Itanhaém

Itanhaém is a town located in the coast about an hour and half from São Paulo City, the State Capital. They say it is the second oldest city in the country (founded by the portuguese in 1532), though there is a controverse about it. The Church and the Monastery (in ruins) in the picture, the "Our Lady of Conception Monastery" was built during the XVI through the XVII century. There are many historical sites around the place. In the main square there´s the "Matriz de Santana" Church (picture bellow), where people get together at night for a drink or for a chat. This is a good tradition of the smaller towns in Brazil, that we don´t find anymore in the bigger cities, except in some particular neighbourhoods.

Around Itanhaém we don´t find nice beaches with clear waters that invites us to the sea, because there´a big river (The Itanhaém River) that flows into the sea right there in the downtown area, bringing muddy waters. But the beaches around are ok for a walk at the end of the day. We spent a weekend there last november.

Christian Cordonnier

 

No último dia 19 de outubro, fui ver uma exposição da artista americana Laurie Anderson no Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, no centro de São Paulo.

Entre diversas instalações, fotografias e escritos em parede, uma me chamou especial atenção. Dizia o seguinte: "Uma pessoa morre três vezes. A primeira quando o coração para de bater. A segunda quando enterramos o seu corpo. E a terceira quando alguém diz o seu nome pela última vez."

Nesta ocasião fiquei particularmente feliz, pois eu sempre imaginara que a morte definitiva de uma pessoa só ocorresse mesmo quando seu último amigo, parente ou conhecido querido morresse também, porque eu sempre ouvira falar que as pessoas mortas permaneciam vivas na memória das pessoas queridas.

No dia 24 de outubro eu recebi uma mensagem eletrônica de um francês, em resposta a uma indagação minha, me informando que meu amigo Christian Cordonnier, que não mais atendia às minhas chamadas ou respondia às minhas mensagens, havia morrido há quase um ano.

Apesar de um certo temor, sabendo que ele enfrentava um câncer, eu tinha grandes esperanças que ainda estivesse vivo. Imaginava estar ele vivendo uma depressão. Nossas últimas conversas haviam sido breves. Esperava ainda poder conversar com ele. Imaginava que ainda voltaria a escrever em francês para ele e ele me responderia então em português, para que corrigíssemos a escrita um do outro, como fazíamos de vez em quando. A notícia portanto foi um choque para mim.

Mas ainda que não possa recuperar a alegria dessa amizade sincera, vou escrever e dizer o seu nome, e não será a última vez, para que permaneça ainda por muito tempo vivo: Christian Cordonnier. O Sapateiro, como gostava de dizer (cordonnier significa sapateiro em francês), Cristiano, o baterista de Nantes, o francês mais brasileiro de toda a França. O amigo de uma vida. Christian foi quem me ensinou a diferença entre au revoir, à bientôt e à tout-a-l´heure, expressões que eu usava indistintamente. Assim não vou dizer adeus, mas simplesmente olá.

Salut Christian Cordonnier.

Christian Cordonnier

On october 19th, I visited the Bank of Brazil Cultural Center, in an old building in downtown São Paulo, to see a Laurie Anderson´s retrospective exhibit. Among pictures, pieces of art, and writings on walls, one particular writing took my attention. It was written: "A person dies three times. The first time when his heart stops beating. The second when he is buried or cremated and the third time it´s when someone says his name for the last time."

I loved this statement and had a smile on my face because it confirmed what I thought about it, that a person only dies definitely when someone speaks his name for the last time. I thought that because  I had always heard in my life that the dead people still alive in the memories of the dear ones.

On october 24th, I received an e-mail from a french person, in response to an earlier question made by me, informing that my french friend Christian Cordonnier, who was not answering my phone calls or e-mails anymore, had died almost a year ago.

It was a shock. Although I feared something since I knew he was fighting a cancer, I still had hopes that he was still alive,  just in depression. I had hopes that I would write him letters in french again and he would answer me in portuguese, so he could correct my french, and I could correct his portuguese in order to improve our skills in the other´s language.

