that can all be visited from Lencois.

We found all ranges of accommodation in the village, but relatively few people seem to know about it, or make the decision to go there, so the whole place is very calm and tranquil. Lencois is also a place where all races seem to be living together in perfect balance (from what we saw at least) and it is throughout a very safe and pleasant place to be. We walked through the outskirts of town after dark with our two small children without ever having the feeling that we should start being careful. We have been around the block a bit in this continent, so our antennae are attuned, but here we felt perfectly at ease. Talks with locals confirmed this feeling; Lencois is one of the safest places to travel. Combine this with a great surrounding area for hiking and sight-seeing and you have one fantastic destination to add to your list of Brazil must-sees.

Happy trails,

Bart

Ps I just had a look at our webpage and came across this aptly named package to Northern Brazil visiting Salvador, Lencois and Praia do Forte - Salvador and the Beauty of Bahia

Brazil, a Land of Contrasts - Part 1

Greetings fellow travelers!

After my last brief trip to Brazil, I decided I had to go back and explore some more. So, last month I did just that - this time around I had a whole month, plus a car full of kids! Here is Part 1 of my latest Brazil adventure.

Brazil (http://www.cat-travel.com/brazil/information) is a truly developing country. There is a constant buzz about it that cannot be denied. You only need to drive along one of its main highways, such as the BR101, to realize that. Trucks, trucks and more trucks, and they’re all over the place! As we tried to get from Recife to Olinda it was still ok, but when driving north to the beautiful coastal town of Pipa it was a mad house. Unbelievable amounts of trucks, carrying anything from sugar cane to cars, entire bridges and other unidentifiable loads transported from A to B in huge bulk. I mean, they are going places, you know? This is a country on the move. No wonder they got the first two letters in BRIC…

I am not sure to what extent this busyness has to do with Lula, the current president that has done so much for Brazil’s working classes, and who has truly made a first attempt to bring the country up from a feudal landowners’ state to an industrialized nation. I have not been here long, or often enough to make that distinction, and that was one of the reasons we decided to make this trip: to get to know Brazil better, even if only a part of it.

As we do every year, Karin and I took the kids during their school vacation for a one-month inspection trip, and this time we decided to go and explore a part of the North of Brazil. So, at the end of January we flew to Recife and picked up the car we had booked for the trip. We had agreed not to stay in Recife, but drive on to Olinda all in one go. Of course we did not count on one of our connecting GOL flights being late, forcing us to take a later flight on our last stretch of the journey, arriving in Recife close to midnight. The car rental pace was still open, but by that time it was pitch dark outside. Still we had a place booked for us in Olinda and it was only a 30 minute drive away, so we decided to wing it. We immediately set off in the wrong direction, ending up on the Litoral Sul towards Salvador, where we weren’t supposed to be going until well over a week later. There are not that many signs on Brazilian roads (well actually there are lots and lots of them, but most do not seem to have anything to do with traffic), but after a while we figured out we were heading in the wrong direction and eventually found a way to turn around without causing an accident. Then, somehow, we got into the right flow of traffic and it seemed everybody was headed to Olinda. From that moment on we got a better feel of where we were as we crisscrossed the canals and rivers that thread through that part of Recife. The town was founded by the Dutch Prince Maurice (The Dutch settled in this part of Brazil for some 22 years between Portuguese occupations) and he must have been homesick for Amsterdam when he had this part of town designed. All of a sudden we were in Olinda, we drove straight through town, made one more u-turn, drove right past our hotel, hit the brakes hard, avoiding a couple of buses racing by, put the car in reverse and finally made it to our destination.

Olinda

Olinda happens to be the old capital of Brazil, and today it is a world heritage site. The town is a maze of cobbled streets, hills crowned with brilliant white churches, pastel-colored houses, Baroque fountains and graceful squares. It is a nice picturesque place with many beautiful old churches and beautifully maintained colonial houses. Walking through the old town I got the feeling of being warped back in time to the days when sugar cane ruled the world economy.

