john torrison president
   
  • Club Home
  • Club Members
  • Listen with Bill
    • Bill's History
  • Turntable
    • TT History
  • The FlipSide
  • Picturesque!
  • Skips Corner
  • Gulliver's Travels
  • The Club Pub
    • Sucks News
  • Harv's Corner

Gulliver's Travels  09/14/2020

9/14/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
Dale Sievert (Gulliver)


​Brazil

​
   In March I visited Brazil--just in the nick of time, as the Covid virus was hot on my trail.  I first visited Brazil in 1977, taking a bus from Montevideo, Uruguay to Rio de Janeiro.  In 1988 I spent two weeks on an Earthwatch expedition assisting botanists doing research in the Amazon Basin.  And in 2009 I took a boat on the Amazon River from lquitos, Peru as far as Leticia, Brazil.  On my March trip I visited the cities of Manaus (on the Amazon River), Brasilia, and Rio de Janeiro.

        Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world, and it is 87% the size of the United States.  Its population is 210 million.  As it was a colony of Portugal, today its inhabitants speak Portugues.  It is fairly close to Spanish, but only a few people could understand me when I spoke Spanish to them.  And few people speak English.
​
Picture



​


​The Amazon Basin
   I have been in the Amazon Basin (and on the Amazon River itself) three times.  Every time I was amazed.  The basin covers over 35% of South America, nearly three million square miles.  The river itself is 4086 miles long, and it is from two to six miles wide at its mouth in the dry season and about 30 miles wide in the wet season.  Certainly much bigger than the Manitowoc River!  I have boated on it in three countries, Peru, Colombia, and Brazil.  Always fantastic experiences--especially when I was marooned for 23 hours when my boat broke down in Peru 200 miles from a town of any size.


   The city of Manaus, at 2.2 million residents, is the largest city on the Amazon River.  Its heyday was in the 1880s, when it was the center of the rubber boom.  Its enormous wealth was reflected in the many beautiful buildings constructed at the time.  Many are still standing, the most famous being the Amazonas Teatro (Amazon Theater).  It is still rated as one of the most beautiful opera houses in the world.  I attended two shows there.
​
Picture
Flying over Manaus, showing the Amazon River on the left meeting the Rio Negro on the right
Picture
The Meeting of the Waters, where the muddy Amazon and the clear Rio Negro (its source being Venezuela) take two miles to mix completely
Picture
The Rio Negro
Picture
"Amazon Gulliver" in an ecological reserve 60 miles north of of Manaus
Picture
Looking out of a cave formed by a river that flows through a large rock formation
Picture
This very interesting tree has a twisted trunk.
Picture
Termites built this huge nest in a tree.
Picture
The white object on the tree is a 15-inch moth
Picture
Mercado (Market) Building, the public market building from the 1880s
Picture
Adolpho Lisboa Building
Picture
Teatro Amazonas (Amazon Theater), built in 1896
Picture
Teatro Amazonas
Picture
Interior of Teatro Amazonas


Brasilia
 
   Brasilia is the capital of Brazil, and it is only 60 years old.  I remember being intrigued by it in high school, as the architecture was so modern, so avantgarde.  I told myself then that I just HAD to go there.....someday.  Well, that someday was in March.  And a good day (three, actually) it was.


   The impetus for it was largely from former President Juscelino Kubischek.  It was orchestrated by architect Oscar Niemeyer, urban planner Lucio Cost, and landscape architect Burle Marx.  The first building, the presidential palace, was finished in 1958, but the city officially dates from 1960.  Its layout is said to appear as an airplane, with both sides of both axes being symmetrical.  
Picture
Overlooking the main mall with many government buildings, museums, and churches
Picture
Congresso Nacional (Congress), with the convex dome the House of Representatives and the concave structure the Senate
Picture
Sculpture at the Congresso Nacional
Picture
Museu Nacional (National Museum)
Picture
Catedral Metropolitana (Metropolitan Cathedral)
Picture
Interior of the Catedral Metropolitana, which has 16 curved ribs holding up the wavy stained glass dome
Picture
Teatro Nacional (National Theater)
Picture
Santuario Dom Bosco
Picture
The interior is made of 80 concrete columns that support 7400 pieces of Murano glass that simulates a starry sky.
Picture
Memorial to Presidente Juscelino Kubitschek, housing his tomb
Picture
Palacio da Alvorada, the official residence of the president
Picture
Offices adjacent to the Palacio da Alvorada
Picture
JK (Presidente Kubitschek) Memorial Bridge

Rio de Janeiro

   Since I first visited Rio in 1977, it has been my favorite city in the world.  Why?  Mainly its setting: fronted by the Atlantic Ocean, with pretty offshore islands; backed up by extremely steep and thickly forested mountains starting only a mile inland; two of the most famous places in the world, Sugarloaf Mountain and Christ the Redeemer statue (one of the Seven Modern Wonders of the World); and topped off by some of the most beautiful and iconic beaches in the world, Ipanema and Copacabana.

   In 1502 Portuguese explorer Goncalo Coelho was the first European to land in Rio.  He mistook its huge bay to be the mouth of a river, the Janeiro, so he misnamed it. 
The name stuck, and the 13 million "cariocas" (residents of Rio) are not interested in changing it.

   In 1977 I learned a bit of "body Portuguese."  A woman approached me on the street, speaking Portuguese.  After twice saying "No comprendo Portugues," she opened her legs and rubbed my right leg (it's so easy to remember which leg, even after 43 years).  I finally understood her--and walked on.

​
Picture
World War II Memorial with Sugarloaf Mountain in the distance
Picture
Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer) on top of 2330-foot high Corcovado ("Hunchback") in the distance
Picture
The 125-foot-high statue, completed in 1931, is constructed of reinforced concrete and covered with 6000 soapstone tiles.
Picture
Ipanema Beach, on the south side of Rio, about two miles in length
Picture
The granddaughter of "the girl from Ipanema" on Ipanema Beach--of course, a modern phone addict.
Picture
Copacabana, with its nearly two-mile-long beach and Sugarloaf, partly in a cloud
Picture
An island off Copacabana Beach
Picture
A wave of green water closing in on Copacabana Beach
Picture
One of countless favelas (areas of housing for the very poor) built on steep hillsides
Picture
This man collects a LOT of aluminum cans.

Epilogue

   After 43 years, Rio still fascinates me.  Other cities I've visited have fabulous physical settings, such as Sydney, Australia, Dubrovnik, Croatia, Zermatt, Switzerland, and San Francisco.  But none, for me at least, beat Rio.  Consider visiting it to add some thrill to your life.  Don't end up on your deathbed wishing you did. You still have time.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    June 2025
    April 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    April 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    October 2023
    August 2023
    March 2023
    January 2023
    October 2022
    August 2022
    June 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    September 2021
    March 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    September 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018

    RSS Feed