Recent Adventures

It was billed “The Disneyland of Robots.” I thought it was quite a name to live up to as we headed out of Campinas a few weeks back for a weekend adventure. And yet, in a very bizarre way, it did. Well, it wasn’t quite Disneyland. In fact, it was in essence some guy with a large house who has been collecting odd trinkets for the last 40 years or so and has turned his house into a virtual museum. There were robots that he had pieced together that played tennis, others that rode bicycles, and the requisite (to the delight of a 5-year old) fire-breathing robot dinosaur. But it wasn’t the robots that saved this place from disappointing, but the trinkets. There were all sorts of things: old fashioned phones, pinball machines, Egyptian mummy tourist glitz, magazine articles (oddly focused on youth), a running waterfall, and even a 5 story tower all crammed inside every nook and cranny of this place. Many of the objects were covered with dust of the 30+ years that they’ve been in the house – quite an experience.

Last week we headed out of Campinas to the East coast near Salvador. We visited a Turtle rescue center in a small beach resort village called Praia de Forte. Unfortunately the weather was not in our favor, lots of rain and howling wind. We did see some nice Turtles, but after a few days of getting waterlogged we headed back to Salvador.

From Salvador we headed east to Morere. How do you head east from the East coast? You take a 1-hour ferry across the bay, a 2-hour bus ride down the peninsula, and 1-hour ride in a 15-foot speedboat across a very rough intercoastal channel to an island called Boipeba. In Boipeba, a tiny (~2,000 person) island village, one of the local 10 or 12-year old boys will meet you at the boat dock and offer to carry your luggage in a wheel barrel the 0.5 kilometers across the town to the tractor park. Cars are not allowed on the island, but tractors are for farming purposes. So, the last part of our journey was in a cart pulled by a tractor, across the final 5 or so kilometers of sand dune that separates Boipeba and Morere.

Morere was an interesting place. Very remote and really beautiful. We had a mix of rain and sun. Unfortunately the rain drowned our camera so we have few pictures but we made up for it in video. The whole town only has 250 residents and a half dozen or so restaurants. Many of these were actually set up on someone’s porch, with the family cooking you dinner out of their kitchen. We had to “suffer” by surviving on the local fare, which primarily consists of fish, shrimp, lobster or octopus cooked in a stew with coconut milk and vegetables (Yum! But the kids survived on grilled cheese sandwiches).

After Morere we spent an overnight in Salvador. Salvador is very Brazilian– bustling, beach-y, and beautiful. The historical part of the city features a great market where you can buy all sorts of local crafts and artwork.

And the streets of the historic district are lined with picturesque, small houses painted in every shade of pastel.

Johnny (in the picture above) has taken after either his uncle Val or uncle Charlie, depending on who you ask. No matter where we go, he always lags a bit behind searching. He is constantly combing the streets for treasures and the payphones for change. In addition to the many bolts, wires, and other “treasures” he digs up, he has found R$15.50 to date across various locations. If this keeps up, I may be able to retire early.

Boipeba Bound....

Well, we are off to the beach today.  Bahia, that is.  In many ways, this trip has been a long time coming, as I have been dreaming about Bahia since I first read Jorge Amado's Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon when I was 17.  We'll be visiting the city as well as a beach town 50 km north, Praia do Forte, but the largest part of our trip will be spent on an island called Boipeba.  While it is by no means a 'secret' spot (see the NYT article, below, published last spring), it is somewhat complicated to get to, without much to do besides enjoy the splendor of nature - so it is off the beaten path, which makes it perfect for us.  We will be arriving through a combination of bus, ferry boat, another bus, speedboat, wheelbarrow (for the luggage, not us - to get across the beach) and tractor (no cars on the island).  Sounds wonderful!

We'll try to update as we go!

March 11, 2011

Near Salvador, Brazil, a Paradisiacal Place to Disconnect

By ANDREW JACOBS

WITH the phone to his ear and a look of exasperation on his face, it was safe to assume that Charles Levitan was chasing yet another would-be guest from his fuss-free collection of whitewashed cottages on Boipeba, a lushly untrammeled island off the coast of Brazil. “No, we don’t have televisions in the room,” he said. “No, we only have fans.” The impish grin on his face suggested the prospective guest had been satisfactorily dissuaded.

It’s not that Mr. Levitan enjoys losing customers. But over the last few years, as this remote island near Salvador, the capital of the state of Bahia, has gained increasing cachet, he has learned that it is better to have empty rooms at Pousada Santa Clara than peevish guests complaining about Boipeba’s erratic electricity, its absence of motorized transport or the nonexistent night life.

“If you can’t live in the moment, this isn’t the place for you,” he said one morning during my visit last year, seated at the front desk and looking slightly frazzled after enduring weather-related queries from a French doctor. “If you need to constantly know the weather forecast, you might want to go somewhere else.”

