Região Nordeste: Pernambuco
by Taylor S.
Pernambuco is nestled in the northeast of the country and is boarded by Paraíba, Ceará, Piauí, Alagoas, Bahia and the beautiful Atlantic Ocean. Its capital city is Recife, one of the state’s most sophisticated and nationally diverse places. It is home to about 8.8 inhabitants.
Recife
Recife is the capital of Pernambuco is an area that includes several industrial towns. It is an Atlantic seaport located at the confluence of the Capibaribe and Beberibe rivers. Recife has been called the Venice of Brazil because the city is crossed by waterways and its component parts are linked by numerous bridges. Railroads, highways, airlines, and shipping connect Recife with other parts of Brazil. Guararapes Airport serves international and domestic flights.
The coastal zone of Pernambuco is particularly luscious and fertile even with it being relatively low in terms of its height above sea level. Due to this, Pernambuco displays its dense forests that are home to many different faunal and floral species. This low area becomes a terraced and sloped incline, known as the agreste region, to the towering plateau, effectively giving this region three different geographical territories.
Fernando de Noronha
Offshore from the Brazilian coast, 21 islands and islets in the Atlantic Ocean create the archipelago of Fernando de Noronha. Unrivaled beaches and soothing warm waters filled with dolphins and sea turtles, make Noronha one of the world’s top diving destinations. On land, hiking the ecological trails of Jardim Elizabeth, the Esmerelda Coast or Sancho Bay, which culminates in a climb up a steep set of stairs carved into the split of a cliff. Fernando de Noronha has a protected national marine park and ecological sanctuary with a jagged coastline and diverse ecosystems.
Cartola
Cartola, also referred to as the top hat, is one of the most traditional desserts in Pernambuco. It is likely that the name Top Hat is due to its high form, by the stacking of layers of banana and cheese, and its dark color due to the cinnamon. Its ingredients are ripe bananas, the cheese from the interior (queijo do sertão), also known as butter cheese, sugar and cinnamon.
National Park of Catimbau
The Catimbau National Park is a national park in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil. It protects a semi-arid area of caatinga with sandstone caverns and caves in which prehistoric art has been found. The Catimbau valley is Brazil's 2nd largest archaeological site. Among its natural attractions there are beautiful canyons, over 2,000 caves, and 28 registered areas with pre-historical cave paintings.
Frevo
Frevo is the most popular folk music style from Pernambuco. The frevo dancers are dressed in colorful clothing, inspired by the folk costumes of Pernambuco and also use yellow, blue, green and red umbrellas, while performing their neck breaking dance steps at stunning pace. The word “frevo”is believed to come from the Portuguese verb “ferver” (to boil), which reflects the boiling atmosphere of the frevo dance and music. The frevo is usually divided into three different kind: frevo de rua, frevo the bloco and frevo-canção. Frevo de rua is a purely instrumental dance music form, which usually contains a big segment of wind instruments. Frevo-canção includes an element of song, and is often slower than a frevo de rua. Frevo de bloco is accompanied by a so-called “orquestra de pau e corda,” which includes percussion, banjo, guitar and cavaquinho.
Recife Carnival
The carnival in Recife has both tourists and Brazilians come down to enjoy a week of dancing and partying all night long. The old town of Recife Antigo comes to life during the carnival with music stages set up all over the city. Everybody starts together at Saturday morning when a huge street parade, the so called Galo da Madrugada ('Rooster of the Dawn'), twists itself through the masses. Another highlight of the Carnaval in Recife is on Monday night, when in front of the church Nossa Senhora do Rosário dos Pretos various groups of Maracatú (religious Afro-Brazilian dance) gather to perform an impressive traditional slave ceremony. At midnight, the music stops, there is a minute’s silence and the lights get dimmed. Then, the ceremony continues in a cacophony of drums and chants in African languages in order to please ‘the gods’ and the party continues. This memorable event is called Noite dos Tambores Silenciosos (Night of the Silent Drums).