So although I won´t be able to have the gladness of his friendship again, I will still say his name, and it won´t be for the last time. Christian Cordonnier, o Sapateiro (Cordonnier means Shoemaker in french and in portuguese is sapateiro), as he liked to call himself in portuguese , or Cristiano, the drummer of Nantes, the most brazilian of all frenchmen. I will always say his name: Christian Cordonnier.

Rio de Janeiro

There´s a Antonio Carlos Jobim´s song, named "The airplane´s samba" that says:

My soul sings

I see Rio de Janeiro

I am missing it

Rio, your sea

beach endless.

Rio, you were made for me.

Christ The Redmeer,

open arms over Guanabara.

This song is only because,

Rio I love you

The brunete will dance the samba

your body is going to balance.

Hold on,

the plane is going to land, we are coming.

Brilliant waters, see the lane closer...

There we go... landing....



It was great to visit Rio again, after almost 8 years. We drove the car this time. It´s just a 5 hours drive from São Paulo.

Petrópolis

São Pedro de Alcantara Cathedral

The Imperial Palace

The City of Petrópolis proclaims herself to be the only Imperial City in the Americas. For those who don´t know, Brazil was a monarchy from 1808, when the Portuguese Royal Family, in order to escape from Napoleon in Europe, established the Reign in Rio de Janeiro, until 1889, when Republic was proclaimed. In 1822, the King had gone back to Portugal and his son, Dom Pedro I, established the Independence of Brazil from Portugal, but still a Brazilian Monarchy went on. In 1843, Emperor Dom Pedro II wanted to build his Summer Palace at the place where later became Petropolis, a town colonized by german immigrants.

Petrópolis became also, at the end of the 19th Century, an important industrial city, with many textiles plants. It´s the home of the First Beer Factory in Brasil, The Bohemian Beer. Today it´s the home of the Itaipava Beer too. It is located one hour away from Rio de Janeiro City, the State Capital.

The String Factory

Quitandinha (ancient Casino and Hotel)

The first time I visited Petropolis was in 1988 with the Askins. I came back now after 22 years. My mother visited Petrópolis in 1954 when she came to Rio de Janeiro visit her brother who was studying law at the University of Brazil (today Federal University of Rio de Janeiro). Uncle Riutaro brought her to visit the Imperial Palace (The Imperial Palace, after the end of Monarchy became a school, and then in 1943 became the Imperial Museum). She didn´t come back again. I think it´s time for her to visit again.





Santos

Santos is a large city, just an hour away from São Paulo. Situated in the coast, where is located the largest port in Brazil, and home of the Santos Futebol Clube (Santos Soccer Team), I had done one day visits to the city either to attend  the soccer games since two of my brothers (and the two nephews) cheers for the local team or to take foreign friends and tourists. This time though I drove down the road with my wife just to see two great brazilian writers talking about friendship, passion, love and life. Zuenir Ventura and Luis Fernando Veríssimo entertained us marvelously in the night of September 23th, 2010, at the Santos International Literary Festival.

São Caetano do Sul

São Caetano do Sul is a large city in the Greater São Paulo area. It has one of the best standards of living in the country. Home of the brazilian GM headquarters, it is also an old industrial city and it has a lot of abandoned plants around the city. I used to come to the city to visit friends and also to the Sam´s Club store, where my wife likes to go shopping for american products. This last time we parked at Sam´s Club and I left alone for a walk around the Fundação District. Found these old and abandoned plants, one of them belonged to Francesco Matarazzo, an italian immigrant who was one of the most important entrepreneurs in the history of brazilian industry about 100 years ago. We see his mark in one of the pictures that says IRFM (Francesco Matarazzo United Industries - Industrias Reunidas Francesco Matarazzo). I also found a nice little church and watched an indoor soccer game, at the Fundação Sports Club, where children played a wonderful soccer, better than many pro players.

