For The Love of Travel

Started this morning by visiting the Arcos da Lapa – an aqueduct built in the middle of the 18th century to bring fresh water from the Carioca river to the population of the city. It is an impressive example of colonial architecture and engineering.

Since the end of the 19thC, the aqueduct has served as a bridge for a popular tram that connects the city centre with the hillside community of Santa Teresa and it’s an awesome way to travel to see a struggling but proud bohemian and artistic community parading its wares…was briefly tempted by some brightly painted bolsa wood parakeets…..but didn’t give in!

Some restoration of buildings happening.  Locals are trying to attract hospitality custom from other areas in Rio and I was very glad I found Aprazivel, a gorgeously positioned hillside restaurant, across tiered tree houses with views to Rio. Yummy food as well.

Next, back down to central Rio to see the Selaron stairs, the 1990 work of Chilean- born artist Jorge Selaron, who claimed it as his tribute to the Brazilian people. 215 steps covered in over 2000 tiles collected from over 60 countries. Amazing.

Municipal Theatre, on a square called Cinelandia, this eclectic style building opened its doors in 1909 clearly inspired by Paris’ Opera Garnier. Loved the rooftop garnishes especially. 

Taking the train up the Corcovado mountain is fantastic, you go through forest, see capuchin monkeys and then you get to the top for 360 degree views over Rio…well almost…lots of cloud action happening when I arrived at 16.30. But the sun was shining over Rio’s buildings, which was good. Stunning scene!! 

Thank you for bearing with my blogs during the Olympics phase! You must be totally volleyballed out! Now for more standard touristy fare…

Today, I’m visiting a couple of museums in the Port area. Firstly the Museum of Tomorrow.  Built next to the waterfront at Pier Maua, it presents the findings of contemporary sciences in real time about our eg. energy consumption, climate conditions, forest degradation, population patterns, species extinction ….to open up discussion on the many different future scenarios that may result in the next 50 years from the choices we now make each day. The museum was designed by Spanish neofuturistic architect Santiago Calatrava, it’s solar spines and fan-like skylight allowing the building to adapt to changing environmental conditions. Fabulously interactive museum that wows kids and adults alike. A must if you are visiting Rio.

I walked a couple of kms to see Brazil’s graffiti artist Eduardo Kobra’s creation…a larger-than-life work for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. The 3,000-square-metre mural titled Etnias (Ethnicities), depicts Indigenous faces from the five continents, and was created at Porto Maravilha in Rio. An image from the wall…..Next to the Museum of the Art of Rio (MAR), I went to specifically see the most expensive Brazilian art work, ‘Abaporu’, which is now displayed at this museum but came across the ‘Body Discourses’ exhibition as well, which takes as its starting point the body of the people who live in the city in order to bring into discussion social identity. I loved this image – beach, sea and kids having fun, very Cariocaresque!

On 11 January 1928 the Brazilian artist Tarsila do Amaral presented a painting to her husband, the writer and intellectual Oswald de Andrade, for his birthday. Amaral described the painting, which Andrade would later entitle ‘Abaporu’, or ‘person who eats,’ as: ‘a monstrous figure, with enormous feet planted on the Brazilian earth next to a cactus.’ The composition: one man, the sun and a cactus – inspired Oswald de Andrade to write the Anthropophagite Manifesto and consequently create Anthropophagic Movement, intended to “swallow” European culture and turn it into something culturally very Brazilian. Scholars have long acknowledged Abaporu as a crucial work in Amaral’s career.

 

As I walk to my metro station each day, there seems to be a juice bar (sucos) on every third block of my street,  their glass counters crammed with stunning displays of fruit and their menus listing countless varieties of sucos, freshly squeezed juices and juice blends, and vitaminas, juice-based smoothies and juices with supplements. And drinking a juice seems to be a daily ritual for Cariocas. 

Most sucos are served straight or with a little mineral water, if it’s an especially fibrous fruit. As Cariocas are very health conscious, they also love their supplements and vitaminas are hugely popular – the healthiest and most popular drink is the vibrant purple-coloured açaí (pronounced ah-sai-eeh), made from Amazon palm fruit that is blended with honey or sugar, banana, and sometimes nuts, and you will see everyone drinking this.

The orange people were out in force to support their women’s team. A raucous couple behind me…Exciting to see the women’s playoff for the Bronze medal this afternoon, USA vs NETHERLANDS.  It was a good match but neither of the teams were totally firing on all cylinders, so there were quite a few unforced errors, serves out or into the net. Both coaches looked exasperated at times. I thought no 4 for Netherlands, Celeste Plak,  played the most consistent game out of all the players on court. But USA won the Bronze!

Scary getting into Maracanazihno stadium later tonight…there was a huge football crowd leaving the larger stadium next door following a football match and there was no separation of people flow coming/going to the metro station…lots of police, militia, but no-one taking responsibility for sorting out the crowd. Was glad there was no issue on the 40m scaffold stairway!! 

My first ever experience of watching volleyball teams playing for gold..woo hoo..here’s a copy of the expensive ticket that gave me that opportunity.

Huge contingent of Chinese supporters evident tonight for their women’s team game with Serbia to establish silver and gold medals.

It started at 22.15!  Serbia won the first set convincingly and then lost its mojo somehow…serves and spikes out of court; little communication so the ball embarrassingly fell on the court or 2 players bumped into each other going for the same ball. My fave player Brankica wasn’t firing on all pistons either. Disappointing overall given their previous superlative matches. China won GOLD deservedly. And the crowd went wild!!!