Question?: What national or marine parks have you visited? What was your favorite part? If you could visit one National Park tomorrow, which one would you choose?
Sources:
https://www.britannica.com/place/Recife
https://www.brazil.org.za/pernambuco.html
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Tourism-g616328-Fernando_de_Noronha_State_of_Pernambuco-Vacations.html
http://basilio.fundaj.gov.br/pesquisaescolar_en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1260%3Atop-hat&catid=54%3Aletter-t&Itemid=1
https://www.inspirock.com/brazil/buique/catimbau-national-park-a2126166575
http://www.greatbrazilianmusic.com/frevo.html
http://www.aboutbrasil.com/modules/brazil-brasil/carnival_carnaval.php?hoofd=8&sub=46&art=495
Obrigada pela informação! I really enjoyed your interesting post and the lovely photos.
ReplyDeleteI have visited a lot of national parks - Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Zion, Glacier, etc. My favorite by far though was the Parque Patagonia in Chile. It was a beautiful trip to Torres del Paine. If I could, I would love to visit the National Park of Catimbau. I love that there are archeological and natural sites. I want to see the cave paintings and canyons!
I would also love to go to Recife Carnival. That looks like an amazing carnival to attend. I would like to be a part of the Noite dos Tambores Silenciosos! I think the mixing of drums and chants would be really cool! Fernando de Noronha also looks like an amazing place to visit. All of these posts have given me so places I want to go to in the future.
The cartola looks delicious. I notice that a lot of the deserts in the recent posts have included cheese. I think it is interesting how much they use cheese in deserts in Brazil.
Thank you for such a great post!
ReplyDeletePernambuco seems to have a life of its own. They have their own carnivals and amazing landmarks. I would love to visit the National Park of Catimbau. I'm interested in the caverns,caves and pre historical paintings. This would be a great oportunity to learn more about the history of the region. I'm wondering if they have tours for the caverns?
I'm not exactly sure why but Recife Carnival sounds a bit more relaxing and less crowded compare to the Rio De Janeiro carnival. I would love to attend to experience their religious traditions and music.
Frevo truly caught my attention since I love instrumental music. Trumpets, trombones, saxophones and tubas are the instruments that are used to create this music. Its very interesting to me because the same instruments are used to create Mexican banda music.
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ReplyDeleteQuestion?: What national or marine parks have you visited? What was your favorite part? If you could visit one National Park tomorrow, which one would you choose?
ReplyDeleteSea World and Under Waterworld in Australia. I really liked the crawly creatures and shark alive exhibits in Australia. Sea World was a disappointment compare to the Australia Waterworld. I used to live in Washington state so National Park Mount Rainier was a classic. I love the flora and fauna of this region.
If I had the opportunity to go to a national park I would go to Torres del Paine in the Chilean Patagonia. I would love to experience the glaciers and icebergs of this park.
My favorite National park was Mt. Rainier National Park. I live in Kentucky, but last year my friends and I decided to take a trip to Seattle since we had never been out west before. We mostly stayed outside hiking and exploring, but Mt. Rainier was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. It was absolutely breathtaking. It really made me want to go see Mt. Denali in Alaska, since that is our largest one. Pernambuco has a lot of beautiful variation and it looks like one of the most unique places we have seen so far. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteKatie
Hey Katnomo,
DeleteI want to good to Denali too! Likewise I have been able to see the northwestern United States and lower Britsh Columbia (CA) and what a different and giant backwoods they have there.I'm sure it was very different from KY but being an AZ-boy it was a green shock to see so much wet and green stuff. I hope you get the chance to see Denali.
Pernanbuco is an extraordinary place with a lot of diverse of landscapes. It has an archipelago Fernando de Noronha that looks beautiful, with very clear water looks and small islands. The Cartola looks delicious. Also, the desert reminds me of the Grand Canyon in Arizona. The pictures that you added are wonderful. I love the views. This place looks calm and like a great place to disconnect. Thank you very much for sharing.