The beaches close to town aren’t the most attractive, but if you have the time go and see the ones to the north, they are much better.

On our first morning we took the car out for a spin around town to get a feel for the place. We hadn’t quite covered 300 meters when a guy almost threw himself in front of the car, standing up straight, with a commanding hand held high in the air. We kind of took him to be a cop, but he was wearing shorts and a green t-shirt, so that was odd. Against my instincts I brought the car to a halt, and the “cop” took out what I thought to be his notebook. It was in fact a map of the city, and the guy turned out to be a guide. So our second lesson was that Brazilians can be quite direct and persuasive, and one should not always automatically respond to that. Saying “nao, obrigado” (no thanks) and walking or driving on will usually do the trick. Unless you are dealing with a real cop of course, in which case it is better to stop and be cooperative. FYI, in Olinda lots of people offer themselves as city guides. Those wearing yellow t-shirts with the words "Guia Mirim" written on the back and laminated ID cards are official guides.

A third thing that comes in handy is some basic understanding of the Portuguese language as many people speak nothing but it. We only encountered extremely friendly people when asking for directions, but most of their well-meant tips and explanations, sadly passed us by, as our Spanish was not of much use either. It was fun to be in that situation again though, where you never really know for sure if you got the gist of a conversation or not. It reminded me of the time in 1997 when we were driving across the Peruvian Andes, speaking only very little Spanish and asking local peasants who only spoke the native Aymara language for directions; that combined with them being used to traveling on foot, and having a profoundly different sense of time, made us agree to ask the same set of directions over and over again until we had met at least three people all pointing in the same direction… We got lost so many times on that trip that the fact, in itself, has stopped worrying me.

Happy trails!

Bart

A short trip to Brazil…

Hi there!

Long time no news. It has been a busy year, what with launching our brand new budget adventure travel website South America Adventure Travel just last week. I’ve not really had the time to write much, let alone travel…

But, last week I finally got a chance to escape and went to Brazil for 6 days to join my long time friends from Germany, Gerd and Christel. They had been to Galapagos the week before (on the Nemo II, an excellent Catamaran for those who like to travel in style without losing the sporty element of being out on the open seas). They arrived at Sao Paulo Guarulhos Airport about 3.5 hours before me and took a day-room in the Caesar Park Hotel just 5 minutes from the Airport, to relax a bit after the night-long journey from Guayaquil.

As soon as I arrived, I picked up the car that we had reserved with Budget and went to pick them up. After a healthy breakfast (Caesar’s Burger Special with lots of black coffee) we got in the car and drove toward Paraty, some 4 hours north on the coastal road between Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. It has rained severely in almost all of Brazil for the past weeks, so we were happy to arrive in Paraty and hide ourselves in the beautiful Pousada Arte Urquijo (http://www.urquijo.com.br/english/iindex.htm) for a day or 2…

Paraty is a town with an amazing history: everything from sugar cane, coffee and tobacco to precious stones and gold, to the famous Cachaça (which the Portuguese transported to Africa to serve as a currency in the slave trade) have passed through this town over the past centuries, bringing some serious wealth and development. All this was in the past however, and for the last century the main commercial routes from Minas Gerais (where most of the country’s riches came from) to the coast ended up running through Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, leaving Paraty behind in a slowly declining colonial state.

Ironically it was these last “100 years of solitude” that put Paraty back in the spotlights about 30 years ago, when a Brazilian TV broadcasting company decided to shoot a now famous “Telenovela” (soap opera) in the, by then, almost completely forgotten town. Many Brazilians love and vigorously watch these soaps, and that was how Paraty returned to their mental map. Since it had remained virtually unchanged for so long (as our guide told us: Paraty is “preserved by poverty”), it had an excellent colonial charm and soon enough the first new explorers began to arrive from Rio and Sao Paulo to find the perfect weekend hide-out. Shortly thereafter the first investors came; old colonial structures were purchased and converted into comfortable second homes for the well-to-do of these, the two largest of Brazilian cities. The word Paraty apparently sounds like “Paradise” in French (when expressed in that beautiful language) and today most of the foreigners investing in the region come from this European country. But the editor of the famous Harry Potter books has also found a second home here, and brought with her her insatiable craving for literature, resulting in Paraty now hosting Brazil’s annual book fair and the town having some seriously well-stocked book stores!

