I did not know what to expect when I came to Rio de Janeiro other than a grand adventure. I also discovered great beauty, friendly and outgoing people, extraordinary vegetation, exotic and delicious foods, and a fascinating history and culture.
Rio spreads out over a dramatic landscape of hills, mountains, water, and sand. Palm trees, brightly colored murals, and white and cream skyscrapers (with unadorned strips of windows and curved window bays that reminded me of 1930s modernism), give it additional distinction.
So do the sharp peaks of the mountains that closely surround the city. Sometimes the sheer face of a mountain can be seen just beyond the end of a city street. As befits a city on the coast, water is a large part of the scenery, including Guanabara Bay and, further southwest, the Atlantic, which laps on the shores of the stunning beaches.
Climate
Rio de Janeiro is below the equator. Thus its seasonal climate is reversed from what we experience in the northern hemisphere. Our winter is their summer. Our spring is their fall. A good time to visit is in August when winter is merging into spring. The temperatures are typically 60s and 70s with intermittent rain.
Well, I was in Rio during the last week in August and the temperatures were “record-breaking.” Everyone was keeping track. When I arrived on Monday from Washington the temperature reached 86 degrees. On Tuesday the high was 88. Wednesday it was 97 and Thursday was 99. On Wednesday, we visited Copacabana Beach—that magnificent crescent of sand, ocean, mountains, and skyline—and I kept forgetting it was winter in Rio and not summer in Miami.
City Views
Towering over everything from a dizzyingly high peak is the immense white statue Christ the Redeemer (Cristo Redentor). Sugarloaf (Pão de Açúcar) is another mountain that looks like a steep climb. Both offer breathtaking views but I passed on seeing them up close. Getting there requires hanging off a cable in a gondola as it travels to Sugarloaf. Or taking a little train up the steep face of Mount Corcovado to the statue of Christ. Doable but not high on my list.
Fortunately, I had another way of seeing the city from a bird’s eye view. I stayed with friends in an Airbnb on the 18th floor of an apartment building in the cozy middle class neighborhood called Flamengo. We were surrounded by high-rises, yet our floor was high enough that it allowed us to view the city’s rooftops, water, and mountains beyond.
Hosts
I came to Rio to visit my goddaughter, Flora Thomson-DeVeaux, together with her mother, Vivian Thomson, an environmental scientist (www.themeaningofgreen.com), and stepfather, Patrick Roach, a retired lawyer at the Federal Trade Commission. Vivian and Pat had arrived a few days earlier. They have visited Brazil many times and Flora lives there with her wife, Paula Scarpin, who was born in São Paulo.
You may know Flora. At age 31, this American resident of Rio has Penguin publications of her translations from Portuguese into English of two Brazilian classics: The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas, a 19th century novel by Machado de Assis; and The Apprentice Tourist, Mário de Andrade’s description of his 1927 voyage up the Amazon and back. I’ve read both and they were fascinating introductions for me to Brazilian literature, culture, and geography.
Flora is also director of research for Rádio Novelo, a company that produces podcasts. Flora’s wife, Paula, a journalist, writes, edits, and produces content for the podcasts. Each week, on Thursdays, Rádio Novelo airs “evergreen” stories involving investigative journalism. The wide range of examples includes unsolved murders, judicial inequities, the climate crisis, obstacles to artificial insemination for gay couples, and the difficulty of obtaining a guide dog in Brazil.
A Whirlwind Tour
As a newbie, with only time for a brief introduction to Rio, I hugely benefited from my friends' knowledge and love of this city and of Brazil.
During the week, we visited Rio’s Botanical Garden with its grand allees, vast array of orchids, little monkeys, and great trees. Shopped for fruits & vegetables at the Farmer’s Market in our neighborhood of Flamengo. Attended a concert of the brilliant Trio Júlio – three Brazilian brothers who played samba and choro music (“The New Orleans Music of Brazil”) on a 7-string guitar, mandolin, and percussion instruments. The concert was in the beautiful and intimate Casa de Choro venue in downtown Rio. Explored Santa Teresa, a residential neighborhood on top of Santa Teresa hill in Rio with shops, colorful murals, views of the city, and an historic tram. Visited the Brazilian Handicraft Reference Center (Centro de Referência do Artesanato Brasileiro) with its exhibit on the Mangueira Samba School and Carnaval. Enjoyed fabulous meals of Amazonian fish, vegetables, spices, and açaí – a smooth black unsweetened pudding-like substance that magically enhances savory and sweet dishes alike, and is derived from the berries of the açaí palm tree, native to rainforests of Central and South America.
