Cachoeira II: Cigar Factory and the town at night

14 Nov 2009

We crossed this long bridge which is historical in its own right. It was the first metal bridge in Brasil I was told.
We arrived at this famous hand-made cigar place. Cuba is not the only one famous for cigars.

I went out to a little sample garden they have there with several different tobacco plants. They also had these little potpouri-like mounds of different tobacco mixtures and they really smelled amazing!

We were able to see all the different processes that go into making cigars.





Up to the final product! Fred /Fredgy/ our tour-guide and professor holds two out to show the difference.
They had some complimentary coffee, and of course I couldn't refuse.
Many of my friends bought cigars for their parents or partners. We all found it interesting that on the cases of all of these cigars as well as cigarettes that we've seen around, are graphic pictures of deformed fetuses that have been aborted because of smoking. A more lighthearted one is a picture of a man covering his private parts portraying erectile dysfunction also to give the message that these are possibly effects of smoking.
So watch out!




Back near our nunnery my friends and I went out to check out the town. We saw a man painting the hooves of the bull behind me. getting ready for the party of the town's patron saint. Festa de nossa senhora d'ajuda. The sign below "preserve the party of our patron saint and our memory. Play in peace"
Right in that area we met this man with a little boy and a baby in his arms. We started talking about plants somehow. The dad said that this baby loves plants, that he reaches for leaves on trees and grabs them gently to not bruise or rip them. Which really got my and Debbie's attention because she was currently doing research on medicinal plants in Bahia, and he had quite a bit of knowledge about them. He told us he had some at his house and he could bring us some tomorrow. I thought it was a very different feel being in this small town compared to the big city Salvador, he was just so confident he'd run into us again tomorrow and just his way of interacting was definitely a small town feel.

It just got dark as we sat on the edge of a river talking and talking about our days, plans, experiences, hopes and dreams haha.
Then we went out in search of some snack because my friends and I (luckily I'm not the only one for once) were concerned about the whole waking up at 4AM to start the party and not having breakfast offered until 7AM. So we wanted to buy some snacks. I had already finished all the food my mãe made for me.
We had our first encounter with the type of convenience store that doesn't let you in to look around. There was a counter and beyond it you could see everything in the store but you couldn't go in, you just asked for what you wanted and they brought it to you.
We got some amendoim japonese. (japanese peanuts) and yogurt drinks and those big garrafas de agua (water bottles).
We were tired and ready to sleep. On our little convent beds. I somehow felt like I was in the bear house of Goldie locks and the 3 bears.

The shiza really is Bananas!

There are a lot more varieties of Bananas here in Brasil. Okay well first to clarify a misconception that many people have: it is NOT because there bananas originated in South America. Regardless of the “Banana Republic” and how much Chiquita Banana has tied bananas to the Americas—Bananas are not from the Americas.
There is still some debate but they appear to have come from East Asia and Oceania but shortly afterwards made their way to Africa where they thrived as well. But those bananas weren’t the sweet yellow bananas most of us are familiar with. Those were red and green and much like plantains in that they had to be cooked.

That yellow, sweet banana:
was a mutation actually, found by a Jamaican guy in 1837 who was on a banana farm and noticed that one tree was bearing some weird yellow fruit. It was super exciting because this banana could be eaten just like didn’t have to be cooked or anything. And then there was an explosion of this “exotic” fruit and now it is the fourth most cultivated food in the world.


These are some Bananas-da-terra (banana of the earth/dirt), which is that plantain I was talking about. These need to be cooked in some way to be good, kind of like a potato. Which is really interesting because in French patato is pomme-de-terre which is literally apple of the earth/dirt. So cool!

My mom likes to fry them like pictured above in butter or dendê oil. They're great just like that but sometimes she'll add them to a rice pilaf or cuzcuz one of my favourite things in the world. Or she will boil them with their peel and all and then cut them in half sometimes eat them on a cracker with light (pronounced lye-chee) cheese on them. They’re great like that too.

The other 4 most common in Brasil are the banana-prata (silver), banana-ouro (gold), the banana-maçã (apple), and banana-d’agua (water banana), the last one being the most familiar to United Statians.

