Bariloche

Nahuel Huapi Lake in Bariloche, Argentina

I was told by my Dutch man that the Princess of the Netherlands, Maxima, who is Argentinian, has a house in Bariloche to spend holidays. This makes perfect sense, because Bariloche has the fame to be the Switzerland of Argentina. I haven't been in Switzerland yet, but after Bariloche I think I might like that cold, punctual, chocolaty neighbour!

What a lovely place is Bariloche! We were already enchanted in Chiloé,  homeland of the mapuche-huilliche, a pure island not yet contaminated by tourism. Not many foreign backpackers, chilenos all year round. So rustic and simple it was that we actually thought of skipping Bariloche and stay longer on the island. But for some reason we moved further...As soon as we arrived on the shores of the Nahuel Huapi Lake we realised what we could have missed by not coming to Bariloche. We met 3 Italians in Chile, all coming from different parts of Italy, who commented that Bariloche was nothing special, that was just like Switzerland and thus didn't deserve much attention. According to them, two days spent in town were more than enough. What a mistake! Sometimes people are just too rush in their judgements. They don't take the time to reflect, they don't allow themselves to be surprised and worse, in their case, they keep looking at things with European eyes. There is so much nature around here, from hidden lakes to volcanic enchanted valleys...so much that two days in Bariloche are definitely NOT enough!

What is more, is that technically we can even say that we have been in Patagonia! Although in this part of Argentinian Patagonia there is no monotonous landscape and no flatness. It is a Patagonia made of rios hermosos, beautiful rivers, valleys, rocks sculptured by volcanic activity in the most different figures, gentle hills and pictoresque shores. Really, pleasure for our eyes!

Now it is already time to move ahead. We have barely time to notice we are getting tired. In few hours we will be on the way to Mendoza.

Un país para todos

Ancud, Chiloé island, Chile

Before leaving Europe I had the great idea to pack also a book: Mi País Inventado, by Isabel Allende. She nostalgically tells about Chile and her childhood around its cities and villages. 

 
Chile is literally a maravilla! And I'm sure it would satisfy all tastes. Santiago, great for those who enjoy urban life, running after concerts and the likes. Valparaíso for who loves doing tourism or for those who like to profit of  tourists. The south, with its fjords and islands, vulcans and cold until Punta Arenas for those love diving into nature. The north for who loves sand, gaysers and endless starry nights.

All this in such a narrow and peripheral country. When the first migrants reached Chile, it must have felt as surviving to some superheroic adventure to the very end of the world, crossing ocean and lands. Beyond the Andes and facing yet another -immense- ocean, there it was today's Chile. Sure a one way trip. Only the thought of returning must have been out of discussion. Today, traveling is way too easy for us citizens of the global village...eventhough  often the easiness to travel does not go hand in hand with the open-mindedness of those who go 'on the road'. But this is another story.

Chileans can be lovely people and as we don't look like the typical American gringo and can at least speak Spanish, they tend to like us too :) Their mestizos faces are beautiful, women very charmy, their size too cute!

Cara de alemán

View of the Mercado Fluvial in Valdivia, Chile

At first, I was surprised to realise that everybody seems to love Germans over here. With my limited knowledge I wondered where all this love came from and all I knew was that after WWII some of those alleged to be with the Nazi regime flew to this land to find a new refuge. What I didn't know is that the Germans came to Chile way before the war and left a positive trace.

The first Germans came to Chile between 1849 and 1851, abandoning a continent of failed liberal political experiments. In the same period, Chile just became an independent Republic in need of people to fill its vast and mostly empty lands. The favourable laws of the newly born Republic attracted many immigrants and the Germans were basically the first to profit of this situation. The first arrival of immigrants consisted mostly of merchants, countrymen and craftsmen who settled in Valdivia and its surroundings, as well as in the LLanquihue Lake area. These settlers came from Hesse, Silesia, Wurtemberg, Bohemia, Westfalia, Brandemburg and Saxony. They brought their traditions and knowledge, contributing to the cultural and economic development of the country. They managed to integrate in the new nation without losing their language, customs and beliefs. Differently than the Spanish, they didn't come to impose themselves and their religion in the new world.

Valdivia (in the picture) is the German heart of Chile and all the links between Chile and Germany became clearer in this place. Many streets in Valdivia are named after a German, eg. Carlos Anwandter, Rudolf Philippi, Amthauer, Oettinger...and the main road passing between Rio Valdivia and Rio Cau Cau is funnily named Avenida Alemania, Germany Avenue. Even the first brewery of the country was established by a German and a lot of local beers still carry a German name, like Kustmann.

