Photos
Cabana Açu
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| Paraty to Serra dos Ongros | |||||||||||||||||||
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3rd Jun (Mon): After a refreshing 3 hours sleep I awakened to the clarion call of a football fan blowing his horn into the hotel.. knowing that the Brasil/Turkey soccor match was on I left the avid football supporters Edwardo and Cidade sleeping and went to the bar where breakfast and football was served.. Erica from the previous night was there also and too much frivolity was expressed than is natural for 7 am on a Monday morning after Brasil scored its second goal, securing the match.. I'm just glad that the bus driver had a few more hours sleep than us.. On the way to the Fazenda (farm) PonteAlta (high point or lookout) we passed many impoverished regions.. the wealthiest having small garden plots of vegies. Machinery is not used here, and when mass production/agriculture begins, things will not go well for the rural Brasilian population. Before a sumptuous lunch at the Fazenda we toured the farm (now only for tourists). It is a beautiful building with a huge grassy courtyard that was once used for drying coffee beans and is now used for weekend parties. The only reason that PonteAlta did survive the abolishment of slavery in 1888 is because certain wealthy politicians enjoyed the parties there - so there is a justification to partying! The museum in the farm was interesting (see the link on the 'Rio State Hompage' for the website), located inside the old slave quaters. The conditions were poor to say the least. I learnt something about the nice semi-circular tiles that they use for roofing in Brasil - they were made by shaping hot clay over the thigh of a slave. The ploughs pulled by the slaves were impressive also.. It seemed somewhat inappropriate that all the serving staff on the fazenda were black, but in reality it will take Brasil many years to racially stabilise, if it ever does (c.f. southern USA). The racism is present but hidden from casual observation here. The food and the interior of the farm were exceptional - a great place to unwind for a week. Along the road after leaving the farm, bananas and the white heart of the palm tree were found every 5 km or so. The heart of the palm is harvested by chopping off the top of the tree, killing it for a tasty (but un-nutritious) snack. Change for the $50 Brasilan Real is very hard to get. There is no such thing as a $20 note.. and it is comical but normal for other customers to go searching their pockets for change as the cashier looks at you dispairingly after a $15 purchase... After driving to the Serra dos Orgaos National Park (see RioState homepage for link) we were treated to a spectacular sunset over the beautiful Pousada Cabana Açu (hotel) gardens framed by the mountainous peaks of the range (serra). Again we were the only guests at the pousada so we interested ourselves in chess and watching football as the temperature (@ 2000m altitude) dropped to unreasonable levels.
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| Name: | Craig | ||||||||||||||||||
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