Luckily, the place has not lost its original looks; as a matter of fact it is becoming more and more beautiful as time goes by. Paraty wants to become a part of UNESCO World Heritage and much is being done to preserve and restore the town to its original state.

Just across our lovely Pousada, Richard and Yara Roberts run their “Academy of Cooking & other Pleasures” and we were lucky enough to secure an evening with them learning how to prepare typical dishes from the Minas Gerais province. We started with a black bean soup, which was followed by a Linguiça risotto with crispy collard greens and a green salad with pumpkin seeds and Canastra cheese, and then rounded it all off with a stunning “Doce de Leite” parfait with candied banana. Yara is a famous cook and she met Richard (a former CEO of several large international companies) in Paris. Their love of the gourmet life somehow led them to Paraty where Yara purchased a house some 25 years ago - the very same place that formed the backdrop of a great evening of preparing and enjoying a wonderful meal (accompanied of course by several caipirinhas, an excellent Argentine wine and some of the best Cachaça I have tasted in years). Yara and Richard are great hosts and we had an excellent conversation that led us straight through the evening. It was not before well past midnight that we made our way back to our hotel… Yummy!

If you have a chance you should really try and book an evening with Richard and Yara; you will be mesmerized! Also, the best Cachaça in Brazil apparently comes from a place called Salinas, so make sure to look or ask for a bottle coming from there when you order; it is not exported, so you can only get it in Brazil…

From Paraty we made our way to Angra dos Reis, where we parked the car and took a private boat transfer to the Pousada Estrela da Ilha (http://www.estreladailha.com/en/index.htm) at our next destination: Ilha Grande. Wikipedia says:

Ilha Grande is an island located off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, and part of the municipality of Angra dos Reis. The island is largely undeveloped and noted for its scenic beauty, which includes tropical beaches, luxuriant vegetation and a rugged landscape.

Ilha Grande is one of the most pristine remnants of Brazil's Atlantic rainforest, one of the richest ecosystems in the world and a hotspot for biodiversity and conservation. It holds some of the largest remaining populations of many endangered species, including the red-ruffed fruit crow (Pyroderus scutatus), the brown howler monkey (Alouatta fusca), the maned sloth (Bradypus torquatus) the red-browed Amazon parrot (Amazona rhodocorytha), and the broad-snouted cayman (Caiman latirostris). The seas around the island, which are also protected, feature a unique convergence of tropical, subtropical, and temperate-zone marine life, and may be the only waters in the world where it is possible to see corals and tropical fish along with Magellanic penguins and Southern right whales.

The entire island is a protected area, with most of its territory included in Ilha Grande State Park, and the rest subject to stringent development restrictions. Small-scale ecotourism, however, is encouraged, and the island, which is road-less and off-limits to cars, features over 150 km of hiking trails connecting the handful of coastal villages and hamlets where lodging is available, to each other and to the many beaches, mountain peaks, waterfalls, and pristine forests.

That about says enough I would say, except that it is a lot more fun exploring the island when the sun is out… Instead we had almost constant rain, which sadly forced us to stay indoors most of the time. However, we had one beautiful morning when we actually glimpsed some blue skies through scattered clouds, and took a beautiful walk along the Saco do Céu Bay, along the beaches of Caxadaco and Lopes Mendes. After that we took a boat across the bay and had a marvelous lunch (yes this trip was about eating and drinking mostly…) at the restaurant “Reis Magos”, apparently one of the best places out there for excellent sea food. Afterward the owners took us back to the Pousada in a small fishing boat, and even though the weather turned terrible immediately after our little outing, our day was made already and we spent the rest of the afternoon dozing in our hammocks, overlooking the bay, perfecting the art of doing nothing…

