Down the Coast of Brazil by Bus - Part 2 (Olinda, Recife, Salvador and Ouro Preto)

Between the 16^th and 19^th Centuries, historians believe that over 11 million slaves were brought to the Americas from Africa (via Europe) – mainly by the Portuguese (who started this heinous trend), the British, the Spanish, the French and the Dutch. Moreover, approximately 1.2 to 2 million enslaved people died on the ships during the trans-Atlantic crossings, making this slave trade one of the greatest massacres in the history of mankind. Some died from severe malnutrition and the outbreak of diseases, whilst others killed themselves by refusing to eat, hanging themselves with their own chains or throwing themselves into the sea where they were eaten by sharks. A number of European ports, such as Bristol and Liverpool, made a fortune from their role during the slave trade since African slaves were first sent to specific ports in Europe before crossing the Atlantic. 

A depiction of slaves being shipped to the Americas

The majority of these African slaves were sent to South America to work in mines or on plantations. More than 37% of these people were sent to Brazil. For various reasons, the indigenous people whom the European colonisers of South America had enslaved did not prove to be the most productive workers (many died from disease or fatigue, whilst others committed suicide to avoid a life of brutal slavery). Therefore, the cruel masters looked elsewhere for free labour to keep on plundering the natural resources of the South American continent and their preferred choice was Africa. Travelling down the coast of Brazil, there is much historical evidence of this colonisation and slavery – both in the architecture of so many cities and towns and also in the demography and culture of the people who live there. 

Life on the plantations

Sofia and I headed down south to the city of Recife, with the intention of visiting the well-preserved colonial town of Olinda, barely a few kilometres north from Recife. Both the large city and its smaller neighbour lie along the north-eastern coast of Brazil. Getting to Olinda was easy since Recife has an efficient metro system that connects the remote bus terminal to the city centre. Once you get to the centre, it’s just a short bus ride to Olinda. You can tell that you’ve arrived when you start seeing marvellous historical churches sprouting all over a number of green hills overlooking the sea. We hopped off the bus, zigzagging our way through a lively book-fair, and soon found a hostel in the town centre. The hostel was almost empty so we surprisingly managed to negotiate a good price to stay in a large dorm, after refusing the high price the receptionist had initially asked for.

The green hills of Olinda with Recife in the background

By the sea in Olinda

 

We then began to roam around the cobbled streets of the hilly seaside town. The colonial architecture all around town is very well preserved, meaning that you can discover several streets slightly away from the centre that manage to avoid feeling touristy. There are many glamorous churches scattered around the town which you can visit and, while doing so, it’s hard not to notice the irony of a gold-littered church dedicated to the humble St. Francis (famous for renouncing the riches of his family to live in poverty)! 

Cobbled streets and colourful houses

One of Olinda's many colonial churches

The rich interior of a church - St. Francis may not have liked this

We were lucky to arrive in Olinda on a Sunday evening, when Alto da Sé (a large square on top of one of the highest hills) is bustling with life. Around the square is an artisanal market focusing on the town’s famous Carnival traditions, food and drink stalls with typical products from the region, live music by local groups and youngsters performing capoeira. The view from up there is memorable, especially at sunset. To the south, the sun sinks behind the imposing Recife skyline – an impressive line-up of skyscrapers that look as magical from a distance at dusk as they seem intimidating from close during the day. 

Lively evening in Alto da Se

Murals depicting Olinda's carnival

I drank a large ‘caipifruta’ (a fruit-flavoured caiprinha tasting somewhat like a rather alcoholic milkshake). It’s easy to forget the alcohol content as you gulp down the sweet concoction so I soon found myself tipsy, enjoying the street food – in particular the typical acaraje (deep fried black-eyed peas rolled in balls and served with shrimps: a dish originating from West Africa) – and letting my mind sway to the African rhythm of drums. The reddish colours of the Atlantic sky at dusk combined with the music and bustle, the energy released by the young capoeira performers and the alcohol in my system brought about a unique feeling. I was joyfully overwhelmed by the delights of this place. The African percussions and European-style Baroque churches blended into one big cultural melange brought about by a ruthless history – a past that was momentarily forgotten in the midst of the present cheerful frenzy. Whilst the negative effects of colonialism can still be strongly felt in many parts of Brazil, on this particular evening all that was felt were the traditions of this multi-cultural society it unknowingly created. The African persons brought to these shores as slaves by the Europeans had eventually managed to free themselves and were able to contribute their own culture and music to what is now an independent Brazil.

