AN EXQUISITE OPERA HOUSE BLENDING WITH THE NATURE

The Ópera de Arame, in Portuguese, or the Wire Opera House, in English, is a theatre house located in the city of Curitiba, the capital of the state of Paraná, in southern Brazil. It is one of the major tourist attractions of the city. Situated in the middle of an urban green park, Parque das Pedreiras, the Wire Opera House theatre is built out of steel tubes, totalling 360 tons of steel,  which gave it its name,  and sits 2,400 people.  It was built in 75 days on the site of a former rock quarry. 

http://www.curitiba.pr.gov.br/idioma/ingles
http://www.curitiba-parana.net/opera-arame.htm

DOES THE NAME 'PROJETO TAMAR' RING A BELL?

 The Projeto TAMAR (Portuguese for TAMAR Project, with TAMAR being an abbreviation of Tartarugas Marinhas, the Sea Turtles) is a Brazilian non-profit organization owned by the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation ( http://www.icmbio.gov.br/portal/). The main objective of the project is to protect sea turtles from extinction in the Brazilian coastline.The TAMAR project was officially created in 1980. The first activities were not centered on the preservation of the turtles, but on their identification, their spawn sites and seasons, and the main problems caused by poaching. When the first preservation actions began, TAMAR took the first Brazilian pictures of a sea turtle spawning. In 1983, the oceanographers searched for Petrobras, to ask for support on the project. The company analyzed all the actions of the project and decided to support it, by providing fuel to their jeeps. So far TAMAR has managed to release more than 10 million turtles in the sea. Although the initial purpose was to protect sea turtles only, the project grew and became concerned with sharks and all the sea wildlife, as they are part of the environment in which the sea turtles live. All actions by the project intend to preserve wildlife, concern people about environment, and create sustainable places for the procreation of the species protected by TAMAR.
 There are currently 22 bases of the project, spread all over the country coastline, covering a range of more than 1000 kilometers:
 Almofala, Ceará

Atol das Rocas, Rio Grande do Norte
Fernando de Noronha, Pernambuco
Ponta dos Mangues, Sergipe
Pirambu, Sergipe
Oceanário, Sergipe
Abaís, Sergipe
Mangue Seco, Bahia
Sítio do Conde, Bahia
Costa do Sauípe, Bahia
Praia do Forte, Bahia
Arembepe, Bahia
Itaúnas, Espírito Santo
Guriri, Espírito Santo
Pontal do Ipiranga, Espírito Santo
Povoação, Espírito Santo
Vila de Regência, Espírito Santo
Ilha da Trindade, Espírito Santo
Anchieta, Espírito Santo
Bacia de Campos, Rio de Janeiro
Ubatuba, São Paulo
Florianópolis, Santa Catarina

www.tamar.org.br/
www.projetotamar.com.br/

Corpus Christi feast in Brazil - a must see

Corpus Christi, which falls 60 days after Easter, is celebrated as a national holiday in Brazil. This year, it is going to be on June 7, a Thursday.  In many Brazilian towns people decorate the streets with ephemeral tapestries made of colored sawdust, coffee, salt and grains which depict Biblical passages on the way where the religious procession will pass. The main feature of the Corpus Christi festivity is the procession. Tapestries usually represent Eucharistic motifs. In Paraty, a national historic monument, the Corpus Chisti celebration is observed with the entire traditional liturgy. It´s a lively cultural event really worth witnessing! Cities worth visiting: Cananéia, Santana de Parnaíba, Ibitinga, Cunha, in São Paulo State, Ouro Preto, São João Del Rey, Mariana, Sabará, in Minas Gerais State, and Paraty in Rio de Janeiro State.



MORE PICTURES

WATER FOR THE DRAUGHT IN THE NORTHEASTERN REGION

The Transfer of the São Francisco River is a large-scale interbasin transfer to the dry sertão, an area fabled for its harsh, dry climate and the toughness of the people who have adapted to it,  in the four northeastern states of Ceara, Rio Grande do Norte, Paraiba and Pernambuco in Brazil. The project, which was given the green light to go ahead by Brazil's government in 2005, was initially estimated to cost US$2 billion, having reached US$6billion by now and growing, and is expected to improve the lives of 12m people. The project actually consists of two transfers: The East axis would transfer water to the Paraíba do Norte River, while the North axis would transfer water to the Jaguaribe and Piranhas rivers. The project includes 700 km of canals and tunnels, as well as several dams. It is expected to displace almost a million people and construction is expected to take 20 years to complete.

