Got up early (had breakfast just before 8.30pm) and headed to Botafogo to get to the Pao de Acucar. We met a very friendly Brazilian man who spoke good English and suggested we try getting a bus to the Pao de Acucar, which we did. The cable car looked rather scary from the bottom but was worthwhile as the views from the top were stunning and we were lucky enough to see the Cristo o Redentor when the mists lifted.
When we got back to Botafogo (also on the bus!) we bumped into the man again and he pointed us in the direction of the Museu do Indio in Rua das Palmeiras (which we walked to). There is an exhibition which gives an insight into the way of life of the indigenous people – how they make flour from mandioca, wood carvings, jewellery, hats and weaving. We had a chat with an indigenous man who worked at the museum who had large lumps of wood in his ears (which he got when he was 15 as a right of passage into adulthood). He was very friendly and asked if we had enjoyed the exhibition – which we had, though we thought it might be helpful if some of the museum info could be translated into English.
We got the metro back to Catete and spent an hour and a half in the Museu da Republica after having cappuccinos and biscotti in the Palacio do Catete next door. Really enjoyed the museum. Mum and I learnt a lot (even though it was all in Portuguese!). This was the seat of government from just after the creation of the Republic of Brazil in 1889 until 1960, when President Juscelino Kubitchek moved the capital to Brasilia. President Vargas killed himself in 1954 in his room at the palacce as things had gone very wrong when his security forces had tried to kill a journalist who was exposing corruption and a military major was killed instead.
When we got back to Botafogo (also on the bus!) we bumped into the man again and he pointed us in the direction of the Museu do Indio in Rua das Palmeiras (which we walked to). There is an exhibition which gives an insight into the way of life of the indigenous people – how they make flour from mandioca, wood carvings, jewellery, hats and weaving. We had a chat with an indigenous man who worked at the museum who had large lumps of wood in his ears (which he got when he was 15 as a right of passage into adulthood). He was very friendly and asked if we had enjoyed the exhibition – which we had, though we thought it might be helpful if some of the museum info could be translated into English.
We got the metro back to Catete and spent an hour and a half in the Museu da Republica after having cappuccinos and biscotti in the Palacio do Catete next door. Really enjoyed the museum. Mum and I learnt a lot (even though it was all in Portuguese!). This was the seat of government from just after the creation of the Republic of Brazil in 1889 until 1960, when President Juscelino Kubitchek moved the capital to Brasilia. President Vargas killed himself in 1954 in his room at the palacce as things had gone very wrong when his security forces had tried to kill a journalist who was exposing corruption and a military major was killed instead.
Some key facts about Brazil:
Independence from Portugal – 1822
Creation of Republic of Brazil – 1889
Involved in WWI and WWII
Population of 180m, with most people living in coastal cities and over half living in Sao Paulo state – the rest of the country isn't densely populated. We've seen homeless people and we've seen lots and lots of favelas. The level of poverty in an industrialised country is shocking. The more well off homes have metal railings around them and cameras for protection.
The cable car up to Pao de Acucar looked rather scary from the bottom (mum said going up there was 'beyond the call of duty' though she went up anyway in the end!) but was worthwhile as the views from the top were stunning and we were lucky enough to see the Cristo o Redentor when the mists lifted.
After Pao de Acucar we went to the Museu do Indio, which is nearby in the Botafogo district. There's an exhibition which gives an insight into the way of life of the indigenous people – things like how they make flour from mandioca, wood carvings, jewellery and hats. We also found out that there were around 5m indigenous people when the Portuguese arrived in the 1500s and there are now around 300,000. Apparently there are still some tribes living deep in the Amazon rainforest who have never had contact with the modern world. We had a chat with an Indian man who was at the museum and had large pieces of wood in his ears (which he said he got when he was 15 as a right of passage into adulthood). He was very friendly and asked if we had enjoyed the exhibition – which we said we had, though we thought it might be helpful if some of the museum info could be translated into English. There was a traditional house outside the museum - see below!
We got the metro back to Catete where we were staying and had well deserved cappuccinos and biscotti in the Palacio do Catete, which was the seat of Government until 1960 when President Juscelino Kubitchek moved the capital to Brasilia. There are some very large and impressive condors on the roof of the building (ignore the obstructions in front!).
Part of the Palacio is now the Museu da Republica and we spent a very interesting hour and a half wandering around it and learning about Brazilian history (again in Portuguese). One particularly dramatic bit of history was the suicide of President Vargas in his room in the Palacio in 1954. Things had gone very wrong when his security forces had tried to kill a journalist who was exposing corruption in his government and an air force major was killed instead - the President saw suicide as the only way out and shot himself through the heart. Incredible.
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