Years of Poems and Spirits

Did the Rio city tour during the day and attended a dinner-and-show performance in the evening.

The city tour started with a trip to the statue of Christ on Corcavado. We boarded a Swiss-made train up to the mountain top—reminded us of Interlaken. Along the way, there were many jack fruit trees (榴莲), said to be the stinkiest fruit ate by man. They were imports from SE Asia. Now they are taking over the landscape like weeds according to our guide.

The status is huge (38 meters tall). But other than that, there is little worth mentioning (except the head was made in France maybe). There was a mass on the shaded side when we visited. People were really serious.

Next, the bus took us around the city. We fell in sleep again in the warmth of the Rio sun. When I woke up, the bus stopped at the Carnival parade route. Next up was one government building after another. Then there was a very modern-looking church where John Paul did mass here on his two visits to Brazil.

Although Brazil is the most Catholic country in the world (90% of the population), it by no means has an orthodox Catholic culture: from style (the samba dances) to substance (contraception), Brazil could easily be a dissenting force within the Catholic universe. JPII was used to preaching in churches modeled after those in old Europe. When he arrived in Brazil, preaching in such a distinctively modern building, I wonder how he felt at that time. Was he worried or concerned that not having the familiar surrounding could diminish his overall influence (especially that at subconscious level)? Did he expect more surprises? It is interesting to find out what the Brazilians presented to His Holiness—the conforming side or the real Brazilian one.

In the night, we attended a dinner and show event. There was a group of people from South Africa on board. They were late and loud—could very well be some rich Chinese in Thailand or Malaysia.

The tour bus passed in front of some of the slums in the south. Because the houses are on the side of the mountain and it was dark, when the bus turned a corner, it was as if suddenly a piece of sky was lit by electric lights dense yet randomly arranged. It was an awesome sight.

The show was more impressive than the one we saw in Iquacu. My impression of the performance:
1. They are very African: the prominent drum plays, the music and the dances all remind me of the few African dance footage I have seen before.
2. There is a lot in common between some of the drum and whistle play and American high school marching bands’ performances.
3. Most of the performers, with a few exceptions, are black.

The flight left with minimal delay. It looks like the worst is over. Our next stop is Rio de Janeiro. When the plane slowed down to land, we looked out the side windows: the lash green land is once again waiting for us. Our guide is a tall young man, he drove us to the hotel and told us that Rio is divided by a mountain range into two sections: the slum north and the rich south.

Indeed, the north side (closer to the airport) of the mountain is covered by small red-bricked houses that are connected at all-sides to others like beehives. The highway then passes through a tunnel right under the fame Christ statue on the Corcovado (Portuguese for hunchback) mountain. Once coming out of the tunnel, it is a very different world: sky scrapers lined up the well manicured avenues; Highway becomes live with intersections, bypass bridges and traffic signs as if inviting drivers to diving into the neighborhood. There is a lagoon with a floating Christmas tree in the middle and parks all around its bank. This is the Rio known to the world prior to City of God.

Hotel staff recommended a nearby restaurant for lunch. Another BBQ place of course but meats there are less well-done and more tasty. Again it is buffet style. It looks like the most popular form of eating in Brazil. At least half the meals we had in Brazil were in buffet style. I am sure if beef can be made to come out of a fountain, the Brazilians would gladly have it.

Visited a jeweler, H Sterns, in the afternoon. Brazil is one of the largest diamond and gem stone producers in the world. The workshop tour was short but the sales pressure was intense.

We came back from the tour very tired. We thought we were taking a nap in time for dinner but when we woke up, it is already the next morning.

We arrived in Manaus, the capital city of Amazonia state. Manaus has a very interesting story: it was a boom town for about three decades after Europeans found use for rubber. However, a canning Englishman smuggled (or transported under false pretense) some rubber tree seeds out to SE Asia. Manaus soon declined as a result.

However, during the dream-like thirty years, the city built a grand church, an opera house, libraries and other public facilities. Except a few electronic cables, the opera house was built entirely by Europeans—not only all the materials but even the construction workers. The public markets were designed by Eiffel and were modeled after those in Paris.

Today, the city lives on light manufacturing (electronics and motorcycles, etc.) and tourism. Most of the industrial materials are shipped in and out through the Amazon River. But there is only one highway linking the city to the outside world.

Our guide, Milton, is quite knowledgeable about the city and the River. He looked tired because his neighbor partied all night, but we talked more as the tour went on. He said Brazil was known for its sex industry. Many foreigners came for hedonistic activities. According to Milton, the picture was often exaggerated: there was no organized sex tourism. He did say the guides often act like pimps depending on their clients. I remember Andre kept referring to his Swiss American client as a “fucker”. Now I know what he meant.

We boarded on a boat to tour the “Meeting of the Rivers”. It is where the Negro River flows into the Amazon River. Each is a large river but with very different characteristics. Negro is of solid black color (more minerals less sediments), warmer and slower. Amazon is the opposite. So where the two river meets forms a clear black and white demarcation line. The muddy materials in the Amazon turns and rolls along the line liking clouds in the sky. The line is as wide as the river itself and is almost like a runway where tour boats lining up one after another.

Afterwards, we checked into the Tropical Hotel. Milton told us it is the best in town. But I found it at best a second tiered one in sophistication. It is a very large hotel and very expensive too. It also has a mini-zoo where we saw Amazon jaguar (onca) for the first time. It is a beautiful animal. I could never forget my first impression of it. But all it does is staring across a cage-full of its favorite prey, capivara (guinea pigs) or pacing in circles in the small cage.

Just as curious as the wild animals are the middle class visitors to the hotel: almost all white, spend freely and certainly know how to enjoy themselves (the pool in the hotel creates artificial waves). Most hotel staff could only manage a few English words. It looks like most of the hotels patrons are local gentries. In the lobby, there is framed collection of celebrity autographs: from Kissinger to Japanese royalties to Lady Diana. Knowing the most celebrated “Jane” once shared the same thinning red carpets with a low-life me, I felt that there is equality after all.

We took a nap in the hotel and left for airport at midnight. The flight is at 2:45. We don’t know what to expect.