In between the two beach towns I visited while in Brazil, I squeezed an afternoon in Salvador. The Pelourinho neighbourhood (historical center of town) is as charming as it is scary, because of some of its inhabitants. Even with all the police presence, I didn’t feel very safe. Still, I managed to take some nice pictures of the place with my cellphone. Enjoy.
Ah, Pipa… what a beautiful place. Will I ever come across beaches like this again? I don’t typically post on this blog unless the topic is design related, but this place was so stunning that I feel like sharing. Hopefully the images do it justice.
This small beach town which I visited for a week in January, is located near Natal, in the northern state of Pernambuco, in Brazil. It has some of the most scenic coastlines I’ve ever seen.
Walking distance from the town, the closest beaches are Praia do Amor (great surfing spot), Praia das Minas (completely deserted, sometimes visited by marine turtles), Praia dos Golfinhos (no waves, visited by dolphins!), and Praia do Madeiro (it has some waves, and is also visited by dolphins). Nearby, by van or boogie, one can access lagoons (one with water the colour of Coca Cola!), an ecological sanctuary, cliffs… the list goes on.
I stayed at the Pousada Pomar da Pipa owned by a great paulista named Mario, and became friends with some cool Brazilians who were also staying there. At night, while the bar scene was very small, the culinary choices were quite varied, considering the size of the town. We tried lots of different restaurants, and even grilled some meat on the last night of our stay.
It’s a place I definitely want to visit again!
During my recent trip to Brazil, one of the highlights was a day at Inhotim, the open-air museum and botanical garden in Minas Gerais. If you’ve never heard of it before, you are not alone. I first read about this 3,000-acre ranch a few months ago in an article from The Guardian:
Located in Brumadinho, a sleepy mining town around 40 miles from the state capital Belo Horizonte, Inhotim began life in the 1980s when Paz bought a 3,000-acre ranch with part of his fortune. He transformed the site into a stunning botanical garden with the help of his friend Roberto Burle Marx, a landscape architect.
In the late 1990s Paz began building galleries at Inhotim to house his growing art collection. In 2006 it opened to the public, rapidly becoming a reference point for the arts in South America: 300,000 people visited this year.
A cross between Tate Modern and Kew Gardens, Inhotim is home to nearly two dozen art “pavilions”, housing work by giants of the Brazilian arts scene such as Hélio Oiticica, Cildo Meirelles and Vik Muniz and international names including Doug Aitken, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster and Steve McQueen.
Getting there was no picnic. I had planned on staying three days at Belo Horizonte, so I could visit Inhotim one or two days (it’s located 1.5 hours away by bus). Unfortunately, for many days prior to my arrival, torrential rains had soaked Minas Gerais. Many towns were covered by floods. So much so that Inhotim didn’t open to the public the first two days I was in Belo Horizonte. Fortunately, the last day I was there it opened, and I got to visit!
The photos in the slideshow should give you an idea of the place, the botanical gardens, sculptures and pavilions. The buildings contain the private art collection of Brazilian magnate Bernardo Paz, the man behind Inhotim. The sculptures are in-situ installations, specially commissioned for the space.
Thanks to the useful circuit suggested at the Vambora blog, I was able to see everything in one day. Some of the highlights for me were:
The institute’s website has photos of the artworks created by the different artists. While many of the pieces are interactive (sounds installations abound at Inhotim), they will help you get an idea of what you’d encounter.
If you love modern art, visiting Inhotim is a must. To me, it was as unique an experience as going to the Venice Biennale for the first time. Only that instead of canals, I was surrounded by Brazilian tropical gardens!
I haven’t lost my head yet.