Traditional acaraje stand in Alto da Se - giving street food a good name!

Sunset over Recife as seen from Olinda

At the hostel, we were lucky to meet a wonderful young Spanish girl called Maria, who had been living in Sao Paolo for the past few months. What struck me about her is her passion for human rights and the fighting spirit she uses towards positive activism. For example, she had recently participated in the protests against the social injustices in Brazil. Being a newly graduated lawyer, she volunteered for a group of local Sao Paolo lawyers who provided legal support to the protesters and monitored the peaceful protests to ensure that the participants were not mishandled by the police. Things didn’t always work out and Maria found herself beaten on her head by the police on one occasion, finding herself needing stitches at a nearby hospital where she was judged as a trouble-maker by the hospital staff for participating in the protests. We spent the evening with Maria, chatting about human rights and her wish to be able to make a difference as a professional. When we eventually parted ways, we promised to visit her in Sao Paolo when we get there – hoping that the timing would be right and that she wouldn’t have returned to Spain by then.

 

Beyond the stunning historical buildings and the mixture of ethnicities and cultures of Brazilian citizens, colonisation left behind a structure of social injustice that is still very prevalent in South America’s largest country (as well as in many other countries in the continent). The further south I travelled, the more I could observe a richer Brazil that awkwardly contrasts with the disenfranchised poor. Whilst the bombastic colonial buildings and history of the rubber barons did sit uncomfortably with the poverty seen in Manaus and around the Amazon region, the jungle is generally so rough around the edges in itself that the contrast between the rich and poor isn’t as jarring.

The less glamorous side of Olinda

Before heading even further south to the city of Salvador, we decided to spend our last day in the city of Recife itself. Despite being a very large city, mostly comprising of tall modern buildings, it also has a lot of history and culture to offer around the city centre. Taking advantage of the metro, we went to the bus terminal and dropped our heavy backpacks there in order to roam around freely. We had a night bus to catch for Salvador leaving at 7pm and needed to make sure to get back to the terminal by then. Buses in Brazil are expensive compared to Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela, so we couldn’t afford to throw our money down the drain by missing this long-distance bus. Nevertheless, with a metro taking us all the way directly from the city centre to the bus terminal in about 20 minutes, we were sure we wouldn’t have any problems to get there on time.

Sofia at a metro station in Recife - before the system let us down

Recife is definitely worth a visit. There are a number of historical squares, museums, churches and other buildings spread out amongst the main islands that comprise the historical centre of the city (the main areas of interest are ‘Santo Antonio’ and ‘Recife Antigo’). Moreover, not being one of the more popular tourist destinations along the Brazilian coast, prices are much more reasonable here than in other cities further south. I enjoyed walking through the busy streets and squares, also visiting the decidedly non-touristy central market. We made our way to the ‘Recife Antigo’ area (which is located on the island called Ilha do Recife) and visited a free exhibition of the Catalan artist Joan Miró. They call Recife the ‘Venice of Brazil’ due to its canals, which I find to be an exaggerated comparison since there aren’t that many canals and much of the city has been modernised. Yet, there is still much to enjoy here and I did wish I’d have given myself another day to visit even more museums and historical sites. 

Relaxed atmosphere in one of Recife's large squares

Not quite Venice - but still lovely!

One interesting aspect of the history of these two close neighbours, Olinda and Recife, is the conflict between the Portuguese and the Dutch for the control of the territory, spurred by pure economic gain (the Dutch wanted more direct control over the sugar plantations in the region). Both colonial forces were rather brutal and destructive, forging the fate of this part of the world. In the context of today’s European Union and the independence of Brazil, all those battles seem so futile in hindsight. Europeans often tend to forget that the greatest booms in their own development and culture occurred by plundering natural resources from other continents, mostly from Africa and South America, and by enslaving persons from these two continents. Not only did this help Europe prosper rapidly and unfairly, but it also meant that Africa and South America were kept lagging behind for centuries – and this is still being felt till today.

