Caribbean Beat — March/April 2018 (#150)

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days. It’s the preserved home of a wealthy family of the nineteenth century.
In addition to many artefacts of the period, there is an original copy of Aluísio
Azevedo’s abolitionist novel O Mulato, which is considered the first work of
Naturalism in Brazilian literature, though Azevedo was primarily associated
with a set of Romantic poets then based in São Luís. Their ranks included
Antônio Gonçalves Dias, regarded as the National Poet of Brazil for his 1843
opus “Canção do Exílio”, or “Song of Exile,” and Joaquim de Sousa Andrade,
an abolitionist poet known professionally as Sousandrade, who wrote a Pan-
American epic, “Guesa”, published in 1871. Andrade subsequently became the
city’s first mayor after Brazil was declared a republic in 1889.
That poetic tradition continues to the present, with important instances
surfacing in the bitter years of Brazil’s military dictatorship, most notably in
Ferreira Gullar’s “Poema Sujo” or “Dirty Poem”, an homage to resistance in
São Luís, written in exile in 1975.
My days in São Luís were typically spread among the cultural delights
of the Praia Grande, exploring its azulejos, Art Deco palaces, and baroque
churches, as well as the small crafts and food market, Casa Das Tulas
(where you can find local dishes such as the caldeirada maranhense seafood
stew, and an enigmatic soft drink labelled Guarana Jesus). Or I would
nip across the Jose Sarney Bridge to the beaches of Calhau and Araçagy,
passing through the administrative centre of
the rapidly expanding “Cidade Nova” in the
process. As Otávio Rodrigues explains, “The
centro histórico is located in front of Baía de São
Marcos (or Saint Mark’s Bay), where the Anil and
Bacanga rivers meet; a bridge was constructed
in 1970 to connect the city to the coastline, and
what was a wild area of sparse, rustic houses
became the ‘New City,’ where tall buildings and
shopping malls pretend to exalt some modernity.
Around all of that we have the residential
neighbourhoods, where part of the city’s history
was also written, and where we still can find
traditional fishing and farming procedures,
besides portions of original forests.”
Catching an inevitably spectacular sunset on
the beach or at a hilltop plaza overlooking the bay
from the reviver is a marvellous way to end the
day’s explorations. And once the sun goes down in
São Luís, reggae time has certainly arrived.
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