Boipeba may lack glamour, but it compensates with ridiculously perfect weather and the kind of vacant, palm-shrouded beaches that make you forget about the pleasures of air-conditioning. For those needing more diversions, there is a rare swath of unmolested Atlantic rain forest to be explored, acres of coral reef and picturesque colonial-era villages where the fish you glimpsed during your afternoon snorkel could very well end up on your dinner plate.

Although there are regular flights from Salvador, whose intoxicating mix of African, European and native Indian cultures would be reason enough to visit this part of the world, most visitors still arrive the old-fashioned way: a four-hour trip by ferry, bus and speedboat. Once docked at Velha Boipeba, a cobblestoned hamlet that’s home to the bulk of the island’s 1,600 residents, most guests trudge their way across the beach to one of three dozen guesthouses, a number that has been growing each year. It is not a venture for the high-heeled Jimmy Choo set.

Oddly enough, many who depend on tourism are more than happy to dissuade some travelers from visiting Boipeba, an ecologically fragile haven for the armadillos, nesting sea turtles and abundant sea life that thrive in the tangle of mangrove that gives the island its decidedly green tint.

“If I could freeze the island just as it is now, that would be perfect,” said Miguel Rosas Dos Santos, a 47-year-old tour-boat operator who is almost wistful for the days, circa 1985, when Boipeba had no mail, phone service or electricity, and no accommodations, save a handful of rustic huts. “Everyone loves the money flowing, but too many tourists will ruin the place.”

Such existential ruminations are commonly heard at Pousada Santa Clara, which is run by Charles Levitan, his brother Mark, and Charles’s partner, Matias Mulet. Their richly landscaped pousada, which manages to be at once stylish, intimate and a ridiculously good deal, is almost always full with a coterie of returning guests and old friends who sometimes stay for weeks on end.

Charles, 55, the older of the Levitan brothers — there is a third living in Israel — handles the logistical and financial aspects of Santa Clara. Mark’s dominion is the kitchen, where he concocts inventive dinners that lean heavily on the island’s produce: seafood, mangos, coconut milk and the red fruit of the dende palm. In addition to being the chef at the pousada’s thatch-roofed restaurant, his other talents reveal themselves in the meticulously coiffed landscaping and the fanciful Gaudí-esque tile work that graces Santa Clara’s twisting pathways.

The two brothers discovered Boipeba in 1999, when its tourism industry was still nascent. Mark was visiting Charles — then working as a tour guide in Salvador — and they took a side trip to Boipeba. They arrived during a rainstorm in the dark of night, but it didn’t take long before the brothers were smitten. “We thought of buying a little beach house and the next thing you know, we were negotiating to take over this awful, broken down pousada that the previous owner had given up on,” Charles said.

They opened in the winter of 2001 with six rooms, although with no phone service guests would just show up and hope for the best.

In the ensuing decade, regular boat service and telephones arrived, and Santa Clara added five rooms; more recently, the brothers grudgingly installed wireless Internet, mostly to relieve themselves from the annoyance of guests who would beg to check their e-mail at the front desk computer.

Most of the island’s accommodations are arrayed along the beachfront, where the ferries dock, or up the hill in Velha Boipeba, where guesthouses are salted among the homes of local residents. Scattered across the island, seven miles at its widest, are a number of other guesthouses where the beaches are blessedly empty but a mere 20-minute walk to the civilizing sustenance of Velha Boipeba.

While the pousadas range in size and quality, there are not, at least yet, large hotels or all-inclusive resorts. Fishing forays, snorkeling tours and lazy daylong boat rides are mom-and-pop operations that can be arranged by your hotelier, with whom you will invariably be on a first-name basis.

In recent years, the island has undergone a modest transformation. There are now nearly two dozen restaurants and the crush of tourists during Brazilian holidays can give Velha Boipeba a slightly honky-tonk feel. Although American tourists are still relatively rare, the island has been discovered by Europeans — Italians, Germans and the French — a few of whom have stayed on to open pousadas.

Perhaps the most momentous change came five years ago, when Boipeba began receiving flights from Salvador, although a jaunt in a 30-year-old eight-seat prop plane is not for the tremulous.

IN 2007, Petrobras, the Brazilian energy giant, began drilling for natural gas off the coast, which is not visible from Boipeba’s beaches but has nonetheless caused great alarm among environmentalists. It also had an unexpected impact on the locals, inspiring a newfound appreciation for their island’s fragile habitat. (As part of the deal, Petrobras built a modest environmental center and provides stipends to local fishermen whose catches are occasionally reduced by fish kills that some blame on the drilling.)

Even if the arrival of satellite TV and high-speed Internet means that local teenagers spend more of their time inside, the rhythms of daily life, for visitors at least, remain unchanged. The 12 miles of empty and pristine beaches remain, well, empty and pristine, and the trails through the tropical forest can be hiked without passing another soul.