Today there is no difficulty in recognising a German face (cara de alemán) around. Generally a tall person, white skin and blue eyes...in contrast with the chilenos who are short, dark and have the darkest jet-black eyes! Don't we all love Germans after all?? ;)

Pablo's corners

Neruda's house in Valparaíso

Since the past days we are enjoying Chile, a land of amazing natural constrasts. Tomorrow night we will move south towards Valdivia and the island of Chiloé, personally longing for a non urban place, away from the city. Time to dive into nature.  

So far, I can say I loved Santiago, with its relaxed atmoshpere that made us slow down our city-paced-steps. I would have stayed in its bohemian neighbourhood, Bellavista, night after night, enjoying its colours, street-art and local beer. Then we moved to the colourful Valparaíso, which centre, with its colourful houses, cerros and ascensores, is even a World Heritage site. 

But the most inspiring thing we have done so far was to visit three pearls hidden in Santiago, Valparaíso and Isla Negra: the houses were Pablo Neruda lived in Chile during his life. All of them are simply inspiring: la Chascona in Santiago, la Sebastiana in Valparaíso and the one on Isla Negra, where Pablo was buried with his Matilde. Neruda was a wealthy man but didn't surround himself with boring trivialities or antiquities. His houses are filled with objects of a highly symbolic meaning. He gave a sense, a colour and a metaphor to every little thing he put around. Poetry of things, not just of words. Neurda is a man that belonged to any piece of our earth, with his humanity, his travelling and his reaching the soul of things. These houses themselves are an ode to the will of enjoying life...Totally beautiful!

All that shines is not gold

Smiling at life, Brazilian spirit after all

Everyone warned us before going to Rio. Everyone reminded us how dangerous the city is and recommended to be careful and watch our staff all the time. Nothing happened because we stayed in the Rio that shines...

Rio definitely has what Sao Paulo lacks: beauty and charm, it is indeed the cidade maravilhosa, beautiful city! It has beautiful beaches and the sea is a relief from the continuous heat. Coming from smoky Sao Paulo, as soon as we arrived in Rio Copacabana beach and its Pâo de Açucar looked like a paradise! The sea and the lagune look lovely, no one seems to run to work (or work at all) and you need no umbrella because there won't be any rain in the afternoon as it does in Sao Paulo. But as the say goes, all that shines is not gold.

If walking around the neighbourhoods of Ipanema and Copacabana, it is easy to forget about its favelas, the linea vermelha (called by some 'Gaza Strip') and all that dirty business people know from the movies. Everything seems fine and people seem to have no worries but the way they look! The most unbearable thing is indeed the way cariocas behave. They totally adhore to show off. They have the cult of their bodies and don't even care whether their tanned legs have cellulite or not. I found it contraddictory. It seems that the carioca feels it natural to walk around naked all the time...According to a local joke it is very simple to distinguish a carioca from a paulistano: the latter would walk in his shirt while the former would be simply in his bare skin. Though, when driving, they are all indistinctly crazy dangerous!

At night it is again the same show. Senhoras in their nicest dress and jewelleries, the youth seeming to say 'I belong to the United Kingdom of Ipanema'. I am not saying I didn't enjoy it! Ipanema is totally lovely! The wild ocean and the softest white sand I have ever walked on are difficult to forget. I just had the feeling that that was a bit of a fake world. A ball of air.

Pizza and Sushi

Migration flows to Brazil at Museo da Lingua Portuguesa

I have come to the conclusion that it is food to reveal what Brazil really is. Yesterday a Japanese-Portuguese woman prepared an italian dish for us, using a recipe Italians don't use. It was still a delicious plate! Few days ago, Roberta brought us to a pizzeria, insisting that the best pizza in the world is made in Sao Paulo. Despite skeptical, as soon as the first bite of pizza paulistana met my mouth I had to frankly admit that it was indeed delicious! The sushi in Sao Paulo can be a delicatess and the 'food of the slaves', the feijoada, is today a typical Brazilian dish...What does it all tell? 

Of course food and recipes travel along with the people and folks that use them...when Italians started to move to Brazil from the 1870s didn´t bring with them only hope for a new life in the new world, but they also brought along their culinary habits, gnocchi and pizza! According to the numbers, Italians are the biggest immigrant group in Brazil with some 1,5 million Italians of which 70% seems to be concentrated in Sao Paulo...No wonder a pizza can be so good here! Then there are also Portuguese, Spanish, Germans, Russians, a big colony of Japanese people, and even Chinese, Korean, Lebanese, Jews and...Africans (theirs is another story).

This diversity in faces, languages and food is the richness of this big country. At the Museu da Lingua Portuguesa you learn that since the Portuguese came to Brazil in the 1500, the portuguese language evolved and enriched itself by meeting other cultures. A lot of names and names of places derive from tupinambá, the indigenous language the portuguese met first. Words like moleque, bunda, tanga come from African banto. Açougue, açucar, àlcool come from Arabic. The portuguese language is extremely rich, and so is this culture and this place! Personally, I adore its diversity!

