Updated 22 March 2008
Sertão
The edge of the Sertão in the rainy season - sometimes the rains don't come, the sky is clear and the land blasted
Behind the beaches of Northeast Brasil (the official spelling) lies a narrow zone of green and then something most people do not associate with the country they believe is Amazon rain forest and Rio. Among the many other types of country is one that might surprise many -- the Sertão. The dictionary translation might be "hinterland," but an English connotation of "seared" would not be amiss. The Sertão is a high interior region blocked from Atlantic moisture by low mountains and its altitude. In recent decades the dryness seems to be increasing beyond anything previously known, possibly due to world climate change and possibly also due to clearing of the dry adapted scrub vegetation that covered the Sertão itself. Baking land creates heat that keeps the moisture that reaches the region well away from condensation.
The characteristic profile of the region is a beach zone and coastal forest (Mata) of hundreds to thousands of meters in depth. Long stretches of this zone are broken by an abrupt, low scarp. In Salvador, Bahia elevators joined the lower commercial city from higher and cooler residential areas. They are still there, augmented by tunnels that form spirals in the scarp. It is a strange experience to plunge into the bluff and spiral upward to emerge in the newer city above. An idea of the scarp can be gained from the very unusual example where it and the beach meet at Jacarecica do Sul. The color layers are also unusually clear and briliant here.
In much of the area the top of the scarp is the start of a monoculture of sugarcane that dates to colonial times. The huge plantations are almost feudal and are now a real concern to the state governments. Recent meetings have been held to work on diversification of agriculture. The region is entirely too dependent on the sugar and alcohol produced by this crop. Market fluctuations too often cause a boom/bust cycle. Alcohol for fuel and industrial uses was very prominent a couple of decades ago. Cars and trucks were often fueled by pure cane alcohol and the fairly small port of Maceió filled tankers with alcohol.
It is sort of surprising for one used to U.S. laws on alcohol to pick up rubbing alcohol and find it nearly pure drinkable alcohol. The area produces what elsewhere might be called rum, but I think the better brands taste better. It goes under various names, more elegantly perhaps as aguardente de cana, but also cachaça, pinga and other lesser terms. The better brands are a more natural tasting rum like drink, some very smooth, while some of the cheap stuff (and I do mean cheap!) is probably diverted from fuel pumps. A bottle of my current favorite, Ypióca, ran about $2.50 in the supermarket for the sipping quality Ouro in summer of 1999.
Anyway, miles and miles, sometimes almost as far as can be seen are cane fields forming something of a desert of their own. Bits of the highly endangered Atlantic rain forest (included in the Mata, or "woods") sometimes appear, usually on steep little mountains. There is increasing awareness of the need to preserve this and preserves are being attempted. The relatively moist land extends inland through the Agreste, a transitional zone, until a combination of altitude and more low mountains wrings moisture out of the air and the Sertão begins. The vegetation changes, sometimes rapidly, from coastal tropical to near desert.
This can be so abrupt that one side of a town is moist and green and the other full of cacti and rocks. The photo above is on the west side of such a town, Palmeira dos Índios, lying about 135km inland from Maceió. The agreste to the east of town is green with fairly good farming and pasture land. The Agreste has water enough for real farming and good grazing. The Sertão is sometimes yes, and many times no to either.
Looking east back through one of the "gateways" to the Sertão in Alagoas
As one moves west the severity of the Sertão increases and in some areas it becomes for all practical purposes desert. Even the less severe portions are no place to try to grow crops or farm, yet many attempt to do so. The main agriculture is cattle ranching. Some attempt to keep herds in enclosed areas feeding them spineless cactus grown as fodder, but the periodic severe years drive even those out. Many, often large ranches covering huge areas, attempt to graze cattle in the scrub forest or caatinga. In dry years, as in 1998-1999 pictures show shrunken corpses of these cattle surrounding dried mud holes and the herds were essentially lost.
In the caatinga everything has defenses. Some defenses are huge thorns, large enough to skewer a man. Some are irritants or poisons. One plant is a maze of tube like green stems that when broken spray a milky sap reputed to cause instant blindness. It is used for cattle fences since cattle will not eat the stuff or move through the tangle.
Cleared and overgrazed Sertão landscape (notice increased green in lower left outside fence).
The Vaqueiro (cowboy) of the Sertão has a traditional costume (See: Museu Casa do Sertão's on line exhibit with Vaqueiro artifacts at museum) adapted to the defenses of the caatinga -- all leather and very thick. The hat is a narrow brimmed helmet of thick hardened leather and all other clothing on the outside is similar in thickness. Still, injuries are frequent and sometimes fatal. The man to the right below is wearing some of the leather, but the one on the left is not. They are working cleared land with one of the primary roads available for driving cattle. An extreme and highly modified example of the cowboy's hat was worn by the bandit Lampião. The heads of the gang in a display that toured the Northeast after they had been caught and killed. Both hat styles are hot items in the souvenir markets and many places offer the opportunity to place your face in a cut out "Lampião" for photographs.
Vaqueiros (cowboys) in easy country
For a view into the life and music of the vaqueiro I can only recommend Luiz Gonzaga's A morte do vaqueiro (The death of the vaqueiro) in the linked YouTube video. Gonzaga was one of the great musicians of the sertão and the images in this clip are striking. One will quickly see what I mean by "easy country" under the photo above. For more images to the same music see this video.
The people of the Sertão are special. As so many living in hard regions they are independent and proud. Poverty is severe. Many, if not most, live in single room structures made of woven branches covered by mud. They exist on rice, beans and meat.
In general they are hard working and honest, even when driven to the cities by severe conditions. One of the legendary journeys is the truck fitted with rough benches full of Sertãnejo making the thousand mile trip to the south where jobs may be available. They usually live in abject poverty sending pitiful amounts of cash back to families in the Northeast. When news reaches the south that rains have come to the Sertão, often after half a decade, the trucks are full headed north.
For some striking images of the people see Patrick Bogner's site (in French) and photos. One face of a Sertãnejo is so typical it is almost as if I'd seen the man. Also notice how similar the eyes are to "the thousand mile stare" of soldiers in war. He is in one -- with the land he apparently loves enough to return to whenever there is a chance of eating.
Rain in the Sertão (1986) -- more like heavy morning dew with occasional light sprinkles, but people were happy.
The Sertão of the Northeast has a strong influence on the culture of even the coast, much like the Old West of the United States influenced regions beyond its actual geographical extent. The folklore, music and literature of the entire Northeast is full of the Sertão. The music might be a rough equivalent to country-western in the U.S. and has nothing of the sound of samba. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen an album in the U.S. of the real thing. Neither is it common on the major radio stations in the region. Artifacts of the cowboy and musicians in particular have influenced art. The clay figurines of the Northeast capture the face of the Sertãnejo referenced above. I recognize and we have more than one of the items in the image from the Museu Casa do Sertão.
Years of rain shortfall had driven many to the coast in the 1998-1999 period. Maceió itself had huge cardboard and black plastic mini-cities on its outskirts and one could see the horses grazing on the beach vegetation of the city beaches. In the summer of 1999 even the coastal zone had poor grazing and cattle were thin. At least they were alive. I was used to the daily rains on the coast, yet spent six weeks with only several days of real rain. When there were light rains in the Sertão newspapers carried photos of the weak greening and people were flowing back hoping again. With global weather changes working against them I'm afraid it will be worse.
Roadside caatinga, August 2008
In August 2008 the rains were heavier than usual and the caatinga was more green than I've ever seen. There were even some marsh areas full of birds.
Additional links:
A map and brief description (click on the map or name) of the São Francisco River.