This above is the closest to the one in the states I guess. But notice they’re smaller and stubbier looking. I think this is the either the banana-prata or one of the less common ones, but very common in my family. It is a very sweet banana but not sweet in a sugary way, in a fruity way. Also kind of small or short at least and it’s definitely gotten me into bananas again.
My mae likes to eat one after every meal (obviously with knife and fork). My host father likes to eat it with his beans, and my sisters like to cut it up and kind of mash powdered formula into it. They love that powdered baby formula. It does taste pretty good. I had to try it.

They also make this banana dessert once in a while with a water, sugar, cinnamon sticks, and a couple of whole cloves:



This one is a different kind. I think it looks like a miniature plantain because of the shape. It’s not smooth but bulky, and it’s triangular but I couldn’t classify it under the more common ones either.

But you peel it and the banana is soo skinny. The banana surprised me. I guess it’s just the peel that’s really thick. Very deceiving. muahahah


Then I know for sure that this is the Banana Maçã (apple banana) [above]. This one is very small and sweet but it’s called the apple banana because it tastes a little like an apple. I don’t know about the history of this one though, I don’t know if it is cross bred or whatever. Does anyone know?

Street Food II, acarajé & abará

11 Oct 2009

ACARAJÉ

Acarajé is one of the MOST traditional Bahian anything. It's an icon and so are the women who traditionally make them. They are called "Baianas" :). They are usually dressed in all white big skirts, shirts and a head scarf. Like most current Brazil is influenced by the history of colonization and slavery, so does the making of acarajé.
When Brazil was going through the exruciatingly slow process of emancipation of slavery, (it took centuries!) there were some free Black people who were either free because of the "Free womb" law, or because they paid their "masters" a satisfactory amount. This was one of the things that people did to earn money. Women were sometimes sent out to sell fruits on the streets for their masters who would receive most of the profit but sometimes they kept a little bit for themselves. Or there would be these groups juntos that were made up of several slaves and freed and they would all pitch in to buy people's freedom one by one but this way it was much faster than each individual waiting to accumulate enough money.

Then when slavery was abolished, there was no assistance from the government at all for all of these now unemployed people who now had to face racism. However many women, who came to be called ganhadeiras, found out ways to enter the business arena and it was usually by selling their products, sometimes fruits, and food like Acarajé, which is actually traditionally from Nigeria, and Ghana, Africa. It is still found in those countries and prepared almost exactly the same.
These ganhadeiras were actually where hollywood and industries got their ideas about the fruit hats. Because the ganhadeiras would carry the basket of the fruits they were selling on top of their heads.
This was the inspiration for Carmen Miranda:

Very interesting that this Portuguese-born White woman became the face for not only Brazil but all of South/Latin America.
And Chiquita Banana followed suit:
So after the little history lesson this is Acarajé



A video on how it's made. There is a black eyed peas or beans made into a paste with ground dried shrimp and then it is fried in dendê (palm) oil which is very flavorful in itself. Then it is usually cut open and stuffed with tomatoes, shrimp, vatapá and carurú, which I've described before and are pictured below:
http://soniabrazilmorethanahottouristspot.blogspot.com/2009/12/caruru.html

They work into the night too.

ABARÁ

This one is the exact same thing except it is not fried, but wrapped in banana leaf and steamed much like tamales.

(This picture just shows a better view of the condiments)

I personally think that fried one is better, but abara is probably more healthful. But they're both worth trying if you're in Bahia or Rio de Janeiro.

Lençóis II

This is where we stayed, the Hotel de Lençóis. It was "beauriful" as our coordinator likes to say. It was very big and was in a semi-forest area. With little swings, and an amazing breakfast.


Almost all the breakfasts include fresh fruit, fresh fruit juice, coffee, cake, omelettes, but here they also had some ham dishes and pão de queijo and I really liked the bolinho de estudante, which are these little rolls made of tapioca flour and then they're rolled in cinnamon and sugar. And of course, one must not forget the breakfast cake: there was a coconut one and a chocolate one etc, etc. I also remember that there was this ice bowl with these white balls in it, and then I realize that they were little butter balls for toaste and jam. In conclusion, they had a loooot of food.
This is the room that three other girls and I shared. They were nice, cool, brick rooms and the hallway just outside was lined with hammocks.

The first thing we did on the second day was visit the caves

I can say I've never seen a "No pooping" sign

Most of my peers and I were so relieved as soon as we came near these caves because the temperature went from like 95°F to 75°F, it was fantastic!

