Sao Luis, Brazil

Sao Luis, Brazil slideshow

We arrived in Sao Luis on the Saturday of a three day holiday weekend (Monday, November 2nd is the day of the Dead.) and saw only a trickle of tourists walking on cobblestone streets of the historic town. Most of them were shopping at the few open craft shops, the streets were empty except for a few coconut water vendors waiting for customers in the shady spots. We love this stuff, so we were happy to see that Sao Luis has no shortage of coconut vendors even on a sleepy holiday weekend. At night the town became a little more alive with food stalls and visitors from the modern city across Rio Anil coming to enjoy movies and listen to street music in the main square under the dim light of the quaint light posts. We were told that a week of folklore shows and music in the historic town had just ended the night before we arrived, so the hodgepodge of government offices, restored cultural buildings, market, and houses on a verge of collapse were very subdued on the weekend.

The grandiose buildings and villas in the historic city seem to have had glorious days a couple of centuries ago, but since then have slipped regally into decay. The Sao Luis historic district was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site twelve years ago, when 3,200 buildings were identified. However, although several buildings have been restored since then, many more seem to decay while they wait for action. The local tourist office claims that thirty houses are in danger of collapsing. Restoration projects are costly and lengthy, but the city could do better as funds come from a Brazilian federal bank for economical development, UNESCO and the local government. The city is supposed to recover 30 buildings a year, for the “world heritage title,” but barely complete 12 per year. Currently, homeless people and squatters occupy many of the abandoned and condemned houses, which, they claim, presents legal problems.

Rio Anil separates the historic city from the modern one, where fancy residential skyscrapers in the neighborhood such as Calhao and Sao Francisco clearly show the economic divide so common in Brazilian metropolitan landscape. One side mimics Waikiki with fancy shops, restaurants and buildings, while not so far from there, people live in shanty towns. Also, the lack of proper sewage is shocking even in the middle class neighborhood of Ponta de Areia. Although from a distance, the nearby Lago Jansen looks very good, when we walked by the place, it stunk because of untreated sewage water. Sipping coconut water and caipirinhas was a pleasant way to spend the afternoon at the ocean front Calhao, a 5km stretch of beach, restaurants and bars. No doubt that is where everyone was hanging out on this long holiday weekend.

In terms of food, although we are already in the Northeast region, Sao Luis offers most fruits, and a lot of the same food as the North region, like manioc flour and lots of fish, crab and seafood. The regional dishes changed a little though – we didn't see the wide variety of river fish common in the Amazon area. We were introduced to a dish we had not tried yet. The cuxa is made with a local green leaf called vinagreira only found in this region. It is also put into the rice which goes well with seafood. The “doce de epecie”, a cookie with coconut and sugar is another local fare shaped into a turtle. The recipe was brought by the Portuguese from the Azores during the 17th century, but it never caught on outside of Sao Luis. It is not very different from a macaroon very common in California, and not to be confused with the double-decker French macaron.