Whirlwind of Northern Brazil

After we left Rio, we cruised up the coast of Brazil from March 5 to March 12 (Day 57). During that time, we had one sea day and visited the ports of Cabo Frio, Salvador de Bahia, Maceio, Recife, Natal and Fortaleza. These ports seemed to run together in my mind, which must mean I didn’t get a very complete picture. But, I’ll offer a few impressions anyway.

There were a lot of Cathedrals:

There were beaches

And there were lots of colonial era buildings from the time of the Portuguese.

But it was more what was not focused on in the tours that was of interest as I tried to piece more of this experience together.

Salvador de Bahia was the endpoint for a lot of the slave trade coming from Africa. It therefore has the most Afro-Brazilian culture of any place we visited. Its population is 80% black or multiracial and the guides present it as an open city. But the feel is different. Almost all our guides were white (and male by the way). And most of the places we visited were segregated parts of the city with the English or Portuguese hospital, for example. I was glad to have gone there to visit the terminus of a good part of the slave trade, but really did not get a sense of that part of its history.

During our visit, these cities were very hot and humid. And the poverty is huge. I didn’t take pictures of this because it felt too much like exploiting somehow. If you have seen documentaries or news reports about the favelas in Brazil, you will have a sense of it. After driving around the city in our air conditioned buses, it was again clear we weren’t getting this country.

We left Fortaleza Brazil on March 12 (Day 57), heading for Africa, and the sense on the ship was that we were ready to move on. I can’t tie this one up in a neat bow. It will have to remain an unfinished story.