Aldeia da Serra

Aldeia da Serra is a district of Santana do Parnaíba City, close to São Paulo City, and a upper middle class neighborhood. It is divided in plots and in the entrance of each there is a entering and exit control of people and cars. You´ve got have a registration to get in. So the people inside feels safe against robbery and urban  violence. This is very common around the big brazilian cities.

We have visited Aldeia quite a few times over the past years to visit very good friends who have moved over there.

São Paulo Trees

This Ipê Rosa Tree (Tabebuia Pentaphylla) stands at Riachuelo street, close to Vinte e Três de Maio street, in Downtown São Paulo. This picture was taken on monday, august 23. After some days of cold, in a hot and sunny day of winter, the tree still had its pink flowers (it starts to blossom in june).

Vienna

I hadn´t thought about going to Austria when I went to Europe the first time in 1995. I had planned, as soon as my exchange programm at the University of Nantes was done, to travel through Italy, Switzerland and Germany. Then one day, during my stay in Nantes, I was convinced to come with Vivian C. to spend a weekend in Vienna.

We left Nantes on a friday by noon. Stopped in Paris for a quick visit to the La Défense District and went on to our destination on early evening. I remember the train moving slowly through the city of Nancy. It was possible to see people walking back home after a day of work, the old downtown buildings with an orange light in the rooms, and the cars moving in the streets. I took a nap and then woke up when the train was in Stuttgart, and that made me remember a nice dream I had had years ago in which I and my father rode in a white car in Stuttgart. Then I told Vivian I was going to get out of the train and stay out as much as possible, before the train left again. It was around 5 am, and still dark. A little after the train started moving again I seemed to see a brown bear in what seemed to be a zoo, but didn´t know for sure if it was real or if I was dreaming.

I woke up again with the sun coming out, already in Austria, near the city of Linz, and started to enjoy the landscape that passed outside the train´s window. We passed over a river that seemed to be the Danube.

We arrived in Viena very early in the morning of saturday. Walked to the youthhostel, left the bagagge and went out to wander around the city. We walked downtown and attended a mass at the cathedral of St. Stephen. Shopped around the Ring, and visited Schubert´s house, Mozart´s house and Freud´s house. Finally got the tram  and tried to visit the Zentralfriedhof cemetery to see the great musicians tombs when it was already getting dark and did´n´t find them. A lady that was leaving warned us not to get out of the main routes because many people get lost and can´t find the way out during the night. It was winter and freezing in Vienna. We left for a pizza at night.

NuBdorferstraBe

On sunday we left early in the morning to see the Boys Choir in the chapel of the old Imperial Court. After lunch, we came back again to the cemetery to finally see the famous tombs, and because we were in Vienna, we couldn´t leave it without seeing the Danube. We got the subway and headed to one of the bridges to take a fast look at the river.

Now, 15 years later I come to read "Danube", by Claudio Magris, and review "Vienne La Rouge", by Jérôme et Jean Tharaud, in order to revolve memories and sugest programs to my friend Alberto who is visiting Vienna next month.

Nantes III

When I left Nantes for a tour around Europe, I planned to come back. Christian was going to Hamburg about 20 days later, to buy a used Mercedes car. I would also be in Germany by then, to visit an old friend. We adjusted that I would call and maybe meet him and he would give me a ride back to France, from where I should fly back to Brazil.

I left Nantes to northern Italy, Genoa and Venice. Then Zurich, Basel and Anzère, hosted by swiss friends. Then Strassbourg, Heidelberg, Lubeck and Hamburg.

(Downtown Hamburg at night. I took this picture the day I arrived from Lübeck and was going from the train station to the Youth Hostel)

One morning Christian and a friend of his came to pick me up at a subway station in Hamburg. We stayed two days there together (I arrived 4 or 5 days before him). One night we went out and visited a bar where, some people say, the Beatles started. We saw Ringo´s drums and didn´t stay very long. Hamburg is a very nice city with great bars, nice beers, great landscapes (The Elber River, the city channels, beautiful parks), a big port and a marvelous architecture.

The second day we started riding back to Nantes. We left Hamburg in the afternoon, and our first stop was in Aachen (Netherlands), where I bought a little bottle of korn (a typical german brandy). Then we stopped in Liège for dinner. It was rainning and after visiting some bars in downtown, we finally found a restaurant, that was fancy. Christian chose my plates, so I could have a good idea of the local cuisine. I had frog in butter for the first plate and meat for the main course. It was great. We went back to the highway.

I was completely asleep as we passed through Paris, but I do remember that I opened the eyes to see some of the tunnels. I should help Christian on driving, but I was pretty much tired, while he was very awake and strong. Then I asked Christian to awake me when we passed through Chartres. I told him that my first view of the Cathedral from the road two months earlier (it was from a local road though, and not from the main highway), early in the morning was one of the most amazing view I had ever had in my life. The Cathedral was under a fog, standing up and high and all alone over a flat horizon. Seen from the countryside was astonishing. I wanted to repeat the experience.

But when Christian woke me up we were right close beside the Cathedral. He stopped the car and started looking at it, with admiration. I then looked out and was not sure if I was awake or dreaming. Christian asked me if I wanted to get out of the car and see it better. I said it was up to him. He said he didn´t care and then told me something I didn´t understand. I said: "What?" And he goes: "never mind". When I woke up we were already in front of his house in Nantes.

This picture of the Cathedral was taken in 1998 when I came back to France, and not the day I passed by with Christian very early in the morning.

Quand j´ai sorti de Nantes, après mon cours à l´Université, Christian m´a dit qu´il serais à Hamburg en vingt jours. Moi aussi serai là en voyage au tour de l´Europe. Je suis allé au nord d´Italie, a la Suisse et l´Alemagne. Allors j´ai rencontré Christian en Hamburg et nous sommes retournés à Nantes en voiture. Dans le chemin de retour on a passé en Liège pour le dinner, où Christian m´a sugeré de savoire la grenouille. C´était super. Avant l´aube on passait a Chartres pour voir la Cathédrale. C´est un site que m´a beaucoup impressioné. C´était mars, 1995.

Nantes II

The Place Graslin

I had a pretty much independent life in my days of Nantes. After waking up, I would take the trolley and go to college. I had lunch and dinner at the university´s restaurant. I walked through the city´s streets in the weekends, and visited museums.

But I also did a lot of things with Christian. He took me, one night, to see an Yves Duteil´s concert, one of the most celebrated French Singers. One saturday we went to a bar inside an old boat at the Loire River. Another weekend he drove me and some brazilian friends to the West Coast, to the cities of Guérande, Le Croisic, Batz-sur-Mer, Saint Nazaire and Pornic. One night I came with him to a show at Montaigu, where he played the drums.
One of the best things though was when some of his friends were in the house and Christian prepared something to eat and we drank wine until late in the night. I had good conversations about France and Brazil with Fréderic, who was then married to a brazilian woman. I ate marvelous mushrooms and the wine was always a bordeaux. Cheers Christian!

The Trolley seen from the Castle of the Duke of Brittany

Le tramway, la faculté des lettres, le château

Nantes devant moi

Christian m´a fait voir

Guérande, Croisic, Montaingu

Las nuits des proses
des vins et des champignons

la ville dorme et nous parlons

et nous promenons partout

Nantes I

After ten days in Paris, I got a train to Nantes. It was exactly 5:30 pm of January, 10th, 1995, when I stepped in the modern and fast TGV train at Montparnasse Station, in the west side of the city. It was me and 5 other brazilian girls who were coming to a month of studies at University of Nantes.

Until the last moment I was not to come, not even to Paris, since they had not gotten a host for me. In Nantes there was no such a thing like the dorms. Then Christian learned about that and volunteered to host me in his house. That´s the way I got to meet him.

He was an excellent host and taught me everything about the local culture. The brittany culture and its fight for independence in the past, the food and wines, the folks of this west part of France. From my room I saw a rainny, cold and gray Nantes, but with the help of Christian I learned a little bit more about the misteries of France than I would have if I was by myself.

