If the American West largely inspires the national mythology of the United States, the Northeastern “sertão” plays a similar role in Brazil. The parched backlands are a hotbed of culture that resonates with the Brazilian soul. For every High Noon or Unforgiven, there’s a Barren Lives (novel by Graciliano Ramos
, film by Nelson Pereira dos Santos
) or Black God, White Devil
(directed by Glauber Rocha). If the Grapes of Wrath relates the saga of the California-or-Bust Oakies, the songs Pau-de-Arara and Triste Partida, made famous by Luiz Gonzaga, tell similar tales of Northeastern migrants to São Paulo.
Yet when it comes to tourist destinations, the sertão lacks its Virginia City or Joshua Tree National Park. Religious pilgrims flock to Juazeiro do Norte, home of the messianic Padre Cícero until his death in 2001. The musical faithful have made Luiz Gonzaga’s birthplace Exu their Graceland. Canudos was the site of a millenarian cult of poor folks ultimately massacred by republican soldiers in 1897 after an epic series of campaigns, and it might have become Brazil’s Gettysburg – had not it been literally covered up by water in the 1960s by culturally illiterate politicians who decided that the historical landmark would be a nice place for a dam.
The offerings for sertão travel have been about as sparse as the region’s vegetation. That’s fine with the local strongmen, nicknamed “colonels.” In their view, the fewer outsiders poking around the better. For decades they’ve played on Brazilian sympathies for Northeastern subsistence farmers to soak taxpayers for pork barrel projects for their own benefit. The practice is prevalent enough to have earned its own term, the Drought Industry. Its current manifestation would be the São Francisco River diversion scheme.
So it should come as no surprise that the inspiration for one of the most impressive attractions in the sertão came from an outsider. Eduardo Bagnoli was a geologist with state oil company Petrobrás who liked to spend his vacations in the awe-inspiring Cariri region. Its landscape, strewn with granite boulders, is compared to Australia’s Devils Marbles, Namibia’s Erongo Mountains and Algeria’s Hoggar Mountains. It culminates in the Lajedo do Pai Mateus, an upside-down bowl topped by a rock called “the helmet” (ready to protect the cranium of a giant biker), and it offers an expansive view – especially impressive at sunset. Nearby, the Cotton Sack is a formation of granite blocks that have been eroded into a shape that really does recall a stack of bags of cotton in a warehouse. Cariri is also home to some of Brazil’s most important archeological artifacts – primitive paintings like one of natives roasting a rhea. Descendents of that prehistoric barbeque can be seen roaming among groves of cactus and bromeliads.
One can almost imagine the legendary bandits of the Brazilian northeast roaming these ranges – as they have many times on the big screen. Indeed the area has become increasingly popular with location scouts. Two of Brazil’s best films in recent years - Auto da Compadecida and Cinema, Aspirin and Vultures - have used these surroundings as backdrops. So did director Francisco Ramalho Jr. for his 2006 release Canta Maria.
A decade ago the Petrobrás guy Bagnoli convinced Crysostomo Lucena, a medical doctor who had purchased a ranch near the Lajedo Pai Mateus as his dream refuge, and his son Paulo Eduardo Lucena to convert their place into a bed-and-board base camp for visitors keen to see up close what they otherwise could only catch at the movies.
The Hotel Fazenda Pai Mateus is rustic but comfortable, with a swimming pool, lounge area, bar and a restaurant that offers guests choices from a rich menu featuring Northeastern cuisine. Cows, goats and lambs have the run of the place – except the guest areas – at least until they end up on the table. The rooms and other buildings have been built in large part from the limitless supply granite stones. “We always use local materials,” smiles Paulo Eduardo. “We’ve become environmentalists.”
With luck, the establishment an 18,000 hectare Cariri Paraíbano Environmental Protected Area will help keep the area from getting overrun. Eco and adventure aficionados like trekkers are beginning to discover the Cariri region. Leading Brazilian mountain bikers claim that the region rivals the legendary Slickrock Trail in Moab, Utah, as a place to peddle.
For those who would rather not set off on their own, the hotel offers well-organized guided excursions to the surrounding attractions. The best of the guides are awarded scholarships to study English, which is important because the guest list has been top heavy with foreign names since inauguration in 2000. But, never fear, the Paraíbanos are catching up. During my visit, I was the only gringo around. “It has become cool to come here,” says Paulo Eduardo.
How could it not be cool to visit the Hollywood of the Northeast, as the municipality that includes the Lajedo de Pai Mateus, Cabaceiras, calls itself? Like its sister city in California, quaint little Cabaceiras is also dry. Don’t worry, they serve alcohol. Shots from regional cachaça distilleries are considered staples in the local diet. What I mean is that, as in my native Southern California, it never rains in Cabaceiras. Average annual rainfall is 350-500 mm (14-20 inches). The last downpour that locals remember was seven years ago.
The town of Cabaceiras is also known for its traditional Brazilian leather cowboy hats – a style made famous in the movies and by musicians Luiz Gonzaga and Dominguinhos
. It is located just a few hours by car or bus from Campina Grande, a city of 400,000, accessible by air and bus from several neighboring cities in the Brazilian Northeast.
Before we close, I know you have a question: who the heck was Pai Mateus, anyway? Seems that our Father Matthew was an 18th century hermit and medicine man who once lived underneath one of the rocks on the slope now named after him.
So will the next movie set at the Lajedo do Pai Mateus be a Brazilian remake of The Fort Fisher Hermit?
Eduardo Bagnoli now runs the Manary Praia Hotel in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte
