4 de Maio de 2007 - northern adventures

Training with the kids

We were invited to accompany Bueno Sensei on his tri-annual visit to Recife in the north of Brazil to visit dojos, kids, do an aikido demonstration and, of course, to see some more of Brasil.

From the plane Recife (of Pernambuco state) looks like the Gold Coast - highrises on the beach, palms, canals and bridges. It even felt like home as we walked out into the Queensland-like humidity. But fortunately that's where the similarities to the Gold Coast end. Recife is culture-rich, being one of the first places to be settled by the Portuguese. Poverty meets luxury in even closer proximity than here in Pinheiros - favelas line the base of luxury apartments or are neighbours to large shopping malls. The beaches are beautiful, even in the high-rise areas, but are bull-shark infested in many areas so you can't swim or surf.

Kids from Instituto Nossa Senhora de Fatima

The people we met in Recife were ultra-nice and the hospitality we recieved was amazing.  First day we dropped in on the "Instituto nossa Senhora de Fatima", a convent running a similar program for favela kids as Casa de Criança. The aikido class at the convent is run by Paulo, our kind host and a sensei in Recife.  I was interested to see that the kamiza was the famous pic of O'Sensei sitting cross-legged pointing up....to a shrine with small statues of Jesus and Mary. Aiki-catholicism.

That night we were taken to a dojo thinking it would be an ordinary training session and walked in to see 40 or so people on the mat! The students were from three Kawai-affiliated dojos of Senseis Paulo, Mario and Wilson, otherwise known as the Three Stoogies (self-named). We were treated like guest Sensei for the rest of the stay there which was a strange new experience for both of us and I was asked to teach a technique. Bueno Sensei talked for a while at the end of the class and mentioned that we were from Aikido Yuishinkai and afterwards a girl in hakama came up to me and said "You are from Yuishinkai?? Do you know Michael Williams with the beautiful flowing aikido??" It turns out her friend Circe trained with Andrew Sunter in Sydney and brought back the syllabus DVD to Recife with her.

Maragoji

The next day we went to a T'ai Chi demonstration day and did an aikido demo which I think went down quite well. In the afternoon, 15 of us headed out to Mario's beach house, 2hrs south in a paradise called Maragoji. The morning was bright and the water was sooo warm and clear. I was ready to throw away our trip to Salvador just to spend a few more days there.

Back in Recife we went to a kids class at the convent. The kids were excited to see Bueno Sensei again and because we were with him, they seemed happy to welcome us with a hug. 4 of the girls did a dance performance for us at the end and I still have that song stuck in my head! That night we had another class with gradings and a dinner after. Really nice people. I left my black belt there accidently which I think I will ask to be given to the first woman who grades to shodan. Really nice people.

Salvador

Next day we flew to Salvador, Bahia, the oldest city in Brasil, and home of Capoeira.It was really beautiful - I can see now why people go to Europe to see those old cities. We hooked up with a friend of Bueno's, Renato, another aikido Sensei with a sense of humour. We did a fair bit of sightseeing and on the last night were taken to a capoeira dojo by Renato and his friend, an off-duty cop. Strange to be hanging out with someone carrying a gun and in, as it turns out, a really dangerous neighbourhood. We have visited a few places now that other tourists wouldn't come out of unscathed. The teacher was Mestre Falcão, big and very tough-looking but really friendly. The capoeira was great, more of a demonstration than a class and we got pulled up at the end to play at the end - and I have the embarrasing video to prove it.

For more photos of Recife please click here

For more photos of Salvador please click here

Salvador