It was also a great pleasure every day to hear the deliciously soft Portuguese language. Unlike Spanish, Portuguese is not always pronounced the way it is spelled (at least to English speakers). For example, ‘tias’ (aunts) is pronounced ‘chias’ and ‘dia’ (day) is pronounced ‘gia’.
Botanical Garden
Farmer's Market
Music Night
Santa Teresa (neighborhood in Rio)
Downtown Rio
Folklore, Brazil Style
Rádio Novelo
Towards the end of the week, on the hottest day, we ventured out to visit Flora and Paula in Rádio Novelo’s suite of offices, which is on a busy street in the downtown Copacabana area of Rio.
On our way to Flora and Paula’s offices, we noticed an electronic sign that stated 45° Celsius! It was evidence of the record-breaking heat wave and would be part of the story of my time in Rio and its experience of climate change. But when I told Flora, she shook her head in disbelief. It was very unseasonably hot but not that hot. She was right to be skeptical. After we left the office we saw another electronic sign that said 36° Celsius. Later I learned the actual equivalents in Fahrenheit which I had only guessed at before: 45°C = 113°F and 36°C = 96.8°F.
A dose of skepticism is useful for a journalist.
On December 7, 2022, Flora and the Brazilian journalist João Batista Jr. interviewed the newly elected Republican U.S. Representative from New York’s 3rd congressional district: George Santos. The interview took place before Santos’ penchant for making up stuff had become well known. Santos was of interest to Flora and João because, although he was born in New York, he has Brazilian relatives and speaks Portuguese. In fact, their research indicated that in 2008, at age 19, he spent time with his maternal grandmother in Niterói which is across the bay from Rio.
Flora and João interviewed Santos via video conference from Rádio Novelo’s recording studio in Copacabana. Santos was in his office in DC. During the interview, Flora and João found themselves fact-checking his statements in real time because they seemed fantastical and lacked credibility. For example, he reported easily verifiable fake statistics about politically charged topics such as drag shows in public education and third trimester abortions. After the interview was completed, Flora and João decided to shelve it until they learned more about this individual.
On December 19, 2022, twelve days after Flora and João’s interview, the New York Times published an exposé of Santos’ lies about his background which lit a firestorm. The fraud he had perpetrated on the citizens of his district prior to the election was now front page news.
Paula and João’s interview was published on January 19, 2023. Here is Flora’s description of what happened next:
“We published the episode at the same time as João's piece {“An Avalanche of Fibs”} went live on the piauí website. I'd translated it into English, and the piece started getting traction in the U.S. media, as well as a thread I'd posted on Twitter, in English, about the experience of interviewing Santos. The first program to get in touch with us was actually Rachel Maddow's show, which wound up airing a part of the video of our interview with Santos on January 23; CNN then reached out and interviewed me on January 24.”
Flora and João’s interview was of interest to American media because it contained previously unreported false claims by Santos about his background. He told them he had been mugged on Fifth Avenue in New York in broad daylight, and the assailant not only took his watch and briefcase but stole his shoes! There is no record of such an assault. The interview, conducted by piauí in partnership with Rádio Novelo, is available on Episode 9 of “Rádio Novelo Apresenta,” entitled “Castelo de Cartas” (“House of Cards”).
A Washington Post story published on August 31, 2023 described more of Santos’ life in Brazil.
Santos still has not resigned his seat in Congress. In May 2023, he was indicted on 13 counts of criminal conduct including wire fraud, money laundering, and making false statements to Congress about his finances. He has pled not guilty.
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/exclusive-rep-santos-describes-assassination-attempt-mugging-in-new-video-161395781744
Many thanks to Vivian Thomson, Patrick Roach, and Flora Thomson-DeVeaux for their invaluable edits and insights. Any remaining errors are mine.
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