Recife's colonial architecture - worth a visit

At 5pm, a good two hours before our bus was meant to leave from the terminal, Sofia and I went to the metro station to give us enough time not to run for our bus in a last minute panic. Yet we did end up panicking when found out that the metro line heading to the bus terminal was not working at that moment and were given no information as to why, how long it would be shut down for and what alternative means of transport to take. Not understanding much Portuguese hindered communication but we seemed to understand that we could catch another metro and head to the airport, from where we could catch a bus to the terminal. Having just under two hours left, we felt we could still make it. On arriving at the airport, however, we found a huge queue of people waiting for the same bus, and no bus arrived for about 15 minutes. Asking around, Sofia managed to figure out that the bus terminal was actually quite far from the airport and that we would never get there on time. We decided that it was worth trying to catch a taxi, no matter how much it cost, since losing our expensive bus tickets would cost us even more. Moreover, we needed to get our bags from the storage at the terminal. 

A large city to cross through quickly!

As fate would have it, I had already booked a hostel for our next stop – something I hadn’t done before on this travel – using the website ‘Airbnb’, where prices tend to be better than average since many hostels listed are actually homes of persons who are hosting people. Apart from Praia da Pipa (where we knew we’d camp), Salvador was going to be the first really touristy city I was arriving to on this travel. More than finding hostels full up, I was concerned about high prices. I eventually booked the cheapest dorm beds I could find in a neighbourhood a bit far from the old centre but next to the sea, which seemed fine to me. ‘Airbnb’ makes you pay a percentage of the price beforehand so I wondered what would happen if we did not turn up on the day I had already paid for. Another compelling reason not to miss our bus.

I spotted two backpackers who seemed as lost and worried as us and figured out they may be in the same fix. I approached them and lo-and-behold they were French backpackers with tickets for the very same bus we were due to catch. We decided to share a taxi but even that was surprisingly hard to find. We finally managed to stop a taxi but the driver told us there was no way we would get to the bus terminal on time. By the time we found the taxi, we had about 50 minutes left for the departure of our bus, but the driver reckoned we would need over an hour to get there. We begged him to try anyway, hoping that our bus might leave a few minutes late and give us the time we needed to catch it. The 6pm Recife traffic was intense and the distance was huge. It’s in the midst of crossing a city in a hurry that you realise how big it actually is. I wonder why the bus terminal is so far away from the city centre, making it so hard to access when the metro isn’t working.

To our relief, the taxi driver approached the bus terminal a few minutes before seven. We asked the French couple to run to the bus and stop it from leaving whilst we dashed off to get our luggage from the bag storage. In the end, we got to the bus before it left, placed our backpacks in the compartment under the bus and made our way to our seats. Recife to Salvador is more or less a 13 hour bus-ride (which could be much longer given all the substantial stops that long distance buses make in Brazil) so we sat down and hoped to relax along the way.

We arrived to Salvador late the next morning and followed the instructions we were given to find the hostel we had booked at (not too complicated since there was a direct bus we could catch). As we left the bus terminal, a young guy shouted something aggressive regarding me being a gringo. Not sure what he said but it pissed me off. Some street vendors also tried to grab our arms as we walked by. Somehow, when you reach touristic areas, people tend to become rather obnoxious.

Busy area around Salvador's bus Terminal

We caught our bus to the neighbourhood of Rio Vermelho and arrived there about 20 minutes later. The little hostel named ‘On the Rock’, which was actually a quaint converted old house, was located in a rather run-down but charming little seaside settlement built on a small hill overlooking the sea. It was raining at the time and nobody was at the hostel to open the door once we arrived. Some workmen at a neighbouring house told us to wait inside the building they were working on until the hostel owner returned. For a while, I regretted having found this place on Airbnb but all that changed once the lovely host returned home after about 40 minutes. Of course, it wasn’t her fault that we didn’t know the time of our arrival beforehand and she did have to go shopping at some point. 

The neighbourhood around the hostal in Rio Vermelho

Sofia at the entrance of 'On the Rock' Hostel

Fatima, the owner, is a cheerful woman approximately in her fifties who now lives on her own after her children grew up and have moved out of the house. She really made us feel at home during our stay. Though we were paying for a dorm, we were the only guests so we basically had our own private room. There’s a view of the sea from Fatima’s kitchen and the whole area really reminded me of the seaside town in Malta where my maternal grandparents used to lived. As we tried to communicate with Fatima in a mixture of makeshift Portuguese and Spanish, we realised that we were lucky to have a delightful host and that we were going to enjoy our few says in the capital of the Brazilian state of Bahia. Fatima explained how to get to the city centre and suggested things that were worth visiting there. Whilst Rio Vermelho isn’t within walking distance from the city centre, in hindsight it was far better to stay there and catch a bus into the centre, thus avoiding the touristy feel of the centre. Besides, the historical centre actually felt strangely dead at night after the bustling activity during the day, whilst Rio Vermelho really developed a good vibe and was frequented by local people after sunset.

