St John Marcos park – Rescue of the ruins of a time and place

The coordinator of the Park, Luiz Felipe Younes, says that there are legends associated with the destruction of the ancient city: The man who imploded the main church stood hump.The people say that after the city submerged, appeared certain trees in the city that are known as mulungus and give red flowers. Local people believe that is the blood of residents unhappy with the end of the place. Photo: Ruins of the church.

RIO DE JANEIRO state/BRAZIL – At the Parnaiba river valley region, Rio de Janeiro state, the colonial ghost city of São João Marcos that, for 70 years, has been half submerged, since the build of a dam, and half in ruins covered by atlantic forest is being brought back to life through the action of SPHAN (Serviço de Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional - National Service of Artistic and Historical Patrimony), that created in the local the first Urban-park-Archaeological and Enviromental of Brazil.

Today, the new Park area belongs to the city of Rio Claro (RJ). In the past, it was the city of São João Marcos. Founded by colonial explorers, the called "bandeirantes" (flaggers) in 1733, the place developed quickly. It was a center of coffee agriculture. Reached to produce two million kilos per year. It was the richest town in the state of Rio de Janeiro. In the eighteenth century it had theater, school, police, roads. Slaves and Barons and had their own churches. Artists and actors and singers of artistics companies visited St João Marcos.

In the nineteenth century was the most populous county in the state. It was the first architectural ensemble of the country listed by the Instituto Estadual do Patrimônio Cultural (State Institute of Cultural Patrimony, Inepac) in 1990. Still, in 1940, under the government of President Getúlio Vargas, the city was doomed to be swallowed by the waters in the name of progress: the expansion work of the dam of Lajes. Because the state needed more energy to grow

More than 70 farms were submerged. What escaped of the flood was quickly demolished by the authorities. The initiative to create the park was of the same company that was, a once, responsible for building the dam that destroyed the place. The Light, which invested 5 million and 800 thousand of reais in the recovery of the ruins

During four years, the work of archaeologists, historians, museum curators, architects, landscapers recovered, in 930 thousand square meters, buildings and structures, as the ossuary's Church, the base theater Tibiriça, stretches of the old Imperial Road, stone bridges in addition to about two thousand pieces discovered in excavations such as potteries, coins, personal objects, porcelains and more.

The Park's facilities also include forest area, water mirror, a Memory Center, an exhibition of historical and archaeological pieces, a model, miniature of the original city, a permanent display of historical and cultural elements, portraits of epoch, an amphitheater and a cafeteria.

LINK – Parque Arqueológico e Ambiental de São João Marcos WEBSITE

SOURCES:
Estado do Rio ganha o primeiro sítio arqueológico do país.
IN Jornal do Brasil, published in 08/06/2011
[http://www.jb.com.br/ciencia-e-tecnologia/noticias/2011/06/08/estado-do-rio-ganha-o-primeiro-sitio-arqueologico-do-pais/]
SALME, Flavia. Submersa há 70 anos, cidade histórica do Rio volta à tona.
IN Último Segundo, published in 08/06/2011
[http://ultimosegundo.ig.com.br/brasil/rj/submersa+ha+70+anos+cidade+historica+do+rio+volta+a+tona/n1597016160036.html]

Indigenous Tourism: Walk, Look, Listen, Eat If You Have Courage, Sleep Badly and Don't Call Me!

Pataxós for postcard

Bahia, Brazil ─ At Porto Seguro historic city of Bahia state and Brazil, indigenous tribes are offering tours for visitors that want to experience the life and the culture of natives. The package, of the Pataxó Turismo Agency, which costs $ 460, includes four days and four nights in groups of 12 people. Among the activities planned, during the day, hiking, body painting, participating in a ritual of fellowship. To eat. indigenous food, of course. Corn! Much corn, and manioc. And very possibly fish as a main dish. At night, around the campfire, palestra about indigenous traditions and legends. At bedtime, the cabin [called the oca] is the room and the bed, is the network [rede] or straw mat. [It is a horror!]

The Indigenous also profit from the sale of handicrafts. A headdress [called cocar] can cost up to $ 290; a whistle, $ 6, a necklace $ 8,00. However, in Brazil, the artistic production in the villages is not equal. In some, as in Porto Seguro, the Indians present themselves appropriately characterized, with their slap sex thong, face and body painted, braceletes, tornozeliras and, with some lucky, even a bamboo flut or, who knows, a rattle, a reco-reco [percussion instrument made of wood and bamboo which the sound produced by a bat that is rubbed into slots, it makes a noise that sounds reco-reco]. It is the Indigenous with feathers.

In other villages, however, the scene is sad. In Parelheiros, Sao Paulo state, in the village of Krukutus, who are of ethnic group of the Guaranis, the natives haven't any notion of what is add value to the product. Create a beard and mustache, wearing shorts, shirt football team and slippers Hawaiian. They smoke Hollywood, wear sunglasses and headphones to listen the macarena on the I-pod. [A disgrace!]

In the village Krukutu, tickets cost $ 2,8. The program offers lecture on the history of the Indians, visits the village, a walk, and paying additional $ 1,15, people can listen a indigenous children's choir singing a indigenous song in guarani indigenous language. [Please, forget me. I want to stay at the hotel]

Source: Turistas pagam R$ 800 para viver em aldeia indígena na BA
In A Tribuna News ─ publicado em 09/28/2009
[http://www.atribunanews.com.br/news.php?newsid=20818]