Sampa

A modest piece of São Paulo city

São Paulo is the Brasil the world is unaware of. Lovely called Sampa by its inhabitants, it doesn't have the beaches of Rio de Janeiro, nor has it the blue blue sky of Salvador de Bahia in the north, nor that sort of 'Europeaness' of certain cities in the south. São Paulo is a huge, enormous and almost monstruous metropolis...and being the economic-financial heart of Brazil, it attracts a special kind of turist: the business man. Believe or not, it is almost hard to find postcards in São Paulo!

Paulistanos are very proud of their city. According to a local saying, Brasilia is the head of the country, São Paulo is the heart, whereas Rio de Janeiro is the penis. Funny, uh?! Sure Rio is represented as such for the body's worship and the usual show off of suntanned tatooed body along the beaches of the former capital. Paulistanos like to remark how easy it is to recognize a Paulistano in Rio de Janeiro: unlike cariocas, s/he would wear at least a t-shirt. Now, I'm not buying it at all, but I still find such jokes and implicit rivalry way too funny! ...'We work while they just sunbathe!' (guess who is who)...ahahah!!

Afternoon storm on the Avenida Paulista

What I like of São Paulo is that its summer days have four season in one day: like spring in the morning, summer around noon, sort of winter during the punctual afternoon rainstorm, and autumn right after the storm. Lovely. They all know it and that's why Paulistan@s smartly walk around in summer clothes plus umbrella :) 

What I can't possibly like of São Paulo is the driving style of its people. They are completely crazy. And I come from Palermo! They all jump in their cars and immediately lock the doors (the reason being to prevent that someone opens the car and robs you or pulls you out and takes the vehicle. No, it is not some science fiction story). Then they speed up from 1 to 5 in ten seconds, run like crazy and, like in Napoli, they wil decide whether they feel like stopping at the traffic light or not (mainly for the same reason already explained). Let's just take it as local custom.

Overall, we are still discovering the city. Our friends are clearly spoiling us with culinary experiences, churrascos, feijoadas, sushi and so on. Maurice and I keep saying that we are made for good old man-sized Europe, yet we are fascinated and curious to discover what all other capitals and metropolis in South America look like!

No pain, no gain

We arrived on Ilha Grande in a totally improvised way. The bus to Angra dos Reis was late and left us with no ferry to get to the island. It was 8 pm and we didn't like the idea to remain in that fishermen-town knowing that a tropical paradise was so close to our reach. The Brazilian way has it that in difficult circumstances everybody comes together in a spirit of mutual help. And so, everybody started to talk, to check options and possibilities...We managed to find a fisherman with a relatively small boat who was going to Araçatiba and we got on while the tropical rainfall started to become heavier. What an experience! Our backpacks were luckily the driest thing on the whole boat, but the four of us had to stay in the rain for almost one hour and a half. We got TOTALLY soaked and none of us got sick! :P Personally, I was already surprised that I didn't feel any sea-sickness...there was probably no time to feel sick as the main thought was that of surviving the rainy trip without passport and money getting wet and unusable.

On our way we could only spot some distant lighthouses and some shapes of near small islands. When we got closer to the island, a big, high volcano-shaped thingy welcomed us to Ilha Grande. We arrived in total dark, crossed a river and walked up until our chalezâo with the only help of our flashlights. Although back then it felt sort of impossible, now I can say it was totally cool!

It rained for almost three days without stopping for a single minute. We enjoyed this strange tropical summer chit-chatting and drinking local beer, playing some weird Brazilian card game, which is all about bluffing, and imaging what the island could look like beyond the fog that was all around us. We passed New Years Eve drinking champagne, listening to the rain and watching the fireworks in Rio de Janeiro on tv until the power went off...since then, we never had electricity again!

On the morning of January 1st, hundreds cicada's (cicale in italian, cigarras in portuguese) woke us up with a sort of intergalactic sound. Amazing. According to the island inhabitants, that particular sound means that after the storm the sun is finally coming...We couldn't believe it! Because of all that rain that seemed to never end we almost gave up to the idea we could ever go to the beach and lay in the sun.

Vox populi was right. The sun came and it was stronger than ever. Ilha Grande is amazing. Its tropical vegetation is dense and compact, big high palm trees are everywhere with their cute green coconuts, there are plants of every kind and an immense all surrounding green everywhere. The sea was calm and the water still warm and very enjoyble. The sand red, yellow and even white. Small villages, colourful houses, sleepy boats. What a view. Totally beautiful. It took me few minutes to realize that I was finally on that tropical island I longed for during winter in Europe. The sun finally was on my skin! I loved it!

Maravilhosas praias vermelhas, Ilha Grande, Brasil