Red Mist

Statues & Self-Worth

2011-06-15T13:02:00.005-03:00

Another year, another Jesus statue. In November 2010, Poland launched their bid for the Guinness Book of Records with their 33m tall Pomnik Chrystusa Króla, Christ the King. Some people claim that it is the tallest statue of Jesus in the world, others say that the 2m high golden crown that takes it over the limit disqualifies it. Either way, the statue is a winner for the town of Swiebodzin and

Understanding Brazil – General Elections

2011-02-23T23:31:00.002-03:00

The 2010 elections in Brazil threw up many stories, some of which seemed to pass the foreign news agencies by a little. Dilma Rousseff not quite becoming Brazil’s first female president was the dominant story, while Green Party eco-warrior Marina Silva quietly impressed just about everybody with a dignified campaign and exit. She might make a bigger splash in 2014, especially if she can associate

Around Brazil – Oktoberfest Parade in Blumenau

2011-02-23T23:25:00.003-03:00

Oktoberfest in Blumenau was never top of the list for Brazilian cultural events that I needed to attend. Even with Blondie’s relatives in the area, it didn’t appeal because going to a German festival while in South America just seems wrong. I’ve been to plenty of German beer festivals and always had a fantastic time there, but they had the added advantage of being in Germany, and full of Germans,

Around Brazil – Praia do Rosa

2011-02-23T23:23:00.003-03:00

The mainland of Santa Catarina has so many fantastic beaches that it would take months to visit them all. If you only have time for one, then Praia do Rosa is as good a choice as any. As well as great surf and great scenery (including the whale watching of course), the town itself has a twinkling charm that can also be found in places such as Arraial d´Ajuda or Jericoacoara. Unlike some of the

Around Brazil – Whale-Watching in Santa Catarina

2011-02-23T23:02:00.003-03:00

The Whales are Here! Santa Catarina whale-watching season began in July with the arrival of the first three Southern Right Whales of the 2010 season. The Instituta Baleia Franca (IBF) had a little ceremony to open observation season after two adults and one calf were spotted playing around off Praias Ibiraquera and Ribanceira, between Imbituba and Praia do Rosa. Local authorities enjoyed a little

Cultural Brazil – The Alambique

2011-02-23T22:59:00.004-03:00

Você pensa que cachaça é águaCachaça não é água não Cachaça vem do Alambique E água vem do ribeirão This Carnaval Classic was my first introduction to Alambique, learning the words of a Brazilian song while dancing behind a Rio trio electrico driving along the Ipanema Beach road one sunny afternoon. I looked on maps and in guide books and couldn’t find this place from where Brazil’s famous

Tainha Time in Florianopolis

2011-02-23T22:54:00.003-03:00

One surprising fact about Brazil that doesn’t fit with our lazy Latin stereotypes is the amount that people work. Not only does everybody in Brazil do something, from those selling doces on the buses and beaches to Paulista high-rise office workers, but they do it for long hours. At home, being a student means staying in bed smoking maconha all day and not being capable of making your two hours

President Lula in Florianopolis

2011-02-23T22:47:00.004-03:00

Everybody’s favourite cuddly politician, President Lula recently visited Florianopolis and his visit was notable for a number of reasons, principally for the amount of money that the Federal and State Governments spent in relation to the visit. Lula visited one of the traditional Floripa seafood restaurants, declaring that everybody who visits the Magic Island should try the Sequencia de Camarão

Deported from Brazil? - continued

2011-02-23T22:43:00.002-03:00

In the holding bay at Guarulhos Airport, I made friends with a Brazilian who had just been deported from the US after a seven-year overstay and a few months stay under lock and key. It didn’t bode well. He had no money to catch the bus into the city. I couldn’t help him, Blondie had taken all mine, plus the cards and was running around Sao Paulo airport with a deadline of the morning flight back

Deported from Brazil?

2011-02-23T22:41:00.002-03:00

If I was one of the only happy people in Lima Airport on the start of the journey back to Brazil, with flight vouchers and a day of shopping and hotel spa under our belts to finish our Peru trip, all for free, the Gods of Travel didn’t allow me to be smug for very long. I can’t say that it was a big surprise to be honest. An outstanding fine from a previous overstay that I thought I’d paid in

Swine Flu in South America?

2011-02-23T22:40:00.003-03:00

A little insight into the Latin American psyche was possible recently during the almost non-existent Swine Flu epidemic. I don’t know if ‘stoic’ is a word that exists in Portuguese, or Spanish for that matter, but I would guess not.* There was much comedy to be found in the airports of South America during the first stages of the worldwide ‘crisis’. Returning to Brazil from Lima on the eve of a

The Best Club in Brazil…?