Next day we headed back to the coast to pick up the car and make our way to Rio de Janeiro. I have been there several times, but the place does not cease to amaze me. Not sure what to write about this trip, as this time I did not really go out much (yes it was still raining…), other than that the view from the pool bar on the roof of the Porto Bay International Rio Hotel we stayed at is excellent! I will give you a short recap (again Wikipedia helps out) in case you’ve never been (in which case you have to make sure to go very soon):

Rio de Janeiro ("River of January") is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America. The city was the capital of Brazil for nearly two centuries, from 1763 to 1822 during the Portuguese colonial era, and from 1822 to 1960 as an independent nation. It is also the former capital of the Portuguese Empire. Commonly known as just Rio, the city is also nicknamed A Cidade Maravilhosa or "The Marvelous City."

Rio de Janeiro is famous for its natural settings, its carnival celebrations, samba, Bossa Nova and hotel-lined tourist beaches, such as Copacabana, Ipanema and Leblon, along with its slums. Some of the most famous landmarks in addition to the beaches include the giant statue of Christ, known as Christ the Redeemer ('Cristo Redentor') atop Corcovado mountain, named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World; Sugarloaf mountain (Pão de Açúcar) with its cable car; the Sambódromo, a giant permanent parade stand used during Carnival and Maracanã stadium, one of the world's largest football stadiums. Rio de Janeiro will host the 2016 Summer Olympics, and will be the first South American city to host the event.

The city also boasts the largest and second largest urban forests in the world: Floresta da Tijuca, or "Tijuca Forest." and (almost connected to the first) the forest in Parque Estadual da Pedra Branca, or White Stone State Park.

This trip, apart from relaxing at the hotel and having too many Caipirinhas at the bar, we had another great culinary experience; Azul Marinho (check out reviews in Fodor’s Guide to Brazil). Located at the base of one of many hotels at Arpoador (which divides the neighborhoods of Copacabana and Ipanema), this little restaurant’s kitchen has blown the minds of many. We had a feast of individual stone grilled sea food dishes, including sea bass in rock salt, lobster, giant prawns, and the like, enjoying a street capoeira show before, and a beautiful sunset towards the end of the meal. Kristofer, our half Moroccan, half French waiter, deserves special praise as he made us feel like royalty during the entire evening. If you make it to Rio one of these days and manage to go for a bite at Azul Marinho, please send him my very best regards!

And that was already the last evening with my friends in Brazil. The next morning I got up at 6AM, had a light breakfast, checked out, got the car and drove straight back to Sao Paulo. A friend met me at Guarulhos airport and we had a spectacular lunch in Café Journal (www.cafejournal.com.br/), making it pretty much the best stop-over in a long time. After that I flew back home, back to Karin and the kids, back to my real life, the life I had missed dearly, but still with a taste of Brazil in my mouth…

I just checked out our web page for some info and came across this little gem: Tropical Treasures of Rio, Paraty and Ilha Grande. Seems there is more to do, more to see, more to enjoy…

Happy trails,

Bart

http://www.cat-travel/

Memory, Photography, and Machu Picchu

Hi there to all of you. It has been a while since my last entry, but times have been and continue to be hectic, what, with the world crisis and all. More later on that boring but serious pit-bull-like subject… For now, on to more elevating stuff: www.fotomission.org!
People that know me will agree I am a lousy photographer. I actually prefer to travel without a camera, as looking at the world through a lens never was my greatest pleasure in life. I really love looking at pictures though, especially if they are good and/or about an area I have recently visited or about my past (so much has happened, so few memories) and so I am a photo fanatic nevertheless. Also, of course, travel and photography are as strongly linked as it is impossible for me to combine the two on a personal level. If it weren’t for Karin, who actually is a great photographer (most of our current best online pictures still come from her Nikon D80!), most of what we do (and sell) would have never made it to the public eye… Now that would have been a true disaster!

