Our first days in Brazil were quite intense. We had never been to the country before and we were trying to make sure that we were making the most of it. Although everyone was very friendly, it is still exhausting to be in a country where pretty much everything is in a language you don’t understand. Our sightseeing in Rio and especially the Pantanal had required some early morning starts and so we had planned some “down time” on the Atlantic Coast. We headed from Rio to Ilheus which is in the state of Bahia. This area of the Bahia Coast is covered by the Atlantic Rainforest so we thought we would spend a couple of days exploring the area, which was a complete contrast to Rio.
We had booked 2 nights in a small pousada on the beach and for the first time ever on holiday we did absolutely nothing. This is the view from our room.
We moved to the swimming pool, the loungers and then the little tables on the left for a late lunch whilst imbibing caipirinhas and that was it for the entire day. It was absolutely glorious.
We did of course go in the sea. It was quite warm and being a bit of a simpleton, I whiled away the time standing in the water, getting pushed forward by the waves and running back to do it all again.
After a night there a car from the next place came to pick us up and drove us up the coast for a few hours. The first hour was on roads and the remainder on a dirt track until we arrived at a little gem called The Butterfly House.
The Butterfly House is a small eco resort. We were upgraded to a bungalow and, sitting on the bed, I could see hummingbirds, butterflies and other colourful foreign beasties.
The staff were very friendly and helpful. The caipirinhas and caipiroskas were superb as was the food.
We decided to go quad biking for the day, which we had never done before.
We headed past some lakes then onto the main road where we only saw about 10 cars and most of our fellow road users were other quad bikes or motor bikes,seeing as how the road wasn’t fit for donkeys. They’ve still put down speed bumps though, because they like to keep the locals on their toes.
We headed to the biggest place locally, Barra Grande.
Before returning home along the beach. For most of the journey it was just the two of us zooming along the sand.
The next day we had requested “seeing some nature stuff” so we were taken by two of the lovely staff (including the excellent Chef, Felipe, as his English was excellent) to walk some trails.
Although it was a bit too hot and sticky for us so we didn’t do as many trails as we had anticipated. The destination was worth the effort though…
We also got to eat hot cheese on sticks.
Our trip out with the team gave us another opportunity to find out more about Brazil. Passing some young children I inquired about schooling and was told that free education was available but lots of people in the area did not think it was important, so a proportion of children don’t bother going after 8 years old. Rates of literacy were therefore not as high as in other areas.
There is a widening gulf between the haves and have-nots in Brazil but contrary to our pre-conceptions it isn’t because “there is nothing there for the poor”. In another city we were reminded that the poor are the biggest voting group and therefore politicians try to woo them. We saw a wealth of social programs in Brazil including pretty decent social housing. I was however really bothered by children not being in school as the biggest chance a child will have to get out of poverty will be to be literate. This was also combined by my learning that in this area there was another thing – poverty of ambition. The brilliant cocktail wizard/waiter/ all round good guy serving us drinks and meals in the resort was trying to learn English and wanted to travel. However, we learnt that he was very unusual and that in his peer group most wanted to either be footballers or to be night guards so that they could surf all day.
It is my strong view that we, who like to travel, should be thinking of the impact that we have or could have on the communities we are visiting. I don’t delude myself that I always get it right but I do think about it. A consequence of the increased tourism in Siem Reap, Cambodia for example is that there is more rubbish then they know what to do with. So they have just dumped it outside the city. Every day hundreds of children go to rubbish dump to search through for stuff they can sell.Now, tourists are taking trips out to the rubbish dumps to take photos of the children. Which is messed up.
In Cartagena we saw a man carrying a sloth who obviously gets paid by tourists for photos. We did not participate and I met with a tourist board rep and fed back that this was the only negative thing of my trip and we as tourists did not want to see it. As long as tourists pay for these photos, sloths will continue to be captured and kept to earn money. Of course, in the medium term if they aren’t “paying their way” the Sloth will also probably be abandoned so there needs to be a plan in place for that outcome as well
In addition to ensuring that they meet their legal obligations to their staff in terms of wages, conditions etc. The Butterfly House runs a programme for it’s staff where each month a certain amount of money will be utilised to give them skills. So one month someone was able to go on a course to be a professional driver, another one is learning how to be an electrician etc. We had a lovely stay at the Butterfly House but after learning this I was especially pleased that we had chosen to spend our tourist dollars in an ethical way that will benefit the community
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