AND FINALLY, FURTHEST SOUTH

'Ye ice falls! Ye that from the mountain's brow, adown enormous ravines slope amain. Torrents, methinks, that heard a mighty voice, and stopped at once amidst their maddest plunge! Motionless torrents! Silent cataracts!'

- Coleridge, quoted before the music of the Landscape movement begins in Vaughn William's Sinfonia Antartica

There is also a post about Salvador buried beneath Antarctica photos, so, you know, keep reading

I was worried, after the expense, a car break-in, the flights, the hype, and the crossing, that I would arrive on the Antarctic Peninsula, see that it was rocks and ice, and a few penguins, and realize that it had all been a waste. I was right in a sense ... for the most part, it was rocks and ice and penguins. But the scope, the sheer grandeur and volume of the place is truly something that must be experienced in person. I have been many places that look better in the photos. I'm not sure a photo can capture Antarctica. 

It is a land for the most part untouched, making it one of the last places to go to get away from it all. Even then, there's many people about. But they are outnumbered by penguins, and who doesn't like penguins? I could go on about Antarctica, its explorers, its creaking ice, but I won't. If you want to here me go on about it for while, do give me a call.

GOING HOME

"It was with this town that Brazil, and one could legitimately say South America, began. Here was erected the first pillar of great cultural spanning the ocean. It was here, from African, American, and European substance, that the new and still-fermenting mixture came into existence."

- Stefan Zweig, writing of Salvador, in 'Brazil, Land of the Future', 1941

A trip to Salvador seems to be a trip to the home of Brazil. As with any trip home, it feels familiar no matter how long and far away you've been. Home is rarely perfect, but that's how we like it, and Salvador is no exception. For those of us who spend time living in modern Brazil, it's a recognizable place to be, the spring from which the river of Order and Progress has run.

The drive up to Praia do Forte, up the coast from Salvador, was essentially the vision of Brazil for the foreigner. A road ran inland from a seamless white beach, rowed with palms which swayed softly against an azure backdrop. If you asked the average American to imagine what the whole of Brazil looked like, they'd have described this section of the coast. It's stunning, but overwhelming, because it doesn't stop. It's a tropical island with 1000 miles of coastline ...

Salvador itself is much like other Brazilian cities. It is vaster than expected, and mostly slightly worn concrete. But, unlike the concrete jungle in which I live, Salvador boasted an enormous colonial town which has been preserved, and recently renovated. It is a remarkable bit of foresight from its citizens, who could share some tips to Paulistanos about city preservation. 

Salvador was long on my list of places to visit, and I'm certainly glad I made it there. I'm also glad I waited so long, because knowing the rest of Brazil made a trip to Salvador a trip home to the familiar, the beginning of it all.