Travel photography of course plays an important role in a couple of our most-sold destinations: The Sacred Valley of the Incas and Machu Picchu. I have been there several times and all of my visits have been truly amazing, although tremendously different experiences:

Jan 6th, 1991, Ollantaytambo, Sacred Valley: Epiphany or Three Kings Day as it is better known in Peru. Took a cab to Ollanta to participate in the fiestas and enjoy endless quantities of “Chicha” (corn juice, fermented on human saliva additive; yummy!). Somehow made it up the fortress’ ruins and crashed out lying on one of those immense granite building blocks, only to wake up in the middle of the night from the reflective light of a huge full moon. The awe and absolute natural beauty of that moment stay with me to this day, but guess what…I had no camera!
• The only other time I have seen a moon like that was during another midnight escapade, this time to the Geysers of El Tatio in the Chilean part of the Atacama Desert in 2004. During that mind-boggling occasion I forgot to wake up Karin and, in addition to being punished for the rest of that trip, I again have no photographic evidence of what I witnessed.
Jan 10th, 1991, Machu Picchu, take 1: after a disastrously funny “San Pedro – hallucinogenic cactus experience” somewhere near a “temple of the moon”, I woke up sick, having to cancel my planned Inca Trail hike and take the train instead. Getting to see the ruins and somehow making it up to Wayna Picchu made more than made up for Montezuma’s bitter revenge. The view from up there I will never forget, but I would need to become a great painter to share it with you.
Sometime in 1995: First Inca Trail to Machu Picchu: those were the times when you could still do it yourself… so we each hoisted over 25kg of canned food, lighter fluid, cooking equipment, tents, hard liquor and yes, some cannabis on our backs and into the mountains we went. The first night it rained so hard that we literally had a small creek running through our tent. I woke up because Karin had managed to crawl on top of me in her sleep, avoiding the water from running into her sleeping bag. She slept straight through the event, but made it kind of difficult for me to forget the fact I was soaked and very, very cold. The second morning we had to climb some 2,200m (6,600ft) straight up to the infamous Dead Woman’s Pass, where Karin almost became a dead woman herself as she slipped and almost fell down a small crevasse. I’m not sure why, but I had been holding a flap on the back of her pack for quite some time already and managed to steady her before worse could happen. The images that stay with me though are those of the moss dangling in some seriously bewildering ways from the trees in the cloud forest we passed through on day 3. Fairytale type stuff, really, but still, somewhat regrettably, these images live on only in my mind.

I could go on and on, but that would be taking things out of perspective. Maybe one day I will share some of my earlier travel experiences with you, but for now, suffice it to say that sometimes it would have been great to have a camera on me with the actual knowledge on how to use it properly. Had I known the people from Fotomission years ago, I might have become a different type of traveler. Let me share with you some of their “About Us” page:

“Photography is a powerful language; it is the language of light. With it we strive to understand and shed light on the complexities of human activity, its dependence on its causes and in connection with its effects, not merely in relation to how it affects us as individuals, but our world as a whole.

No other form of communication or expression has done as much to transform our sense of self, our daily lives and our society as the photograph. Photography is probably the most influential medium of the modern era.

Fotomission is a volunteer operated non-profit organization dedicated to promoting as well as producing artistic and documentary exhibitions, publications and online presentations of significant and socially conscious photographic endeavors.

Our mission is to utilize artistic and documentary photography as a means of creating positive social change while at the same time promoting the art of photography.”



Pretty cool stuff! Take a look at the following link to get a better idea of a great tour these guys have set up and which might be a great tip for an upcoming photo-traveling experience: http://www.fotomission.org/expeditions/machu_picchu/index.html

Remember, May is a great time to visit Machu Picchu. It’s right after the rainy season and guarantees lush, green views and good temperatures, as well as good late afternoon and evening light for great picture taking. This is actually one of those gems when it comes to organized tours; well-organized, unique, very dedicated staff and great photographic memories for sure! Need I say more?
Happy Trails!
Bart