|
The
wind is always present moving the scenario of the península.
Sailíng boats, flags,
windsocks and pipes play around in the air. lt is not a
very strong wind, but it is able to move the leaves of
the jeribás
—typical regional palm trees, of the beach cotton trees, the buganvile branches. Bikers’
and tourists’ hair, girls skirts, water mirrors, the sea of the 24 city
beaches.
And the messengers of wind present in almost every house
and lodge.
lt
is as thought the wind was a character of the city.
lt
is loved, worshiped, able to make bearable even the 40ºC
heat in the summer. There is even a festival as a
tribute to the wind. Usually it comes from the east and
brings waves to the surfers of Geriba beach. When it
comes from the Northeast it cheers up the wind surfers
of Manguinhos. lt always allows a very agreeable evening
after a sunny day. With the light of the mornings and
the colors of the sea, as weIl as the wind the small
fishermen boats arrive to the piers where there are
plenty of seagulls and grebes around.
There
are many elements which make Buzios what it is a babel
that hosts over 50 nationalities and always attracts
more and more tourists —
and
many of them end up beíng future dwellers of the City.
This is how in the last 40 years, the city has emerged
as a fancy place from a small fishermen viliage with a
few families to become this 20 thousandinhabitant bay
that at some points in the
summer
has up to 150 thousand people.
The
ideal would be that in the high season of tourism,
population didn’t go over 60 thousand inhabitants,
explaining that the idea is not have Búzios filled with
tourists but to offer a quality service so
that
everyone can have a good time in town.
What
attracts people to Búzios is the favorable image that
the city has constructed sínce the 60s’ with the
arrival of Brigitte Bardot to the city in December 1961.
Up to the beginning of the 60’s nobody ever talked
about money in Búzios. The city was just about
fishermen, very few summer dwellers and tourists, very
rare ones.
In
December 1964, BB came back to Búzios to inaugurate the
first lodge in town Pousada do Sol, belonging to the
Argentineans Marcela Mayol and Ramon, between Praia do
Canto and rua das Pedras. After Brigitte’s coming
over, Rachei Weich and other stars decided to come over
as well.
It
was enough to make the city outstanding to the world.
The
special weather in Búzios challenged many architects to
make the buildings in harmony with the local scenario.
From that idea there came about a lot of wonderful
buildings. Hélio Peliegrino Filho is the author of some
of those works of art such as Pórtico de Búzios, the
restaurant named Boom, and Zapata Mexican Bar. Otávio
Raja Gabaglia made more than 200 pro]ects in the city.
Abusing on glass, wood, carvings, colorful ceramics,
the tile color
of shingles and bricks, the buildings
are dazzling
and give style to the City.
Almost
20 years ago, rua das Pedras was the first to emerge as
a hang out spot in Búzios. Renata Deschamps, tells the
story. She bought number 13 warehouse in the well known
street in the 60’s. “1 saw downtown Búzios move
from Armação to this area.”, she says as she walks
her 5 dogs through Praia do Canto.
“Búzios
has become more sophisticated, but there is still
space for the humble
life, for the walks,
for the interaction with the locals.
“, says Renata. She also says that she met a great deal of the young people in town when they were babies.
This
mixture of simplicity and sophisticatíon enchants
everyone. Buzios is primitive for the foreígners and
sophisticated to the Brazilians. . But this humbleness
shouldn’t delude anyone: Búzios has grown towards
tourism, which is 95% of the economics activities in
town. Amongst other 5% there is sardine and tuna fishing.
During
the summer there are mostly Brazilíans in town and that
in the rest of the year, tourists from other countries
are the majority. Lately, Búzios has actually been a
transatlantic stop.
The
challenge
there is to ally
this continuous growth of tourism with the preservation
of the town — made
out of slopes,
rocks and sand bank forests. Almost 60% of Búzios is on
environmental
preservation. But Búzios, with íts charm,
hasmanaged to get the most unexpected
chemistries.
|