1993 Brazil: (Miami), Rio de Janeiro and Petropolis

Introduction;

We had just returned from our summer trip to China when Fred’s brother suggested we take a trip to Rio via Miami on American Airlines. He offered us free passes that he could acquire because he worked for American Airlines as a supervisor. We thought why not?

I called up Vickie Schumacher, a free lance agent in New Ulm, who found reasonable accommodations from UniGlobe for us on Copacabana Beach. August was winter there which explains the good hotel price ($79.80 per night)and also makes it understandable why we are wearing light jackets in August (see photo above). For us the weather was perfect, though.

Sunday, August 8

In the morning we attended a WELS church, Bloomington Lutheran, with our Daughter Kim and her husband Tom Spoden. There were a number of American Airline flights to Miami, but we took a later one since we did not have to Fly from Miami to Rio until 10:45 pm.

Our plane arrived late and we missed our flight. Oh well, we could stay at a Ramada Inn and spend a full day in Miami tomorrow.


Monday, August 9

We signed up for the “Sightseeing Miami’s Best Tour” with Old Town Trolley.

We had plenty of time so took in both the Green route and the orange route.

We started out with a trip through downtown Miami.

Our trolley took us past the piers where the big cruise ships were docked

The part that interested Fred the most was the Miami Beach's Art Deco Architectural Historic District in South Beach. It has the largest concentration of art deco buildings in the world. The Miami Design Preservation League (MDPL) is a non-profit preservation and arts organization devoted to preserving and promoting this unique piece of architectural history.

We visited the Holocaust Memorial of Miami Beach dedicated to the 6 Million Victims of the Holocaust. It was commissioned in 1985 and executed by Kenneth Treister, sculptor, who has described his intent as: "a large environmental sculpture...a series of outdoor spaces in which the visitor is led through a procession of visual, historical and emotional experiences with the hope that the totality of the visit will express, in some small way, the reality of the Holocaust."

The dominant image is the large, 42 foot high bronze hand, The Sculpture of "Love and Anguish," which includes an Auschwitz number on the forearm and 130 human figures cast in bronze in various forms of anguish.

We also saw the exclusive Eden Roc Hotel and Resort, often used for movie scenes.

The evening soon approach and we headed back to the Air Port for our flight to Rio. When we arrived at our destination, we took the Frescao Real Bus to Copacabana for 200,00 cruzeiros, or about $1 per person.

The Luxor Hotel Copacabana was ideally located on Rio’s most famous beach

Since we arrived at the airport at 8:15 am,we had plenty of time our first day for browsing. We walked along the boulevard and visited with vendors.

We met a delightful artist who was selling her small paintings. She spoke English and explained that the government had many restrictions on vendors and taxed them to the hilt.

Her work was quite attractive and we purchased  three of them (one shown)

A little further down the street, we came across a lady selling embroidery she had made. We bargained, with the help of a man who spoke both Portugese and German. When we made our final offer. he said we did well because it cost her that much for the material alone. Later at the hotel, we felt guilty and walked back to give her a few dollars more. She ran over to her friends and explained the unusual event.

The next day we arranged a full city tour with Rio Excursions Sightseeing Tours. We started out by seeing the world’s largest “football” (soccer) stadium.

And seeing the main performance area of the Mardi Gras parade.

From a distance, we were shown where the poor reside. Shanty towns are units of irregular self-constructed housing that are typically unlicensed and occupied illegally. They are usually on lands belonging to third parties, and are most often located on the urban periphery. Shanty town residences are built randomly, although ad hoc networks of stairways, sidewalks, and simple tracks allow passage through them. Our guide said parents often refuse to send their children to school.

Rocinha is the largest favela in Rio de Janeiro, with an estimated population of a quarter of a million people.

Then came a great attraction -- the ride up Sugar Loaf Mountain. The height and unmistakable outline of Sugarloaf makes it one of the main attractions of Rio de Janeiro.

The most popular way of reaching the top is to take the cable car — a system that has been in operation since 1912.

Another outstanding treat was the tour to the Christ the Redeemer. It is one of the tallest statues of its kind in the world.

This tour entailed changing vehicles to a taxi and taking a tortuous path to the viewing platform. Or take the red train for a 17 minute train ride.

A commercial photographer snapped this picture of Annette and me on the way to the viewing platform.

The tour took a full day and darkness meant the day was over, but our guide wanted us to be a captive audience at a jewelry shop. He said everybody out. I told Annette rather than encourage this, she could pick out a precious stone from a reputable dealer the next day. Accordingly we visited H. Stern the next morning and Annie settled on amethyst.

We did spend some time on Copacabana Beach. The weather was not hot and the beach was not crowded.

The scenery was PG13 or PG14.

In the evening we took in a dinner/show package at a “family” theatre.

Today we took a tour outside the city and headed for the old capital of Petropolis.

En route we visited the Little Cascade of Taunay (Tijuca Forest). The Tijuca National Park is a city forest in the ultimate meaning of the word. It is an atlantic rainforest directly neighboring the city of Rio de Janeiro.

Next stop: Constructed in 1944 to be the biggest casino hotel of South America, it was inspired by a Norman castle and, its interiors, are in "Hollywood" style, reminiscence of scenes from American films.

The rooms had been decorated by Dorothy Draper, theatrical designer of famous films of Hollywood. In 1946, President Dutra forbade the game in the country and thus Quitandinha did not survive as a casino. Today it is a convention center.

The main attraction of Petropolis is the former Summer Palace of the second Brazilian Emperor, which is now a museum, specializing in Imperial history and memorabilia. The city was the summer residence of the Brazilian Emperors and aristocrats in the 19th century, and was the official capital of the state of Rio de Janeiro between 1894 and 1903.

Construction of the Petropolis Cathedral started in 1884, under the patronage of D. Pedro II, then the emperor of Brazil, and his daughter, Princess Isabel. The church would only open in 1925, when Brazil had long been a republic.

Back in Rio Fred wanted to videotape the Candelaria church in the Centro where the police the month before gunned down sleeping street children. According to Rio de Janeiro state government's own statistics, in 1992, 424 children under the age of 18 were victims of homicide in Rio de Janeiro. In the first six months of 1993, 298 children were killed in that state. We feared the young policemen with automatic weapons more than the street children.

There are now seven million abandoned children living on the streets of Brazilian cities. Crimes against these children are characterized by extreme brutality and include torture and dismemberment. Often their bodies are left out on the streets "to serve as example for others."

The taxi driver did not want to drop us off in the Centro. He said we would be mugged. Only after we argued would he drop us off at the periphery.

Here we purchased some ear rings for Annette before heading northward to greja de Nossa Senhora da Candelaria. A lady warned me not go further with a camcorder as it would be taken from me. We went through an underpass where children huddled around burning trash barrels. It was a little spooky.

Finally we reached the Candelaria Church and I could videotape the structure.

The next morning we checked out of our four star first class hotel and headed for the airport (near the Centro). The traffic stopped while many security men with automatic weapons milled about. Our driver said, “Must be a problem.” Then the traffic began to move again. Interesting way to end a trip. Our flight on American Air was great and we so informed my brother.

All in all, Rio had much to offer!