Photography by: Longwood Graduate Fellows
9am sharp and we are out the door with our guide Gerardo. Our destination today is the Sitio Roberto Burle Marx, but first Gerardo is taking us on a whirlwind tour of the city of Rio. Driving along the Copacabana beach, we pull over for 5 minutes to snap a group photo on the famous sidewalk designed by Brazilian landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx.
Back in the van, we drive through the city to the Sambadromo, a huge stadium designed by Oscar Niemeyer just to host the samba competitions during Carnival. Gerardo gives us a quick lesson on how to dance the samba and then Laurie, Ling, and Josh try on carnival clothing and pose for photos.
We finish our city tour at see the cathedral, a huge, imposing concrete structure inspired by the pyramids at Chichen Itza in Mexico.
An hour later, we arrive at the Sitio Burle Marx, the home and studio of landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx. Burle Marx was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 1909. As a young man, he traveled to Germany where he was inspired by the use of Brazilian plants in the Berlin Botanical Garden. Returning to Brazil, he began collecting plants around his home in Guaritiba and designing landscapes for friends and clients. He is most well known for the design of the Copacabana promenade and the landscapes around some of the government buildings in Brasilia. He also designed the Cascade Garden at Longwood Gardens. Burle Marx’s property in Guaritiba was donated to the Brazilian government in 1985 and became a national monument. It houses over 3,500 species of plants and many works of art by Burle Marx and other artists.
Thanks to our tour guide Gerardo, we have a wonderful and insightful tour of the Sitio. Gerardo translated everything that the Sitio tour guide said and added his own information about Brazilian plants. He also provided everyone with much needed mosquito repellant!
The Sitio is truly stunning. Swaths of bromeliads. 20 foot tall Plumeria trees. Contrasting black and chartreuse foliage (years ahead of his time) and the use of textured plants and hardscaping. So many native Brazilian plants, including the Helenconia hirsuta ‘Burle Marx’ that the designer discovered in the Amazon region. Burle Marx’s use of native plants in design is inspiring.
We left the garden and returned to Rio late in the afternoon. A shopping trip before dinner turned into a hilarious adventure after we got caught in a downpour (we were told it doesn’t rain in Rio!) and took a wrong turn walking back to the hotel. After a misadventure with a sink, we finally made it to dinner at a churrascaria (a Brazilian steakhouse) where we indulged in beef and sushi and various Brazilian dishes. It was a wonderful way to celebrate our last night in Rio and the start of our day off.
In the garden, we met Thais Almeida, a curator who has been working at the garden for almost 10 years. She toured us around the garden. Rio BG was founded by King John in 1808 when he was Prince Regent. From Thais we learned that the garden has a collection of both Brazilian native plants and exotic flora from all over the world which include historical collections as well. We saw trees such as mango tree, jack fruits and some others from Asia. The famous palm tree allee along the main road shows the exotic view of the tropical region, some of them have been in the garden for more than a century, which is quite impressive. This garden is federally funded, but it has some problem with financial development which has negative effect on the collection.
Greenhouses are important in this area as well, including an orchid house and a bromeliad house. They have native living orchid collection and also species collection in their herbarium where we had a brief tour. They did very good interpretation of orchid with information like the name of orchids, the habitat of orchids and so on. Also, the bromeliad collection is very significant, starting with two pineapple plants in front of the 
Bremilliario.
The garden itself was vast and sweeping- perfectly manicured-down to the valleys and up the mountains with art galleries and pavilions connecting each garden together. We only had time for a few of the galleries. The contemporary art was created specifically for Inhotim. Beautiful or thought provoking each pavilion inspires one back out to the gardens. We enjoyed a delicious lunch at one of Inhotim’s restaurants in the typical Brazillian buffet style. After a special tour around the production facilities, we had to get on the road to the airport. Sadly, we didn’t see everything Inhotim had to offer that day and so it was difficult to tear ourselves away. It was an inspirational visit however and we are excited about the great work being done and the opportunities forged for future connections as a result of our visit.
A quick boat ride away, up along a bank, we are in prime piranha fishing territory. After a quick lesson in how to fish, we throw our lures over the sides of the boat and wait for a nibble. In no time at all, our hooks are picked clean but we have no fish! This takes more patience and skill than we thought. David Sleasman is the first of our group to catch a piranha, a “small fellow” as he describes it. With the help of a guide, Laurie Metzger reals in a large black piranha.
Back to the boat for another delicious breakfast of authentic Brazilian food and fresh fruit. After breakfast, we venture to a caboclo village to learn about açai and maniok. Açai is a type of palm that produces a fruit, commonly eaten for its high nutrient content, as well as hearts-of-palm. The açai palm can also produce hearts of palm but harvesting the heart kills the plant. Our guide Hugo explains explains how maniok was processes historically and how the caboclo people process it today to sell at market. The guides set up a special tour just for us, so we part from the larger group and get a tour of the farm, specifically looking at the trees and flowers that grow there. In the fields, we notice chia interplanted with the maniok and we are delighted to see a sloth resting in a small tree.
After lunch, we take a special trip to see the Amazon pink dolphins. Pink dolphins are at risk because of boating, changes to their habitat, and because they are hunted by the local people. They are very shy and do not come around humans. However, a caboclo family has begun feeding the dolphins to attract them to a small platform. For a small fee, we get to see the dolphins being fed and to touch them. After the dolphins swim away, we spend half an hour swimming in the river. The family also has captive 14 pirarucu, one of the largest freshwater fish in the world. The fish are incredible! They are 6 feet long and covered in black and red scales. As we get ready to leave, the family presents us each with a necklace made of wood, beads, and one large fish scale at the center.
As we pass a lodge, our guide Hugo spots a group of squirrel monkeys near the river bank. Hugo throws chunks of bananas to attract the monkeys to the boat and soon we have several monkeys running up and down the canoe searching for more food. Once the bananas run out, the monkeys scamper back to the shrubs on the bank and we move out. A few minutes later, we spot a fishing hawk in a tree. Hugo tries to bring it down by throwing fish into the water but a pink dolphin keeps eating the fish before the hawk can get it! Finally, the hawk successfully swoops down and grabs the fish. In the next hour, we see more kingfishers, herons, ibis, and other waterbirds than we can count.
Early Tuesday January 8, the first year Longwood Graduates and chaperones, David and Lori, kicked off our long awaited trip to Brazil. After meeting at the airport in Miami, we flew, without a hitch, to Manaus, Amazones, Brazil.
The next morning, we tried various juices of the region…Acerola, described by one Fellow as “mystery citrus deliciousness,” Maracuja (Passion Fruit) “tart and tropical” and Cupaucu with a “Limey Pear” flavor. We admired Manaus’s varying architecture and walked around the famous, Teatro Amazones, where we were able to hear the Symphony rehearsing for the evening’s concert. Before noon we visited many notable parks and public spaces that featured the influence of famed Brazilian landscape architect, Roberto Burle Marx.