2011-02-23T22:33:00.004-03:00

I can boldly state, without fear of being completely wrong, that the best clubs in Brazil, perhaps even in South America, are in Santa Catarina. There is no other place that has so many clubs ticking so many of the boxes that the best clubs need to have ticked. It begins with the music of course. To have the best music, you need to have the best DJ’s. The best DJ’s in the world come to South

The Great Brazilian Animal-Off (Land)

2011-02-23T22:22:00.008-03:00

After the resounding success of The Great Brazilian Fruit-Off (thanks Dimmi), finally comes The Great Brazilian Animal-Off – solely judged on which Brazilian animal of the land I would prefer to be.Gambá 8%Small possum-like creatures that live in my roof. Keeps me awake most nights. I don´t want to kill them though.Capivara 12% Capybaras are not so rare that seeing the World´s Largest Rodent (

Understanding Brazil – Giving Directions

2011-02-23T22:20:00.001-03:00

If you’ve come across this missive by accident after hitting the interweb in search of those directions that your friend emailed, because you can’t find the way to his house, his explanations made no sense and the reference points he gave you to look out for never appeared, there’s a good chance that you are in Brazil. Maybe this should be in the ‘Ask a Brazilian’ section: Why are Brazilians so

Driving in Brazil

2011-02-23T22:17:00.002-03:00

For visitors to Brazil, there is one essential piece of advice that you need – Don’t. But if you’re going to be staying for some time, you may not be able to avoid it forever. There are a few obvious points of which you should be aware – nobody stops at red lights in the dark of the city night, they just slow; signs help for the first turn-off but then generally leave you to fend for yourself;

Understanding Brazil – Catching Flu’

2011-02-23T22:15:00.002-03:00

I watched a staggering television interview with President Lula the other night which left me worrying, in layman’s terms, about Brazil’s strong economy. With the credit crunch in the USA still squeezing the housing market and much more, Brazil’s Finance Minister smugly announced to a press conference the other week that Brazil wasn’t likely to catch a cold from the pneumonia-laden sneezes of

Understanding Brazil – Farra do Boi

2011-02-23T22:06:00.004-03:00

Crawling along the roads of Santa Catarina at Easter time, there were a couple of roadside signs that caught my attention. The first one said ‘Atençao – Comunidade Indigena´. Now your guess is as good as mine why Brazilian motorists might need a sign warning them of native people in the area. Perhaps old tribal hunting routes are still used that cross the BR101, or it has taken centuries for

Around Brazil – Garopaba

2011-02-23T22:04:00.002-03:00

Easter is traditionally a time of chocolate and crucifixion, a strange mix of pagan fertility festival and religious fervour. For me, Easter in Brazil seems to be the time that I head to the dunes and I’d like to make it an annual event after the way the previous two have been. Jericoacoara, a crucifixion, a full moon and sunrise last time, Garopaba this. The area is possibly Brazil’s surf

Understanding Brazil – Funerals

2011-02-23T21:59:00.003-03:00

The title is a little misleading, being based on the only one that I’ve been to, but my experience may help those thrown in at the cultural deep end of a Brazilian funeral, as I was recently. The first noticeable difference with a Brazilian funeral is that you had better be prepared to drop everything as soon as you hear of a death. Probably as a consequence of the heat, if somebody dies one

Bernie the Berne

2011-02-23T21:53:00.003-03:00

Warning: - this is a disgusting story and not for the squeamish. One Brazilian creature that I’d never heard of before is the Berne. They aren’t very common but many people have come across them, possibly because everybody remembers their Berne encounter. Mine came courtesy of Blondie’s sister, Go, whose apartment we were cave-sitting while she was away in Bolivia and Peru. After a month

Around Brazil – Journey to the Jungle

2008-01-19T01:28:00.000-02:00

What a time, what a place, what an experience. With no ayahuasca hangover at all, we stopped for supplies and headed for the dock. The twice weekly big boat to Manaus took an age to load. Uncle Mad had to follow us with his own little rib boat to fool the river police, big boats towing little boats being illegal in Crazy Town. He roared out of the darkness, circled Big Boat like a sheepdog with

Around Brazil – Crazy Town Ceremonies

2008-01-19T01:25:00.000-02:00

It was only a week or two but the area left on impression on four of us that will last a lifetime. We went to school, we went to church, we went driving, we went camping, and we went out on a boat. If it all sounds like a Surrey Sunday School outing, it was about as far removed from that as possible. We met the family of Uncle Mad, who bizarrely all seemed sane. He´d downsized from living with

Around Brazil – Crazy Town

2008-01-19T01:19:00.000-02:00

Uncle Mad lives in Crazy Town. When you have somebody who lives on the edge of the Amazon Jungle and thinks he owns it all, it would be stupid not to pay him a visit. It sounded like it could be an adventure. The journey there from Manaus was either a six-day boat trip sleeping with the goats, or a flight for about R80 more. Covardes that we are, we flew. Money well spent. Flying over the

Around Brazil – Manaus

2008-01-19T01:16:00.000-02:00

Most Brazilian Amazon journeys start or end in Manaus. Manaus happens to be 1500km upriver from the sea but it is still a port and has all the attributes that a port should have – water, land, goods that come in from all over the world, and that crazy air of edginess. The air of edginess had been present since some of our group had their bags slashed on the boat up from Santarem. Some couldn´

Around Brazil – Santarem & Alter do Chao

2008-01-19T01:09:00.000-02:00

Santarem is probably the second biggest port on the Brazilian section of the Amazon. After seeing all the tiny towns along the way, a proper city came as a bit of a shock. The huge grain tankers aren’t, as they regularly pass silently downriver as they head for the Atlantic. The structure that fills the containers shouldn’t be a shock but it does stand out a little from the trees.