The view from Fatima's kitchen

As a consequence of its history of sugar-plantations and resultant slavery, Bahia is now the state with the largest Afro-Brazilian population – and Salvador is the cultural heart (and capital) of the state. We visited a number of museums in Pelourinho (the historical centre), my favourite being the Afro-Brazilian Museum in the Terreiro de Jesus Square. The museum focuses on the culture and traditions brought from Africa by slaves. The Orishas are some of the most fascinating traditional African elements that are still alive here – they are believed to be spirits who rule over the forces of nature and the actions of humans. Outside the museum, capoeira and the beating of drums can be seen and heard around the historical centre during the day, mainly as a tourist attraction. Capoeira developed historically by slaves as a form of martial art disguised as a dance in order not to arouse the suspicions of their masters. The streets of Pelourinho are rendered stunning by the marvellously preserved and colourful colonial architecture. Another fascinating museum we visited in the same area focuses on the life and work of the writer Jorge Amado, famous for his novels with a social emphasis, often based in the state of Bahia. 

Women in traditional clothes in Pelourinho

A lively band marches through the cobbled streets

One of the Orishas as depicted in the Museum of Afro-Brazilian Culture

But there is more to Salvador than the architecture and museums of Pelourinho and the Afro-Brazilian culture. The coast is blessed with a seemingly infinite line of sandy beaches where people sunbathe, swim, surf or play football. The food in the state of Bahia is rather special too. The prize of best dish must go to the moqueca, a salt water fish stew in coconut milk, tomatoes, onions, garlic, coriander and some palm oil, which we ate at a food stall at the Mercado Modelo by the sea. Religious devotion at the church of Nosso Senhor do Bonfim is another fascinating aspect of the local culture in the city. Here, people tie small coloured ribbons around the church hoping that their wishes or prayers will come true. The fascinating aspect of this church is how Catholicism and traditional African beliefs blend together. The Church is a short but pleasant bus ride that takes you out of the centre and along the coast. Once we visited the church, we walked towards the sea and reached the little fortress of Mont Serrat just in time to enjoy an amazing sunset over the Todos os Santos Bay.

One of Salvador's many beaches

Activity in the Mercado Modelo

Tie a ribbon for good luck - hope at the gates of Bonfim's church

Pay for a photo next to a Pope statue! (... somehow they forgot the German one)

Mont Serrat - a good place to relax and watch the sunset

Sofia and I roamed around a lot of the city on foot over four days and noticed a big gap between the affluent and those with way too little. On one of the evenings, a local girl whom we got in touch with through a friend-of-a-friend picked us up and, despite our warnings that we were on a backpacker’s budget, she took us to a really upscale club with an expensive entrance fee and where food cost way too much. She hardly seemed interested in us anyway so Sofia and I sneaked out and went to grab some food whilst the girl got drunk and disappeared into the fancy crowd that seemed to love her in a superficial sort of way. We then returned to the little neighbourhood where Fatima lived – which the upper-class girl referred to in a disgusted voice as a ‘favela’. I somehow felt more at home in this so-called favela than surrounded by upper-class young people with way too much money. 

Playing football barefooted

Nature, in the form of the city's beaches, is kinder than the economic system

One interesting thing I observed is that, despite that fact that the state of Bahia has such a large Afro-population, the people who seemed to be better off financially were mainly white. We were also very surprised at the prices of so many products and services which actually seemed much more expensive than the respective prices in Europe or USA, obviously sending them beyond the reach of people with a lower income. One little pleasure I tend to enjoy is going to the cinema – but when I was asked for the equivalent of about 20 USD to watch a movie (there was only the ‘deluxe’ option available) I realised that I wouldn’t be watching any movies at the cinema in Salvador. This dual nature of ‘too expensive’ mixed with ‘too poor’ is one of the main problems with Brazil today – a remnant of the unjust colonial days and with largely the same demography of people benefitting from the imbalance at the expense of the Afro and indigenous populations. Overall, my experience in Salvador was bitter-sweet. I loved the historical architecture, the museums, the colourful Afro-Brazilian culture, the way this lovely city lies along a gorgeous coast, Fatima and here simple but welcoming house by the sea. On the other hand, I was upset by the luxury sitting so comfortably on top the poverty, happily making many pleasures of life beyond the reach of a chunk of the population. But one has to hand it to the Brazilians – even in the midst of poverty, they still seem to have a thirst for life and happiness that often eludes more affluent societies. 