The more ambitious can horseback ride or snorkel out to the reefs. My own predilection is to take what I call the hedonist express, a speedboat that hopscotches from the floating oyster bars — where 15 reais (about $9.25, at $1.63 reais to the dollar) buys a dozen freshly yanked from the sea — to a spit of sand, visible only at low tide, where two enterprising friends named Washington and Jefferson serve passion fruit caipifrutas.

“Sometimes I think of leaving here, but then I have a day like this and the thought goes out of my mind,” said Matias, 47, as the boat purred along the coast, passing a pastel blue 17th-century church and the endless greenery of coastal mangrove swamps.

From time to time Charles and Mark also toy with the idea of leaving. Running an inn can be taxing, they say, and there are social limitations to island life. But a larger consideration is what impact the creep of development will have on their beloved Boipeba. All three men say they can’t imagine staying if the place turns into Morro de São Paulo, the resort town on an adjacent island that was once as idyllic and untouched as Boipeba but is now overrun with sunburnt carousing holidaymakers. “I hope it doesn’t happen, but I can’t really talk since I came here and opened a business,” Mark said.

Even if environmental laws offer Boipeba a measure of protection, such a fate is not hard to imagine. Some locals fear what might happen if a 4,200-acre chunk of the island, on the market as a potential “eco resort,” is sold to developers.

“I haven’t worn shoes in almost 30 years, and even June in New York feels cold to me,” Charles said, only partly in jest. “I’m not quite ready to throw in the towel.”

Carina

Something amazing has happened to Carina down here - she seems to be growing up at high speed.  I don't know how it's happening...she eats little more than bread, cheese and jam.  In fact, I wanted to share with you her typical plate when we go out to one of the many buffet restaurants near us:

Bread, plain spaghetti (no green flakes, please), fries, scrambled eggs and maybe a little bit of chicken. I do admire her color consistency.  Thank goodness most restaurants that offer 'a vontade' (fixed price for all you can eat) don't charge for children.  Those of you who knew her well back home will recall that she's never been much of an adventurous eater, so not much has changed.  We try hard to be patient and creative as to how she gets her calories, but there are definitely days when a granola bar is the most nutritious thing she eats.

Nonetheless, she's growing....fast.  Many of the dresses we brought with us in early August now fit like miniskirts.  It's quite possible that she hasn't gained any weight, she's just...stretched out.  She has these crazy long legs now.....take a look at this picture I took during one of our evening walks (yes, she chose this outfit for the walk....and yes, we due tend to get some funny looks - fortunately, Brazilians are pretty indulgent when it comes to children):

And she is fierce.  Brazilians who have seen her in action call her 'brava', which translates as 'mad' but also something closer to strong or wild in spirit.  There's not much that Carina is afraid of.  If John is reluctant to ask a grownup for something or confront another kid on an issue, Carina is often the one to push past him and get the job done.  Without hesitation.

It is difficult to remember that she is only three, so indomitable is her will.  Sometimes I think my job as her mom is to help her somehow learn to focus that will, so that she is struggling to fight against hatred and injustice throughout the world, rather than just go to school without underpants.

Before I had children, I imagined my role would be to guide them daily and instill basic life lessons: you know: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, citizenship...blah blah.   And some days, I feel I'm really accomplishing all that.  Other days, though, I just have to laugh because it's apparent that Carina has the reins and she's running headlong as fast as she can, and it's all the rest of us can do to just keep up with her.   She is who she is and she's pretty well always been that way.

She and John have become very close during our time in Brazil - they are each other's constant playmates.  They don't have individual friends or school time alone here the way they did in Connecticut.  Most of the time they get along pretty well, and when Carina gets in an especially crazy mood John will often sit back and chuckle and say something like, 'that sister of mine sure is kooky'.  She loves to ham it up for him.  Occasionally, though, she crosses the line and he'll shout out the most grave insult of all, 'You're the worstest sister of all; I'm not going to invite you to my birthday party'.  Ouch!

Carina getting a little bit carried away hugging John on the horse (they both have swim caps on their heads...don't ask).

She is also pretty fearless when it comes to bugs and creepy crawlies (remember, she got the cockroach out of the house).  She likes to find these fat caterpillars around here and keep them crawling around for awhile, much to the amazement of our neighbors and others in the street.  I definitely get the impression that in Brazil, little girls are not often encouraged to be comfortable with these things.  In fact, shockingly, it's not uncommon to see really young girls ...like 4 or 5 wearing makeup!  Carina will often try to get John in on the action and, while he likes to observe, he is not much of a toucher and will respond with a polite 'no, thank you', at which point whatever it is back on her shoulder or wherever and walk on.

