Carolina’s Brasil, Past and Present

This past weekend Camillo and I had the honor of hosting Carolina during the last leg of her ‘return to Brasil’ trip.  Carol spent two years in the Peace Corp in a small village in Northeast Brasil forty some odd years ago, and after a long time in the planning, retuned this last month to visit that town, and to reacquaint herself with her fellow Peace Corp volunteers and her former students.   I wont go into the details of her visit, that is her story to tell, but will say that she was delightful.  She told us stories of the people of the town, both from 40 years ago and of their successes through today.  There were stories of her experiences with the Peace Corp of the 60s, of Brasil during those years and of how Brasil seemed to her now.   The changes are beyond belief – including the prices.

She arrived in Brasil / Rio with a list of thing she would like to see and do, and we narrowed it down to fit into the four days that she would be here.  Our short list: she wanted to jump off the mountain in Sao Conrado () – attached to a hang glider of course, see the Niemeyer Contemporary Art Museum in Niteroi, see Santa Teresa, and if possible visit the botanical gardens.   We decided to start with Niteroi on Saturday and Santa Teresa on Sunday so Camillo could join us, these would include trips on the subway, a Barco. lunch in a fish place and any side-shows we might run across.   She would hang glide on Monday and Tuesday we would stay closer to Ipanema so she wouldn’t be totally worn out to travel back to the USA.  The plan was good.

Niteroi: Saturday dawned cloudy with a light mist – we decided to stick with the plan.  This was a good choice, by the time we arrived at the Museum the weather had cleared with a pleasantly warm wind blowing.  Photos are best at this point.

   

  

   this was my second visit to this museum and once again the beauty is about Niemeyer’s design, its blending with the surroundings – this is not about a wonderful exhibition inside..... that took about 5 minutes.   On display was the work of an Italian artist, very interesting but seemed to be digital works..... yes interesting is the right word. 

Lunch..... we walked down to the base of the hill where the museum sits, and caught a bus to Jurujuba for fresh seafood.  We ended up eating shrimp stroganoff – good but pretty standard. 

 

to be continued.......

Friday Shoot out - Construction

The subway has come to Ipanema.
                                                             

In the plaza General Osorio, at the eastern end of Ipanema, The city is finally opening the next subway station. It take about 3 years for each extension of the system but they have promised that they will have the subway system all the way down to the Barra as part of the plan offered to the Olympic committee, in order to win the 2016 games.

 

I had heard that they finally opened our station even though there still seems to be some final details to be worked out. I braved a heavy homecoming downpour to take photos for you. The above ground entrance is done, and the tracks going into central - downtown Rio are working. I walked all the way down to the ticket entrance gates to see how the new station looks – seemed like a half mile or so.

 

The actual track seem to be about 5 stories below ground. A series of escaladers and moving walkways take you down, and down, and down again to the ticket sales, then there is one more level of stairs down to track side. It was possible to look up-track to were they are already working on the next section.  

 

I can't seem to find out were that next station will be but the way it works now you take the Metro to Ipanema, then with the same ticket you can catch a surface bus and go out as far as Barra Shopping. This station, and several others, has secured storage for you bike and some of the trains have one car that allows your bike to go with you.....

 

I think this is very cool and far sighted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The long halls with their high domed ceilings are lined with tiles that depict the history, and the attitudes of Ipanema.

 

Well done city of Rio.

 

    I look forward to being able to take the subway all the way out to Barra, when the line fully connects this sprawling city.