Reflections on six months away
Happy New Government Day 5th July 2024. . I'm back in Sao Luis now - I was here for a month in April and HAD to come back for their amazing Sao Joao festival. Here's a video showing a tiny bit of a Bumba Meu Boi play .... 100 different community groups in the state of Maranhao put on their own versions of this play, all telling the same story, all totally different. (A trip to Sao Luis in June is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, tell me if you want to come here and I'll join you!) As regular readers will know, I am doing a particular sort of 'participative tourism' as far as I can and was actually IN a Bumba Meu Boi play last week...(!) As well as - visiting museums and art galleries, - going to carnival in Salvador, - climbing mountains way out of my comfort zone in Chapada Diamantina, - being part of a sunset candlelit boat procession at the Festejo de Divino Espirito Santo in Alvaraes near Tefe, and - watching the Corpus Cristi procession in Cusco, I've - bee