Besides growing, her looks are changing too, with a little help from her brother.  Sometime in early September, we all went out one Saturday afternoon for haircuts.  Carina was planning to have hers trimmed (first time ever) but once we got there decided she really didn't want to.  We didn't push the issue, though I was hoping she would change her mind and we could go another day.  Several weeks later, while Anthony was in Rio Branco, the kids were playing upstairs and I was cooking dinner when I hear John yell 'Mommy, mommy, great news...I cut Carina's hair'.  I know nearly all parents have a story like this but initially it scared the hell out of me.  Doubly so when he came bounding down the stairs, smiling happily, with two fistfuls literally full of Carina's hair.  My God!   And he did it with those little blunt-edged kid scissors!

So, a very strict talk with John and Carina that included something like this:
John: But you got your hair cut...
Me: Yes, but that was done by professionals who go to school for a long time to study how to cut hair properly so that no one gets hurt.
John:  Yeah, but see, now I don't even have to go to school, because I already cut her hair and no one got hurt.
Me: That's different.
John: Why?
Me: Just don't ever cut anyone's hair again, ok?

Carina cried initially because I was angry with them, but was soon back to hamming it up, and I had to admit (to myself, of course) that it didn't look half bad.

A few days later, she asked to go to the cabaleiro's and have it 'fixed'.  I took her to the little neighborhood spot up the street where all the ladies go to get their curlers set and their toes done (no DVD players in this joint).  She was a huge hit - the whole place pretty well came to a stop to watch Carina as the various grandmother-types fawned over her.  When the haircut was finished, she told me she wanted her nails done and with a great show of indulgence, the technician gave Carina her first-ever manicure, even allowing her to choose different colors for each nail!  You have never seen a three year old sit so still, concentrating...following all the directions...asking what each of the steps was for.  And so proud of the final result.  Hilarious!

The technician refused to take the $10 cost of the manicure...so sweet.

I wanted to share another one of my favorite pictures...this is one of John and Carina's best friends from school.  His name is Neuquen and we just love his mom and dad (Argentine and Mexican) so we've had plenty of playtimes with Neuquen.   He's got a healthy respect for Carina because she won't let him get away with anything.  A short while after this happy shot was taken, Neuquen took a shovel she had been using and wouldn't give it back, so she took a giant leap right onto the sandcastle he was building.  Pretty funny.

Best for last...these two pictures pretty well sum up Carina.  One moment, the sweetest thing you could imagine and the next, well...I know for a fact that she only picks her nose because we tell her not to.

Daddy's home...

Daddy's back! He flew in at around midnight on Saturday, so it was a great surprise for the kids on Sunday morning. They were so excited to see him and took him all around to show him the things we've been up to in the weeks he was away.

Sunday was cool and cloudy for the first time in a long while - we've had a huge heat wave for the last few weeks, or perhaps it's just the start of spring here. Wealso got rain, for the first time in 33 days. We really needed it, as everything is so dry and dusty and there are fires around town every day.

The weekends really are great here because Brazilians are all about rest and relaxation and eating. Sundays are definitely not for catching up on shopping (most everything is closed) and forget about going to the gym - it doesn't even open on Sunday. So, Brazilian-style, we enjoyed a lazy day with Anthony - we drove out to a fazenda (farm) on the outskirts of the city for a long, leisurely lunch and afternoon of play.

The place we went is pretty typical for this area - open only for lunches on Saturday and Sunday, it is an old coffee plantation up in the hills with horses for riding and trails for exploring. There is a fixed price buffet cooked over an old wood fire complete with the grilled meat churrasco and there is a LOT of great food to choose from. Typically, much beer is consumed with the meal, which is eaten outside at tables sprinkled around the veranda or under various trees in the courtyard. There are lots of activities for the kids, including a playground (really old-school), horseback rides, zip line, fishing pondand, of course, avisit with the farm animals. Families and friends come in big groups, sitting at tables of ten or twenty. The adults eat on and on, while the kids run around with their shoes off having a great time and getting really dirty. Then the menhead off for one of the many hammocks hanging around thefarm and alittle post-lunch nap. Or some of them start up a little futebol match.

Although it was raining after lunch, John and Carina really wanted to ridethe horses. While they were out on the trail, they spotted someone else on the zip line and they really wanted to try that. John went on his own - no fear - and Carina went down on the line with Anthony. They both loved it and we got some great video.

All in all, lots of fun and a great way to spend Anthony's first day back home.

the kids getting ready for their zipline adventure

the kids on their horseback ride...it was raining at this point but it didn't bother them at all. Not too sure about the teenager leading them on the trail - she didn't seem too happy about it all.

John hanging out...er, getting into the swing of things (sorry)

the inside of the old fazenda was beautiful

Mommy and CC relaxing (sort of)
John and a friend - told you the playground was old-school