June 24th
What a fantastic day in its quietness...

Partially clouded, it did not stop me from putting a jacket 

and going for the ferry to cross to Niteroi!

Called a friend that had not been in touch for a long time.... 

...to make time adjustments once in a while is pretty nice :)

And what a tour! Always is!

The MAC (Museum of Contemporary Art) is one of the last works 

of Brazilian Modernist Architect Oscar Niemeyer

who has presented us with a revolutionary Architecture in contemporaneity!

through his vast legacy of iconic buildings world wide

Marcos Chaves was exhibiting his own work called "SÓ VENDO A VISTA".
("Only seeing the view" or "I only sell the view"?)
Many double meanings in Portuguese.

The first one is "VENDO", a verb form that happens when conjugating both "ver" and "vender", but with very different times and meanings. 

"A VISTA" is the second case. It means "the view", but as an adverb, it means full payment.

made a little riddle

só vendo                             (only looking)

só vendo a vista...               (only seeing the view)

só vendo a vista,                 ( I only sell the view)

só vendo a vista à vista       ( I only sell the view full cash)

In the area outside the museum, and part of the program, was an electronic lounge...
Outdoors, overlooking the Guanabara bay!! Especially nice! 
...with friends that have not seen each other in a long time!?.... 
Even more so!!!! Outstanding evening indeed!

It was Saint John's Day, we still had a typical country party to go to. 

Could have not be more perfect. 

This is Rio <3

The day I went paragliding in Rio!!

After six years, finally I gathered the courage to fly!!

I felt like Blu from the film Rio!
Awesome!!!

(video with English subtitles)

Streets during Carnaval

Nowadays, in between palaces and monuments, the streets of Rio are taken by carnaval music bands and a happy crowd in irreverent costumes!

 Santa Teresa neighborhood: The "Carmelitas", a reference and tribute to the Convent of Santa Teresa and the nuns.

Arco dos Telles, near Praça XV and the Imperial Palace

Praça Tiradentes, around the statue of the first Emperor of Brazil, Pedro I

 A very traditional costume renewed every year - os Clóvis "bate-bola"

At Cinelândia square, in front of the Opera House....

...the Museum of Fine Arts, and the National Library

Carnaval in Rio! Come!

The celebration which is now called carnival emerged in Europe in the eleventh century and was characterized by the habit of celebrating the arrival of Lent. In every European country this happened in a way. In Portugal, it was the custom of playing pranks and received the name of carnival (which means "beginning"). The celebration comes to Brazil by Portuguese colonists.
Until the nineteenth century, public roads were occupied by lower classes, among them the slaves, who were allowed to play the carnival. The game was to play any liquid or powder on each other.
https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrudo

What Cariocas like!

A beautiful winter Sun-day!!!

Leblon beach

Leblon-Ipanema

Ipanema beachfront!

hummmm! colourful!!

"Cariocas don't like cloudy days!"

Thursday, July 7th

It was rainny and cold.... 

Probably the coldest day of the year!

Friday, July 9th

The sun came out but temperatures were still low...

It is nice to see Cariocas in Winter outfits... 

many of us look forward to these days!

but when colder days come, it feels awkward... 

We are not used to it at all.

Winter Solstice and the Pink Ipê

The Pink Ipê is flowering! One of the most beautiful spetacles promoted by Nature from June to August! All the leaves fall and the flowers grow in bouquets! In Rio, here and there, it is a show of colours!

When the first Portuguese arrived

Disembarkation of Cabral by Oscar Pereira da Silva, 1922

The arrival of the Portuguese in the land that came to be called Brazil is directly related to the European commercial expansion which began in the XVth c.

In the search for gold and for an alternative route to Asia circumnavigating Africa, the Portuguese princes had a chance to prove their military skills, to the glory of the Avis dynasty, and to rescue souls, to the glory of the Christian Church.

 With the sponsorship of Genovese bankers, they went beyond, and shaped an Oversee Empire, provider of colonial goods to the European market, in parts of Africa, Asia and South America.

They arrived in India in 1498, but they missed the privilege to be the first ones to arrive where became known as America, done by Colombo sponsored by the Spanish kings. But for all the service already delivered, they could negotiate with Spain and get a hold of possibilities in the newfound land.

With the blessings of the Pope, the Treaty of Tordesilhas, from 1494, established a meridian to divide the Earth in two exploiting domains - any land “found or to be find” to the East of this meridian belonged to the Portuguese, and to the West, to Spain.

In 1494, Portugal was granted  only a part of Brazil

In 1500, a second Portuguese fleet was sent to India. 
Under the command of  Pedro Álvares Cabral, they deviated from the route along the African coast and arrived in the region today known as Porto Seguro in April.

The route travelled by Cabral in 1500.

The date of this first contact, as well as their first impressions upon arrival, are registered in the letter which Pero Vaz de Caminha, the oficial notary, wrote to the king D. Manuel I. This letter is considered by many today as the most accurate descriptions of what Brazil used to look like in 1500. "Arvoredo Tanto, e tamanho, e tão basto, e de tanta folhagem, que não se pode calcular", which roughly translates as "The vastness of the treeline and foliage is incalculable". He also described the natives, for it was not a vacant land.

To the European public though, it was Americo Vespucci, who gave account of the place for his writings were the first printed texts about Brazil – “Mundus Novus" – published around 1503-1504. He says: “And if in this world exists a terrestrial paradise, without doubt cannot be far from these places”.

The ideia that Paradise could exist on Earth abounded in the imaginations of medieval Europeans. 
 But the taste for wonder and mystery, almost inseparable from voyage literature during the Age of Discoveries, occupies singularly, very little space in Portuguese writings about the New World. They had become more practical with the occupation of Africa, as they exorcised the ideias about monsters and demons inhabitting the unknown Seas.  Even the fabulous India became a mere market to profit from in the name and glory of their souverain. 
The ideia of an Eldorado persisted though as the fantastic element to guide them.

In the search for riches and to map the territory, Portugal sent the first expedition in 1501, with Gaspar Lemos in command and other experienced navigators, and cartographers like Americo Vespucci, who verified an abundance of trees called PAU-BRASIL (literally ember stick). A similar species was formerly brought from Asia, cherished by medieval Europe for the red tint it produces. Thus, with the inexistence of gold at first glimpse, Brazilwood became the first lucrative colonial product. And is in the origin of the name given to the country.

Established as a crown-granted Portuguese monopoly, trading posts where created along the coast where the natives could stack the logs in exchange for trinkets, like mirrors and knives. Other nations tried to harvest and smuggle the logs to Europe, and corsairs began the attacks on Portuguese ships.

Woodcut from Andre Thevet's Cosmographie universelle, 1555

  

In hundred years, these trees were almost extinct, as well as the native population.

In this first expedition, important sites where mapped, like Cabo de São Roque – 16/08/1501; Rio São Francisco – 04/10/1501; Baía de Todos os Santos – 01/11/1501; Cabo de São Tomé – 21/12/1501; Rio de Janeiro – 01/01/1502; Angra dos Reis – 06/01/1502.

Bibliography:

HISTÓRIA DO BRASIL: Boris Fausto

VISÕES DO PARAÍSO: Sérgio Buarque de Holanda

O POVO BRASILEIRO: Darcy Ribeiro