ROGER WATERS IS BRINGING HIS WALL TO SÃO PAULO

The author of "The Wall" says - I recently came across this quote of mine from 22 years ago: ” What it comes down to for me is this: Will the technologies of communication in our culture, serve to enlighten us and help us to understand one another better, or will they deceive us and keep us apart?”... This new production of The Wall is an attempt to draw some comparisons, to illuminate our current predicament, and is dedicated to all the innocent lost in the intervening years...
 
And the kids from the Heliópolis slum are getting a new choreography ready for him on the show which will take place on the 1st and 3rd of April, at the Morumbi stadium in São Paulo.

 

HERE THE WATER BUFFALOES ARE TAME

With a land area of 40,100 km² (15,500 sq mi), which compares to the size of Switzerland, it is the largest island to be completely surrounded by freshwater in the world. The island sits almost directly on the equator. Yes, we are speaking of the Marajó Island in the northern state of Pará. Large parts of the islands are flooded during the rain season, because of higher water levels of the Amazon River along the coast and of heavy rainfall in the interior. The east of the island is dominated by savanna vegetation. There are large farms with animal husbandry. This is also the location of Lake Arari, which has an area of 400 km² but shrinks by 80 percent during the dry season. Nowadays there are large herds of domesticated water buffaloes on the island.And they are surely part of the landscape, as they are part of the populations´ daily life. There are 20 large rivers on the island. Because of oscillating water levels and regular floods, many settlements are built on stilts (Palafitas).

The most important towns are in the southeast of the island: Soure, Salvaterra, and the largest city, Breves. They feature a basic touristic infrastructure and are popular because of the generous lonely beaches.
 The island was the site of an advanced pre-Columbian society, the Marajoara culture. Dates are suggested to be between 800 AD and 1400 AD for the culture.

BE SEDUCED BY ITS FRAGRANCE

Cupuaçu (Theobroma grandiflorum), also spelled Cupuassu, Cupuazú, and Copoasu, is a tropical rainforest tree related to cacao. Common throughout the Amazon basin, it is widely cultivated in the jungles of the north of Brazil, with the largest production in Pará, followed by Amazonas, Rondônia and Acre.

 The white pulp of the cupuaçu is uniquely fragrant (described as a mix of chocolate and pineapple), and it contains theacrine (1,3,7,9-tetramethyluric acid) instead of the xanthines (caffeine, theobromine, and theophylline) found in cacao. It is frequently used in desserts, juices and sweets. The juice tastes primarily like a pear, with a hint of banana. The pulp is also used in cosmetics products such as body lotions, as it is highly hydrating, similarly to cocoa butter. Commercial production of cupuaçu includes food supplements, pills, drinks, smoothies and sweets. Natura, a large cosmetics Brazilian company develops several self-sustained projects in Northern Brazil in the exploitation of cupuaçu. On the following link some recipes (in Portuguese) with cupuaçu.

http://laura-caroline.blogspot.com.br/2010/04/cupuacu-e-uma-deliciaaaaaaaaaaa.html

THE JUGGERNAUT OF SUPER FRUITS

CUPUAÇU MOUSSE

1 can of condensed milk

1 can of cream milk

1 tea cup of cupuaçu pulp (may be found in frozen fruits section of largest supermarkets)

Blend everything together and pour into cups - (the decoration is up to you). Must stay in fridge for 4 hours.

Serve chilled.

CREME DE PAPAYA TOPPED WITH LIQUOR DE CASSIS

THE BENEFITS OF CAJA FRUIT



BRAZILIAN COCONUT FLAN - QUINDIM

STREET ART OF SÃO PAULO: A GUIDED TOUR

WALL.K is a urban exploitation tool that uses audio guides to tell users about the street art of São Paulo. A project that aims to make people perceive the city from a new perspective.
More on it, check this out: http://catarse.me/pt/projects/531-wall-k-sao-paulo

http://babeldasartes.wordpress.com/2010/03/24/arte-urbana-27-marco-dia-grafitti/


GOOGLE STREET ART OF SAO PAULO

BATMAN´S ALLEY

TIKKA MESZAROS

WALL.K São Paulo (english version) from musiq audio experience on Vimeo.

VER-O-PESO: A SENSORIAL EXPERIENCE

Ver-o-peso market is a market hall in Belém, Brazil located at Guajará Bay riverside.
It is called "Ver-o-Peso" following a colonial era tradition, since the tax collector's main post was located there, which was called "Casa do Haver-o-peso" ("House of Taxes Due over Weight"). It was in the "Haver-o-peso house" that the taxes over goods brought from the Amazon forests, rivers and countryside should be paid to the Portuguese crown, but only after their weight was measured, hence the name, which later suffered a contraction.

