It had been quite some time since I’d passed through Madureira - more than a year or so, in fact, with neither professional nor personal reasons taking me in that direction. But on Saturday, when I asked my boyfriend what we were doing that I day, I heard “Let’s go to Madureira!”
We went, of course. He caught the subway in Botafogo, went to the Central do Brasil (the terminal featured in “Central Station,” starring Fernanda Montenegro), and hopped a train heading for Deodoro, while I, starting from Jacarepaguá (a sort of no-man’s-land between Barra, Recreio and Vargem Pequena) took a super-combi (informal van) for the Madureira train station.
We met at the bus station across from the train, serenaded first by the hot sounds of forró, and then by the swaying sounds of hip hop.
If you have been to Madureira, but not recently (like me, who studied there), or if you have never been, it is not to be missed. The station is nicer than I remembered it, with a ramp decorated by colored tiles, making access to both sides of the station much easier than the old, worn and slippery staircases.
“That side” is definitely the interesting one. I am talking about the side with the “Popular Market of Madureira" or, in other words, the side with the camelódromo, a sort of souk of street merchants.
Walking along the street there are an immense number of shops, hawkers, passersby, people announcing their wares with sound systems, absolutely everything on sale, universal remotes, batteries, jeans, shoes, umbrellas, magic potions, herbal diets, erotic costumes...a feast for the eyes, and for my easily aroused consumer instincts.
If you have been doing your shopping in malls and shops with designer labels, you may be in for a big shock. The prices are absurdly low and enticing. The fashions are not the same as you will find in Zona Sul, of course, but that’s why you will be “exclusive.” You can buy jeans for a tenth of the price, with a total street cred and urban style. With prices like this, bring on the new look!
The shops with lingerie, house wear, domestic goods, sheets, towels, jeans are outstanding both in the variety of products and the number shop. It is good to remember, however, that a good dose of patience and a sense of adventure may be necessary if you decide to try on and buy something. The incredible line of women waiting to get to try on their choices might awake that grumpy, spoiled, unbearable ogre sleeping uneasily deep inside your soul. If you sense the ogre stirring, breath in before something dire happens and say to yourself “I am not in a hurry! I have all the time in the world!,” and you will be amply rewarded when you get to the cash register.
After your dive into the commercial end of the neighborhood, don’t miss the headquarters of the Portela samba school, a short walk away on Rua Clara Nunes. Even though it was closed, we managed to use the infallible argument that my boyfriend is a gringo, had never been there, had come just to see Portela....and we were invited in to photograph the hallowed grounds. We left enchanted! I enchanted once again; he a newfound Portela fan since birth.
Our natural next stop was the Mercadão de Madureira, an indoor market, but resembling an outdoor fair, where you can find a poultry shop (one where live chickens and rabbits are sold, to be killed while you wait), a shop with Chinese knickknacks, a restaurant specializing in food from Minas Gerais, with delicious aromas, a shop with everything - absolutely everything for parties, with the biggest shop selling religious articles that I have ever seen right beside it. The original Mercadão had a major fire sometime ago, so there had been significant improvements in the facilities, with air conditioning, escalators, and a generally more tidy appearance. Of course this meant that it has lost a certain amount of its charm. My boyfriend, however, made it clear: the Mercadão is a must-see for gringos visiting the Cidade Maravilhosa.
We stepped out on to Avenida Edgar Romero from the Mercadão, and looked up a cross-street leading uphill to an enormous set of steps, with a church (São José) at the end, at the top of the morro. It was enticing, but since you had to walk through some dangerous-looking territory to get to the steps, I said: forget it!
My boyfriend thought we should at least ask the friendly bicheiro (numbers runner) if it was safe. His answer: don’t go to that church...you never know when there might be a gunfight. Better to go to São Brás, it’s around the corner to the right.
Better safe than sorry, so we took the bicheiro’s advice, and only went a few more timid steps up the street, but far enough to discover another shop specializing in (“Tudo para umbanda e candomblé”, Rua Alves 18). Lots of fascinating things, saints, drawings, mats, life-size deities. We drank a cafezinho with the owner of the shop, and after a nice chat, bought statues of a Nossa Senhora da Conceição and Iemanjá, both about 70 centimeters tall, at incredibly low prices.
Saints in our arms, we caught a bus to the Irajá Metro to head back to Zona Sul, with sense that we wanted more. More Portela. More low prices. More warm and welcoming people. More conversation while waiting to try on skirts and jeans. More of a different facet of Rio de Janeiro, kind of schizophrenic, poetic, a little crazy. Totally captivating.
Madureira Shopping Tips
Think of the possibilities when you can buy panties for 60 centavos each! You could wear a new one every single day, for an entire month, throw them out, disposables, for the trivial sum of 18 reais! Is that a dream or what? Check it out!
You can find açaí with granola, pão de queijo, and a variety of fruit juices at low prices and in attractive surroundings at the corner of Rua Dagmar da Fonseca
and Estrada do Portela.
A micro-mini skirt in denim (you will be the sexiest chick in the neighborhood), can be had for only 18 reais. This will lift anyone’s spirits...Top marks!
To go from Estrada do Portela to the Mercadão de Madureira, you have to walk across the train tracks. That’s right! This is an adventure in itself, but to get there you walk by a fascinating open-air market. The highlight: artists who spray paint t-shirts while you wait with designs and messages of your choice. Ready-made shirts are R$10,00. While you wait, to your specifications, R$15,00.
You may not take unauthorized photos inside the Mercadão.
You shouldn’t walk up Morro de São José if you value your life.
You can have Iemanjá and Nossa Senhora da Conceição (approximately 70 centimeters tall each) in your house, protecting you, for only R$18,00 each.
You risk having a passing teen tell you, as you are trying to take a photo, “TAKE MY PICTURE! I AM MUCH CUTER THAN THAT!!!!!”
Take Me to Madureira
If you go from Zona Sul, you can catch the metrô to the Central do Brasil, and then the train to Deodoro, or alternatively, the metrô to Irajá, followed by a five-minute bus ride to Madureira. From Barra there are direct buses, all stopping at the Barrashopping mall.
The website of the Metrô Rio subway system.
A short history of the Metrô Rio on Electric Transport in Latin America, a website by Allen Morrison. Order Morrision’s book The Tramways of Brazil: A One Hundred Thirty Year Survey on Amazon.com.
Order the Central Station DVD from Amazon.com.
Portela in Madureira
Portela begins rehearsing in September for Carnaval 2006. On September 3 (the first Saturday of the month), there will be a feijoada at the headquarters with the Velha Guarda and the bateria (percussion corps). Don’t miss it!
Travel to Rio de Janeiro
Rio for Partiers - a guidebook with attitude.
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