This is our guide. He also held the only source of light once we were in the cave. He was explaining where the calcium and copper was, and pointing out the interesting shapes of the stalagmite and stalagtite.
The Entrance, a entrada
This is the calcium mountain, and calcium water, it was so white sparkly, it was really cool

Copper

We didn't come out the way we entered.

There were some people living in this area.

Yeah, we stood out like a gigantic bus painted blue with a rainbow across it, driving through the country side of Bahia. Because...we were. And I think I should write an entry on how I feel about being a tourist and the contstant cognitive disonance that it brings me. But I'll just continue with Lençóis for now.

This is the devil's hole. That wire you see in the picture is a zip-line from which several of my peers zipped down to the bottom. My toe was sick and I didn't want to risk it, the doctor said I shouldn't get the gauze wet etc. So I was just a little sad but not too much. I lived vicariously through my friends.
And...I also ended up going for a swim. How can you come all the way here to not get in right? I was really hot and I had my bathing suit on (yeah, I guess I wasn't that set on listening to the doctor) but anyway I took off the bandages and went in. This lake did definitely cool us down, it was freezing--except for the waterfall part, it was like a warm shower.

Short story: So Clara (the coordinator) had said that she was going to be my doctor for the weekend, that she would take care of my foot etc, so on the way back she told me to sit next to her so she could wrap my foot up again and put some stuff on it from her first aid kit. And while she was preparing everything and getting stuff ready she was telling me this story about how one time when she was younger her dad had a wound of some sort and she was determined to heal it. She washed it and put stuff on it every day and took care of it, but time passed and it was still not getting better, so her dad decided to get it checked out by some friend who was a doctor and he said "oh my gosh! what have you been doing to it?!! You should have gone to the hospital a long time ago, this is terrible!" and apperantly it was really serious and had the dad not gone to get it checked out right afterward he could have gotten gangreen or something and they would have had to cut off his leg, at worst he would have died. so that made me extremely confident of her handling my foot. but apparently this event had inspired her to become a doctor!

So, this whole time I didn't want to look at my foot because I was afraid it would look really bad. And then clara was made this comment right after she looked at my toe, "oh, um...we're gonna need something to cut with" and she signals over to our tour guide Aurecio, and he comes over, and whips out his machete (facão in Brasil) and brings it near me, and I started screaming not because I thought he was serious but I was afraid that by accident he'd end up cutting me because it was really quite close. But much to my relief, nada aconteceu e tudo bem.

We went on this mini adventure to some nearby natural pools near the hotel..
This is the little town at sunset
The water was like orangish from the minerals--it was not dirty.


Later that night was our last night there, we had our secret friend dinner. I didn't know everyone was going to be so dressed up but oh well. It was a really nice dinner and the secret friend thing, I think I mentioned at the beginning was this little game that we decided to enter, and it was like a secret gift exchange, but not exlusively for presents, and not a one time thing. For our first 4 weeks there we were all given a person at random, for whom we would secretly do things that would make them feel loved. I received a little note saying happy first day of class, and some other little notes here and there. I also received a little pot of flowers. I tended to give food to my secret friend :) surprising? I gave her a plantain because it was her favorite fruit, i gave her my favorite brasilian fruit a Pinha, and a lucky frog, and some whole wheat cookies that she was missing. stuff like that. And here we were to reveal who our secret friend was by giving some clues to the rest of our peers and having them guess.

The food here was sooo good too. It was buffet style as it always requires for such a big group. I had some carrot soup, some fried plantain, some good pieces of steak and salad, and rice, and some chicken too :) with some really good sauce and carmelized onions. SSOOO delicious.

I just kept forgetting to eat because I was listening to all the people's descriptions and trying to guess, apart from that I take ages to eat usually and most people finish before me. And all of a sudden we heard the sound of a berimbau and this whole line of capoeiristas came walking through the dining room (hotel restaurant) and walked over to the patio. So I knew I had to scarf down my food. My friends were making fun of me because I just straight up took the plate to my face and scraped the food into my mouth. See this is what I mean by incongruent manners, but it's okay i guess, only a few saw me.
This is just to show that people start doing capoeira from like preschool, its so cute seeing three-year-olds doing a ginga with grown-ups.