The University

Tomei o TGV, na Estação Montparnasse, em Paris. Era o dia 10 de janeiro de 1995. Havia nevado naqueles dias. Fazia muito frio. Cheguei às 19:30 na Estação de Nantes. Christian me aguardava com outras pessoas e fomos todos a um café em frente à estação para bebermos alguma coisa. Christian pediu um pastis. Pedi um igual. Ele me alertou que era uma bebida um pouco diferente, feito de anis. Eu disse que experimentaria, e no final acabei gostando e tomando em várias outras ocasiões com ele. Foi assim que o conheci. Em meu primeiro dia de Nantes, sempre me explicando as coisas da França.

Só consegui ir fazer um curso na universidade local porque essa boa alma se dispôs a me acolher, por mais de 40 dias, em sua casa. O responsável pelas bolsas já tinha esgotado as possibilidades de hospedagem junto aos estudantes locais de letras-português com as cinco estudantes brasileiras que me acompanhavam. Ao saber que faltava uma hospedagem, se voluntariou, e acabei sendo chamado em cima da hora para viajar.

Não tirei fotos da estação de trem. Nem quando cheguei, nem nos dias seguintes ou das vezes que voltei. Deveria ter feito isso, porque da minha cama escutava, tarde da noite e no começo da manhã, o último e o primeiro trem que passava. Christian morava a apenas uma quadra da linha de trem.

Havia um quarto só para mim. Grande, e com uma vista para a rua Coulmiers. Da janela eu via o restaurante Le Havane, onde nunca fiz uma refeição, e a lavanderia, onde ia lavar as roupas. O tempo em Nantes porém esteve sempre chuvoso durante aquele inverno e a paisagem na janela não era animadora.

Eu conheci Nantes com a assistência preciosa de um nativo. A cultura bretã, a antiga luta pela independência da Bretanha, os prazeres da gastronomia e da vinicultura local, e a própria França em si e sua música. Tive a oportunidade de conhecer os pormenores e os segredos da cidade de uma forma profunda. Christian nasceu e viveu sempre ali. Foi à universidade em Rennes e tinha muito conhecimento sobre os assuntos que me interessavam.

Rue de Coumiers

Après dix jours à Paris, en flânand autour de la ville, j´ai finalement pris le TGV pour Nantes. C´était le 10 janvier, 1995. En novembre de 1994 je pensais que je ne viendrais plus à l´Europe. Il n´y avait plus de place pour que je puisse rester à Nantes pour suivre un cours à l´université. Mais c´était à cause de la générosité de Christian que j´était là, avec des cinq autres copines pour étudier un mois à l´Université de Nantes.

Et il était là alors, en m´attendant à la Gare, avec Saulo e d´autres gens, qui recevait aussi des étudiants du Brésil. Je lisais a propos de la France. Je lisais et écoutait a propos de la culture bretagne. Mais c´etais Christian, qui m´a offert la vision locale sur tout ce que interessais a moi dans ces jours là. C´était un vrai privilège de rester chez lui.

Dans mon lit je écoutait le dernier train de la nuit et le premier du matin. Christian habitait à côté de la gare. Je prendais le tramway pour aller à la faculté des lettres. La voix du conducteur du tramway repercute encore dans mes oreilles: Manufacture, Gare SNCF, Duchesse Anne, Bouffay. Et alors je changai de ligne, a la rue du Commerce, et prennai la ligne rouge vers la Faculté. C´était un temps de plain satisfaction.

Santana do Parnaíba

Santana do Parnaíba is a historical town, located 30 minutes from the Capital City of São Paulo, and it preserves a great part of its old building from the colonial period. The first pioneers arrived at the place, on the banks of the Tietê River around 1561. The city has a beautiful church. The Matriz de Santana, rebuilt in 1610 in barroque style, emerges from the downtown area in a hill surrounded by historical building and a nice square, with bars and restaurants.