Nowadays, the Ver-o-peso complex contains the Açaí Fair, a free open market where açaí berry merchants sell the fruit in natura for açaí juice shops, the Clock Square, with an iron-cast clock tower brought from England, the Ver-o-peso docks, where native fishes from Amazon are unloaded from boats and sold fresh, the Iron Market, a gothic prefab structure where fish is sold, the Solar da Beira space, a colonial building where art expositions often take place, and the neoclassical Meat Market, across the street, with iron-cast stairs and cubicles. There's also the free market, where craftsmanship, natural essence parfums, typical food and native fruits are sold.
It is located a few meters away from Feliz Lusitânia complex, a gathering of 16th and 18th century buildings including a fortress, an old hospital transformed into a museum, and two churches: a baroque one where there is a sacred art museum, and Belém's cathedral.All this area has been declared national patrimony by the National Historical Museum (Brazil).

CARE FOR SOME FEIJOADA?

Feijoada (Portuguese pronunciation: [fejʒuˈada]) is a stew of beans with beef and pork, which is a typical dish in Portuguese and Brazilian Cuisine, is also typical in Angola, Mozambique, Goa, India and other former Portuguese colonies. In Brazil, feijoada is considered by many as the national dish. Feijoada was brought to South America by the Portuguese, based in ancient Feijoada recipes from the Portuguese regions of Beira, Estremadura, and Trás-os-Montes.

The name comes from feijão, Portuguese for "beans". The Brazilian feijoada is prepared with black turtle beans (also white, pinto and red beans), a variety of salted pork and beef products, such as pork trimmings (ears, tail, feet), bacon, smoked pork ribs, and at least two types of smoked sausage and jerked beef (loin and tongue).

This stew is best prepared over low fire in a thick clay pot. The final dish has the beans and meat pieces barely covered by a dark purplish-brown broth. The taste is strong, moderately salty but not spicy, dominated by the flavors of black bean and meat stew. It is traditionally served with rice, and accompanied by chopped fried collard greens (couve mineira), lightly roasted coarse cassava flour (farofa) and peeled and sliced orange. Other common side dishes are boiled or deep-fried cassava, deep-fried bananas, and pork rinds (torresmo). A pot of hot pepper sauce is often provided on the side. The meal is often washed down with cachaça, caipirinha, or beer.

Since it is a rather heavy dish that takes several hours to cook, feijoada is consumed in Brazil only occasionally, always at lunch time. Traditionally, restaurants will offer it as the "daily's special" only once or twice a week, usually on Wednesdays and Saturdays.  

And voilà! Bon Appetit!!!!

FORRÓ DANCE: HERE WE GO!

Forró (Portuguese pronunciation: [foˈʁɔ]) is a kind of Northeastern Brazilian dance as well as a word used to denote the different genres of music which accompanies the dance. There are several theories on the origin of the name but the one often heard popularly in Brazil is that the word forró is a derivative of the English expression "for all" and that it originated in the early 1900s. English engineers on the Great Western Railway of Brazil near Recife would throw balls on weekends and classify them as either only for railroad personnel or for the general populace ("for all"). This belief was somewhat reinforced by a similar practice by USAF personnel stationed at the Natal Air Force Base during World War II, but it is not possible because before the USAF went to Natal, the name "Forró" was already in use.

 Forró is the most popular genre in Brazil's Northeast. It is the name of the dance. Different genres of music can be used to dance the forró. Traditionally, all of these music genres uses only three instruments (accordion, zabumba and a metal triangle). The dance also become very different as you cross the borders of the Northeast into the Southeast. As part of the popular culture it is in constant change. The dance known as college forró is the most common style between the middle-class students of colleges and universities in the Southeast, having influences of other dances like salsa and samba-rock. The traditional music used to dance the forró was brought to the Southeast from the Northeast by Luiz Gonzaga, who transformed the baião (a word originated from baiano and assigned a warm-up for artists to search for inspiration before playing) into a more sophisticated rhythm. In later years, forró achieved popularity throughout Brazil, in the form of a slower genre known as xote, that has been influenced by pop-rock music to become more acceptable by Brazilian youth of Southeast, South and Central regions.

Behold! The Farricocos are coming!

In Goiás, the most popular festival is the Procession of the Fogaréu, which occurs on the Wednesday before Easter Sunday. It is one of the most traditional events of Holy Week in Brazil and only in Angra dos Reis is a similar procession celebrated. During the ceremony the farricocos (the people dressed in medieval robes and hoods that accompany processions of penitence) simulate the arresting of Jesus by running through the streets of the town at midnight with torches to the sound of drums. There is a great resemblance with some traditions that take place in Spain at the same time of year especially in Toledo and Sevilla. The darkness, the torches, and the speed of the men with covered faces create a medieval atmosphere, frightening and exciting.

