Day 54, Maceio, Brazil - A Most Delightful City

What a delightful surprise this city of less than 2 million inhabitants was to me. Maceio, however, had humble beginnings with its designation of a village in December of 1815. Wow that was a while ago! Sugar exportation was the major economic contributor to its prosperity over the early years. Now, number one grossing export is coconuts, lots and lots of coconuts. Also high on the list are tobacco, leather, chemicals, shrimp & lobster and still sugar, just not the leader. The view of the ocean across mountains of sea salt in pyramids all over the port was beautiful. Off to a good start here. Then one of the first things we saw just offshore was a pollution free chemical plant! I'm talking pristine! No smoke stacks, no polluted waters, a wonder to behold. I know next to nothing about the operations of one type of chemical plant versus another. My frame of reference is based on Texas City and other chemical plants along the Texas coastline. If I understood our guide correctly, this one produces chlorine in that facility perched atop the water with a huge pipeline above a very long pier to shore, then under the avenue into a tree shrouded office complex. Or at least I suppose that was what was behind the acres of trees planted purposely to offset any ecological harm to the environment. The huge sea salt pyramids in the port were imported from Chili for use in the process. And no, I did not snap photos of either the mounds of salt or the pristine chemical plant. You will just have to take my word for it. A guy on our Trivia Team who spent most of his career in chemical plants agreed that there were lessons to be learned from them.

After the chemical plant and beaches we drove by a beautiful little Church built in the 17th century. If memory serves me this Church served/serves the African community.

Then came their "futebol" stadium, another drive by. As we were passing along the very clean, well maintained, virtually liter and homeless free streets, our guide told us "a very amusing story" his words, but I totally agree. Maceio, like all Brazilian cities is huge into soccer, second only to their worship of Pele. Well there came a time when the city needed a new stadium for their national pastime, so being more affluent than many of the neighboring cities, set out to build a 30,000 plus seat stadium and surely a stadium of that size must be named for Brazil's favorite son, Pele. Mission accomplished, dedication day came. Naturally Pele was invited to attend the dedication of the stadium bearing his name and he agreed. Word got out all over the area that the great Pele was to be in Maceio for the event. Even though the stadium held over 30,000, many, many thousands more lined the streets for miles to get a glimpse of their hero. Much to their dismay and disappointment beyond belief, when the motorcade arrived their hero was inside a sedan with darkened windows - they couldn't even see the driver! Pele was behind darkened glass! Oops! How did that happen? While Pele's name remains on the sign above the entrance, NO ONE refers to it thusly. Poor guy probably had no say in his mode of transportation, but these people can hold a grudge. It looked like a nice stadium from what little I know.

Then came the "new" cemetery. Not sure where or how old the "old" cemetery was but graves in the "new" one date back to the early 1800's. As was everything in Maceio, it was very well maintained.

Continuing on, we took a quick tour of the business district to arrive at their notable Cathedral, Our Lady of Pleasures. Beautiful structure, lots of gold, very, very old, When questioned about the name, our guide explained that it referred to Mary and the pleasures which were hers as a result of being Christ's Mother. Perhaps something was lost in the translation.

This one was particularly intriguing to me but time did not allow closer inspection.

Beautiful buildings dating at least back to the 18th century surrounded the Cathedral, mostly housing government offices. Maceio does have one glaring problem. It, like all the other cities I've visited in Brazil, is a lineman's nightmare! How on earth do they determine which line feeds what? Construction of these gorgeous structures certainly predates underground utilities!

What a mess!

Wonderful day, delightful city, informative and entertaining guide, all the food one can consume, ending with a Celine Tribute by a stunning young lady, Crystal Cimaglia. Who can ask for more?

Today Is Someday! Enjoy!