On the month of june, during Corpus Christi, a traditional catholic hollyday in Brazil , people wake up in the dawn to decorate the streets with sawdust and coffee sludge that represents the via crucis, Jesus last walk to the cross. After the church service in the afternoon, people leave the church and go in procession, carrying Jesus´ Image, through the decorated streets, and then back to the Square.

The locals put their religious images and crafts by the window to celebrate the procession.

Paranapiacaba

Paranapiacaba is a small town located in the mountains between the Coast and the Plateau of the City of São Paulo. The first buildings in town were raised in 1860 to house the workers who built the railway that ran from São Paulo City to the Port of Santos, to transport the coffee production that was then being increased in the countryside of the State. One of the employees of the São Paulo Railway Company, an english man called Charles Miller, organized in this town, in those years, the first soccer game played in Brazil. Today, the town has become a touristic place and preserve some of the english accent around, including the amazing fog. Because of the fog we were not able to see the Tower Clock built after the one they´ve got in London.

Tupã

Tupã is my hometown. Located about 530 km west of the State Capital, the City of São Paulo, Tupã has a population of 60 thousand. I was born and grew up there. I first left it when I was 17 and went on a exchange student program in 1982, to the USA. Back home, I left it again to preparatory school for college, first to Londrina, State of Paraná, for just 2 months, and then to São Paulo, where I live since then, for 26 years now.

Part of my family still live in town, so I use to go back, at least once a year. In the past I would come home more often. After so many years living in São Paulo, I do feel it is my home now. But whenever I come back to Tupã, I still feel myself at home too.

This last time I was in Tupã, I visited two places especifically to take pictures. The first is a new place. It´s the square built in 2008 in tribute to the 100 years of the japanese immigration to Brazil. There is a large japanese community in town, as well as a portuguese and spanish communities.

The second place is a very old one. The old railway station, now abandoned, and waiting to be transformed soon in a museum. It reminds me of the good old times when we traveled by train, and the economy was on growth and commodities were transported by trains.

São Paulo

One of the things I like the most about São Paulo are these small bars or cafes around the city, sometimes completely out of the commercial areas, that offer nice small food. I like particularly those run by immigrants bringing delicious things from abroad.

I´ve just found this "Caminito" establishment where we can eat Argentineans Empanadas and drink a nice wine or a coffee, near home at the Planalto Paulista District.

São Luiz do Paraitinga

The rainny season of 2009 - 2010 brought many tragedies in the southeastern states of Brazil. Dozens of deaths in Rio de Janeiro State, just like it happened in the same period one year ago in the southern state of Santa Catarina, for the same reason, as it has happened, unfortunately, often.

São Luiz do Paraitinga, a town located in the hills of the Coast of São Paulo State, was almost completely destroyed by the rain, thunderstorm and flood on January 1st. It is a historical town that preserved a past of splendour from the coffee culture in the 19th century. Preliminary studies shows that 80% of the houses and constructions protected by the Historical Society came down. It seems to have 400 buildings that were protected because its architectural value. More than 300 probably don´t exist anymore or are enough damaged.

We visited the city in a hot and sunny day of December of 2005. I didn´t take a picture of the Main Church (180 years old) at the Central Square, because it didn´t fit in my camera´s angle. I didn´t take many pictures around town either, because I thought the city would always be there to be pictured. And now most of it is completely destroyed.

We walked all over the place in that ocasion, and saw the little girls, dressed up (The "pastorinhas" or "little sheperd girls"), keeping an old catholic tradition of singing while walking through the streets in order to visit the crèches (nativity scenes) that the families prepared in their living rooms. The people kept their doors opened and the girls would come in to see the crèches and pray. Some hostess served coffee and breads. We were invited (every one is) to come inside two houses to see the scene. It´s something we don´t find anymore in modern Brazil.

I walked endlessly until I found the house where lived, when children, the great Brazilian Geographer Aziz Ab Saber and his sister Nidia, also a professor at the University of São Paulo, who was a teacher of mine and a friend.

All we wonder now is how the city is going to come out of this tragic flood of the Paraitinga River.