It was believed that the devil was loose in the streets of the town on that night, frightening all, especially the children. Originally, only men could participate but today that has changed. Superstitions like the presence of a werewolf and a headless mule are also manifested in this popular festival.

Tourists come from far and wide to witness the spectacle.

SPEAKING OF FLOWERS...

Holambra (from the words Holland-America-Brazil) is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. The population in 2009 (estimated) is 10,224 and the area is 64.422 km². The elevation is 600 m on average.
The colony Holambra and The Cooperativa Agropecuária de Holambra (Cattle Farming Co-operative of Holambra) were founded in 1948 by Catholic Dutch immigrants at the farm Fazenda Ribeirão, situated between the cities Jaguariúna, Santo Antonio de Posse, Artur Nogueira and Cosmópolis. After a referendum in 1991 where 98% of the population voted in favor of political autonomy for the area, Holambra gained city status in January 1993.
The cows that were shipped in from the Netherlands by the initial colonists did not survive the heat and tropical diseases so the colonists diversified to pig and chicken farming. As the colony around the farm grew in the following decades, the focus shifted from agriculture to horticulture.
Famous for its large production of flowers and plants and for the yearly event Expoflora, (this year it will be held from Aug. 30 to Sep. 23).  Holambra receives thousands of tourists each year. It accounts for 40% of the domestic production of flowers and 80% for exports. Every year the flower fair Expoflora showcases a new variety of flower grown locally.
http://www.expoflora.com.br/
http://www.turismoholambra.com.br/
Staying in a farm hotel is lots of fun! : http://hotelfazendasolardasandorinhas.com/index.asp

SYNCRETISM IN BRASIL (African religions and catholic as one)

Yemanja is an orisha, originally of the Yoruba religion, who has become prominent in many Afro-American religions. Africans from what is now called Yorubaland brought Yemaya/Yemoja and a host of other deities/energy forces in nature with them when they were brought to the shores of the Americas as captives. She is the ocean, the essence of motherhood, and a protector of children.

The goddess is known as Yemanja, Iemanja or Janaina in Brazilian Candomble and Umbanda religions.
The Umbanda religion worships Iemanja as one of the seven orixas of the African Pantheon. She is the Queen of the Ocean, the patron deity of the fishermen and the survivors of shipwrecks, the feminine principle of creation and the spirit of moonlight. A syncretism happens between the catholic Nossa Senhora dos Navegantes (Our Lady of the Seafaring) and the orixa Iemanja of the African Mithology. Sometimes, a feast can honor both.
In Salvador, Bahia, Iemanja is celebrated by Candomble on the very same day consecrated by the Catholic Church to Our Lady of Seafaring (Nossa Senhora dos Navegantes). Every February 2, thousands of people line up at dawn to leave their offerings at her shrine in Rio Vermelho.
Gifts for Iemanja usually include flowers and objects of female vanity (perfume, jewelry, combs, lipsticks, mirrors). These are gathered in large baskets and taken out to the sea by local fishermen. Afterwards a massive street party ensues.
Iemanjá is also celebrated every December 8 in Salvador, Bahia. The Festa da Conceicao da Praia (Feast to Our Lady of Conception of the church at the beach) is a city holiday dedicated to the Catholic saint and also to Iemanja. Another feast occurs on this day in the Pedra Furada, Monte Serrat in Salvador, Bahia, called the Gift to Iemanja, when fishermen celebrate their devotion to the Queen of the Ocean.
Outside Bahia State, Iemanja is celebrated mainly by followers of the Umbanda religion.
On New Year's Eve in Rio de Janeiro, millions of cariocas, of all religions, dressed in white gather on Copacabana beach to greet the New Year, watch fireworks, and throw (white) flowers and other offerings into the sea for the goddess in the hopes that she will grant them their requests for the coming year. Some send their gifts to Iemanja in wooden toy boats. Paintings of Iemanja are sold in Rio shops, next to paintings of Jesus and other Catholic saints. They portray her as a woman rising out of the sea. Small offerings of flowers and floating candles are left in the sea on many nights at Copacabana.
In Sao Paulo State, Iemanja is celebrated in the two first weekends of December on the shores of Praia Grande city. During these days many vehicles garnished with Iemanja icons and colors (white and blue) roam from the São Paulo mountains to the seashore, some of them traveling hundreds of miles. Thousands of people rally near Iemanja's statue in Praia Grande beach.
In Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul State, on February 2, the image of Nossa Senhora dos Navegantes is carried to the port of Pelotas. Before the closing of the catholic feast, the boats stop and host the Umbanda followers that carry the image of Iemanjá, in a syncretic meeting that is watched by thousand of people on the shore.

SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA

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