He may not be rich - but he's not going to give up on smiling

Leaving Salvador behind us, Sofia and I headed to another town drastically forged by colonisation: Ouro Preto – a town in the Minas Gerais state once known for its goldmines. I had first read about this town in the essential-to-read book ‘Las Venas Abiertas de America Latina’ by the Uruguayan writer and journalist Eduardo Galeano and was curious to see what remained of it. It was a very long bus ride from Salvador to Belo Horizonte, where we had to catch another bus to Ouro Preto. We were left in a bus station in the middle of nowhere after dark and got a bit lost till we made our way to the main bus terminal. Thankfully there was a metro we could take to get there. That night, as we waited for our bus, we met a very charming young Italian guy called Luca and immediately become friends. He was heading the same way so we joined up. Arriving in the little hilly town of Ouro Preto late at night in the rain, we set out to look for a cheap hostel and eventually found one, Rosario Hostel (not to be confused with the hotel that goes by the same name), about 15 minutes’ walk from the centre, run by a very friendly and helpful young woman called Louisa. It never stopped raining in the couple of days we spent in the town but this didn’t stop us from exploring the little cobbled streets. 

A view from above of a small neighbourhood in Ouro Preto

Quaint old houses and green hills in Ouro Preto

Ouro Preto still maintains the rich colonial architecture and is now a student town that thrives on tourism. Gone are the mining days but visitors can still visit a couple of mines in the area to get a feel of what life was for the miners during the time of slavery. We visited a mine that was eventually bought by a freed slave called Chico Rei and got all muddy as we crawled our way through the tunnels with a little torch. We were quite a mess when we came out – muddy and wet. The story of Chico Rey is fascinating: he was a tribal leader from the Congo region who, in approximately 1740, was kidnapped along with a large number of his tribe and sold into slavery. He and his tribe members were shipped to Brazil to work in the gold mines. Noticing his position of authority amongst his tribe, the Portiguese gave him the nickname of ‘Chico Rei’ (which would be translated either as the Boy King or the Little King). Whilst working in the goldmines over the period of approximately five years, he used to hide pieces of gold in his hair and smuggle them out until he eventually had gathered enough resources to buy his own freedom and that of his son. He eventually also bought a goldmine (the one we visited in Ouro Preto) and started to help other slaves to also buy their own freedom. The freed slaves eventually built their own church on top of one of Ouro Preto’s many hills.

Luca climbs through Chico Rei's mines

Statue of Chico Rei

Indeed, there are a number of richly adorned churches scattered along the green hills which the town is built upon. I must admit that I was somewhat upset that we had to pay (more than just a little token fee) to visit each and every church – ironically also the church built by the slaves for themselves. Money, money, money. But what about the soul? One of the churches has a little museum dedicated to the famous sculptor Aleijhadinho, who was born in the town in the 18^th Century to a Portuguese man and his African slave.

One of Ouro Preto's many churches on a hill

The state of Minas Gerais has a number of traditional dishes worth tasting. Sofia, Luca and I found an ‘all-you-can-eat’ buffet for a very reasonable price in the centre of town which offered a number of these dishes. I was surprised that, beyond history and good food, the Minas Gerias also has two teams that are currently dominating the football scene in Brazil. Cruzerio and Atletico Mineiro (both from Belo Horizonte) played the cup final whilst we were in Ouro Preto and the town divided between supporters of one or the other team. Our lovely host Louisa was sad to see her beloved Cruzeiro lose in the end.

The main square of Ouro Preto

During our stay in Ouro Preto, it was a pleasure to become friends with a young adventurous person like Luca, travelling across the continent whilst working in hostels and restaurants. He has the talent to become a good cook and the intelligence to learn new skills as he goes along. His intelligence is complemented by an easy-going charm, allowing him to easily make many friends along the way. He had spent some time living in Rio de Janeiro so he gave us some tips on what to do and see there. In fact, Rio was the next stop we had planned – and it was just a night bus ride away.