Taking In Brazil With an Artist's Eye

The Brazilian city of Manaus is not particularly exquisite.

It’s interesting and there are tons of small hole-in-the-wall type stores and restaurants with awesome people and food, but it’s doesn’t offer the aesthetic qualities of somewhere like Barcelona.

Even so, it’s been nicknamed the “Paris of the Jungle” because when it was settled and industrialized, European models inspired many of the architectural choices.

This is especially true, for instance, of the Teatro Amazonas opera house; the Palácio Rio Negro, or the “Black River Palace;” and the Igreja Matriz N. Sra. Da Conceição, a church near the port. In an effort to draw more people to live in and visit Manaus, the government has invested in modern construction projects along the Amazon River, including luxurious housing units and hotels. It’s an emerging industrial city where many Brazilian companies have found homes.

The government is diligently working to raise the standard of living in Brazil, and they’re doing quite well, according to many businesspeople.

Brazil is the "B" in the group of nations referred to as the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), which are expected to overtake the G-7 nations—France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada—by 2027 in the global economic sphere.

In Manaus, massive beautification efforts have speckled maps of the city with small parks, fountains, and playgrounds. I found some of the sculptural art in the parks particularly interesting; many of the pieces were simple two-dimensional metal silhouettes of Victorian-style automobiles, buggies, and finely dressed couples.  

A lot of these efforts are in anticipation of the approaching 2014 World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics. Though I still wasn’t in love with the city, I did learn something valuable.

Exploring With an Artist's Eye

What I learned is that whenever possible, travel with artistic individuals, ideally photographers, but anyone involved in the visual arts will do.

I spend time with artists because they often aim to capture the obscure beauty in people, places, and situations. While most of us wouldn’t take a second glance at a small newsstand, they’d stop and engage the woman working, observe the depth of her smile lines and ask her to advise us on how to deepen our own while simultaneously documenting the experience. To an artist, everything has value; nothing is unworthy of consideration.

I met my photographer companion in Dominica. He’s a film student from New York. He doesn’t talk much, complain much, or carry much. Because we are both taking film classes from the same teacher, we were required to take a bus tour around the city on the first day in Manaus (for each of our courses we are required to participate in two field trips of sorts to utilize the knowledge we gain in class in a practical, hands-on manner).

I found Manaus significantly more enchanting purely because he kept photographing little things I never would have acknowledged.

We met up with some other friends at the end of the bus tour and spent the rest of the day exploring the less popular areas of the city on foot, including a restaurant called Buffalo that served chicken hearts and the most tender, delectable (!) steak I have ever tasted. The chicken hearts were also surprisingly delicious until I started thinking about the fact that I was chewing on a chicken’s life source.

Taking a simple tour when you first arrive in a foreign city is an extremely efficient way to explore the surface of the city and decide where you want to further visit. To develop a thorough impression of a city, however, you must walk around and talk to the locals.

So far, the boys have been better at this.

I attribute this to the fact that boys generally seem more willing to break rules (a good thing in this case). It’s challenging to strike up a conversation with a stranger because my deep-seeded instincts tell me that it’s precarious and being a girl, however competent and/or secure I may feel at any given moment, makes me feel more vulnerable. So, I’m travelling in groups with boys and hoping that some of their uninhibited courage will rub off on me.

I think that’s a crucial personal aspect of this program. I’m so inhibited at times that I miss out on some of the most amazing opportunities and being on board a ship with 800 people and visiting so many countries where I face language barriers, complicated maps and diverse customs is helping me cultivate my sense of adventure.

I spent most of my time in Brazil just investigating the bus system and bartering in the markets (where I won a free banana right off the bunch). It wasn’t necessarily the most eventful four days of my life, but it was enlightening and captivating.

My next stop is Tema, Ghana and I would love it if any of my readers would send me questions, suggestions, or things you’d like me to look out for in each country. I want you all to feel that you’re getting something out of this, so please don’t hesitate to give me recommendations!