ReplyDeleteBoa tarde,
ReplyDeleteWow, Fernando de Noronha looks beautiful! I looked up more pictures on Google Images and the waters look like a paradise in themselves. Now that’s a praia I want to see up close. The islands remind me a little of Hawaii, engulfed with green vegetation and the crystal blue waters. What was your favorite thing you learned about this region in Brazil? This is definitely somewhere I would want to go snorkeling!
Obrigada!
Boa Noite!
ReplyDeleteI will be very honest, I was under the impression that Recife, and Pernambuco in general, was a Brazilian state very poor. However it looks like I was wrong. Recife is very dynamic and the economy in that city is strong. Fernando de Noronha looks impressive. Brazil is very big with many places to go, but I will put that part on the tops of the list.
I have also being reading that the food is amazing: cartola, bolo de rolo, bolo souza leao are desserts that I wish I can try.
Ola,
ReplyDeleteI'm not very outdoorsy so I haven't visited many national parks. I have only been to two, Cabrillo National Monument here in San Diego and the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Last December me and my friends went to Vegas for New Years and we decided that we wanted to visit the Grand Canyon. We left the hotel late in the afternoon so we arrived to the canyon around 10 pm, it was a funny experience, we got there super late and we weren't able to see anything, we weren't planning on staying the night there, but we got the last room at the town near by and the next morning we saw the sunrise inside the canyon. It was a pretty amazing experience. If I could visit a park tomorrow I would want to go to the Swiss national park on the Alps.
Bom dia,
Olá!
ReplyDeleteI would love to hike and swim my way through the islands of Fernando de Noronha, which sounds absolutely stunning to say the least. I also find the prehistoric cave paintings in Catimbau to be quite fascinating as well. Aside from all the terrific nature spots, I would also love to see the frevo performed - it sounds very exciting!
To answer your question, I have been to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, the Grand Canyon, the Everglades, and I have gone hiking in the French Alps as well, although I don't remember if I was technically in a national park or just the city of Grenoble. My favorite by far was the Great Barrier Reef, which is just so vibrantly colored and filled with life despite the constant barrage of environmental damage it has sustained (and continues to sustain). If I had to pick one national park to go to tomorrow, it would probably be Zion.
Hola! My favorite National Park to visit so far has been the Smoky Mountain national park in Tennessee. My favorite part of going there was looking at the mountains and how the clouds came over the mountain tops. It was very beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI loved reading about Catimbau National Park. It would be so fascinating to be in the caves that have so much history!
Hey Taylor,
ReplyDeleteGreat question on this week's post, I love being in the outdoors and I was fortunate enough to have a family who camped the southwest for most of our vacations. The most recent national park I have visited was Arches, when I was in Moab for a mountain biking trip with my roommates. The pictures of Park of Catimbau reminds me of a more vegetated Arches National Park. Both get a unique beauty from their uncommon geological markings.
For a small state Pernambuco has a beautiful set of land markings. Also I think because of this smallness the folk hertiage seems strong there as well, Fervo dancing. To answer your question about where would I like to good next, Denali (Katnomo does too!). To me it seems the most vast, isolated and wild of the national parks which just is asking to be explored.
Olá,
ReplyDeletePernambuco looks very peaceful and relaxing. It seems to have a great mix of activities from going diving at Fernando de Noronha or hiking the ecological trails of Jardim Elizabeth, the Esmerelda Coast or Sancho Bay. I am interested in visiting the caves at The Catimbau National Park and witnessing the Frevo music/dance in person. The cartola looked delicious! I have not been to national or marine parks but I would love to visit the Grand Canyon.
I love it when communities maintain strong traditions like the Frevo music and dance in Pernambuco, we don't seem to have a whole lot of that in the US. Cultural experiences like that are fantastic to come across as a traveler. I would definitely consider a visit to Pernambuco on a trip to Brazil. The natural environment looks so pretty as well.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite National Park is Zion in Utah. That place is amazing.
ReplyDeleteIf I could visit any park I would choose the Appalachian trail. I think it would be so cool to take a month off and hike a large portion of the range.