Third vacation entry: Ilhéus So, these photos are from the iconic city of Ilhéus, certainly familiar to all Brazilians as the birthplace of the great writer Jorge Amado and the scenario of some of his most famous romances. Incidentally, I had the great opportunity to visit his house (now a cultural foundation/museum) and learn more about his life. For example, I had NO IDEA his father made his fortune by winning the lottery! Its curious to think that if not for this stroke of luck, Amado might have remained illiterate for his entire life... Ilhéus is in the heart of the Cocoa Coast, once one the worlds leading producers of cocoa and chocolate (more on that later) and most of the citys landmarks and history relates to the times of the Cocoa Colonels, the incredibly rich elite that ruled the cocoa plantations and the political life of the region. Other amazing moments were the visits to the Bataclan, one of the most famous brothels of Brazilian literature and history (now a historical museum), where in the times of the Old Republic the most beautiful courtesans were brought to from all over the world to serve the Cocoa Colonels. There I even got to see the room of Maria Machadão, the Madam of the brothel immortalized in Amados romance Gabriela Cravo e Canela. I also got to eat and drink at the Vesúvio bar, formerly owned by the Turk Nacib, also a character of the same book! It was like walking into the romance itself. Funny story: the brothel is just around the street from the beautiful Church of Saint Sebastian (in the photos). History has it that on Sundays the Cocoa Colonels would lock their wives in the church for mass and instruct the priest to extend the ceremonies for oven seven hours (!), during which they would be having the best orgies cocoa plantations could buy at the Bataclan. At the end of the mass, the priest would ring the church bell, which was the signal that would send all the men into a frenzy, scurrying rapidly to put their clothes on and rush to the church doors to pick up their holy wives as if nothing had happened... The final story is as to what happened to the Cocoa Colonels. After all, they ruled over the land for nearly 100 years. However, in the year of both my birth and the fall of the Berlin wall, 1989, a horrible blight descended upon the land. A devastation never before seen or since surpassed. Thus was the Witchs Broom, a plague that kills all the cocoa trees it infects, twisting its branches and rotting the valuable fruit, known here as white gold, from the inside out. The plague completely ravaged the cocoa coast, leaving most Colonels bankrupt and the local economy in shambles. Land owning millionaires became drunk vagrants overnight and hundred year old legacies were turned to ash within half a decade. The city still has its pretty sights, and despite not having the prosperity it once had at the time of the Colonels, the history and sights make it worth the visit. :)
Posted on: Fri, 16 Jan 2015 02:36:24 +0000
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