I don't want to show too many pictures, it was cool but something very real that at least I had to struggle with was this feeling of guilt of having people perform for me. Something that has such a cultural and historical significance like Capoeira and the quilombo dance with the skirts and sticks, and people have to resort to selling it to tourists because of their position in the economy. It's just really this feeling of privilege that I actually don't always feel in my own community. I really appreciate that they did this for us and yes it's a great form of entertainment, I love the berimbau and I like to do capoeira and enjoy children and others looking like they're enjoying themselves. So there is that thought that well this is something that has been passed down to them and they enjoy this activity, it's not like i'm sextouring, but at the same time I can never forget about the different power relation. So, what I'm doing is just keeping that in mind the cultural and historical importance of these things and know that well these are the consequences or being a tourist. In one way or another I will be seeing and experiencing things that won't have the same meaning to me as the people there, but I will try my best to find that meaning in them. But it also comes down to the fact that I see these people as people, I don't seperate myself in my mind so much from people that surround me. It's not like "I'm American" and the "Brazilians" I try not to think in labels, and I don't necessarily see it as people working for me, although you can't ignore that that is the power relation in most of these cases. I'm continuously trying to seek ways to reconcile this. I really encourage that before you travel anywhere you really should educate yourself on the contexts, and think about these power relations, and the problem with exoticism and othering.

The next morning there were two options, either go to natural water slides these like flat rocks, i think they were kind of like muddy so it wasn't dreadfully painful to go down them. The other option was to go to this little place that has a lot of ancestors of the Quilombo refugees. This was really hard core because these Quilombos were places of refuge for runaway slaves. People built these spaces to escape slavery, just knowing that speaks to an importance of this space that I will never fully understand but requires a lot of respect.

The people are very welcoming though and like to tell people about the story and their experiences. I know they were recently given some kind of grant and I guess they also are partially funded by tourism, but their main deal is with fishing.
The people were all sleeping because they were partying the day before, it's very interesting they pretty much depend on their fish selling out in the town, in Lençóis but it's like 2 hours away from there. and they don't always have fish. They usually show how farinha de mandioca is made but yeah the whole town was asleep almost.


Then we came back. This picture above is of the lamp that is still there as symbol of Portugal and their colonization. It is an icon for Lençóis I believe because they are one of the few places that has still kept them.
These are some more pictures of the hotel
The dining room from the night before, except illuminated this time.


We had a wonderful lunch at restaurant in Lençóis right before we left.
All these lunches as a group were provided for in our fees already so we didn't have to calculate with these expenses.
Cactus, fried plantain (I know they're all over the place but one really can't get tired of them) some creamy white lasagna type stuff, chicken thigh, barbecued meat, beans, beat salad, these little fried balls with herbs and meat in them, grilled onion. THe food was really good.
It was a very cozy place, with a very tropical ambience, I don't remember the name of this place but it shouldn't be hard to find. It's at the entrance almost of the little town.
Our meal came with one juice, but the juice was sooo good I was obliged to buy another one for 1 real! $0.50. Yeah I went there. I had a limeade and maracuja juice. It was delicious!!!
And after this lunch we were back on our way home. The whole 7 hours back.
We stopped at the same gas station to do some yoga (well that was mainly only me, but people stretched). This was that place that had the pineapple vendor, with the most delicious, juicy, sweet pineapples! And cheap too! I had some freshly made pineapple juice. and it saved me for what was going to come... tun tun tun...
Okay so some of my friends and i always ended up having to sit all the way in the back of the bus, which is right next to the bathroom. And at first everything is okay. We learned from last time--our way up to Lencois that this changes dramatically as time progresses, so we were insisting that peopel reconsider before using the restroom, but that didn't help. I felt like the smell exponentially worsened after they "cleaned" at the gas station, or I'm not really sure what they did to it, but it did not reik as terribly before that point, and then it just got unbearable. This is one of my friend covering his nose, I was inhaling into my pineapple cup until finally, it was seriously so bad--it was just worse than urine or feces. I feel like I could have withstood feced in my face more than this smell, so it is unexplainable as to why it would smell this bad but it got so strong that slowly we who were in the way back had to move up to the front of the bus and slowly the seat in front of us progressively started moving up because it was so unbearable! It was rediculous the back half was all up with the first half in the aisles, some of us sat thought because we still had such a long way to go.

Yes it was a rather foul way to end this trip but even then, the smell of rotten feces could not have ruined this great adventure. The trip to Lençóis was by far one of the best travel experiences of my life!