S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013 Visiting the ruins of a 16th century church in Guaruj\u00e1, getting to know the Fort of S\u00e3o Jo\u00e3o, in Bertioga, and laying on father Jos\u00e9 de Anchieta\u2019s \u2018Bed,\u2019 a set of stones where he used to rest, in Peru\u00edbe. These places date back from the days when Jesuit priests came to Brazil to catechize the Indians, shortly after the discovery of Brazil, and now they may be visited in one single pilgrimage route. The program \u201cPassos dos Jesu\u00edtas-Anchieta\u201d (In the Steps of Jesuits-Anchieta), launched on September 14th by the Secretariat for Tourism of the State of S\u00e3o Paulo, enables tourists to travel along the entire coastline of the state, on foot or by bicycle, and visit sites that the Jesuits passed through.<\/p>\n
The full tour covers approximately 340 kilometres. It starts in Peru\u00edbe, on the southern coast, and ends in Ubatuba, on the northern coast, passing through Itanha\u00e9m, Mongagu\u00e1, Praia Grande, S\u00e3o Vicente, Cubat\u00e3o, Santos, Guaruj\u00e1, Bertioga, S\u00e3o Sebasti\u00e3o, Ilhabela and Caraguatatuba. No one is required to take the whole tour. The inaugural group, of 25 people, left from Peru\u00edbe on September 14th and arrived in Bertioga on the 20th. They travelled 140 kilometres, walking an average of 23 kilometres each day. The section from Bertioga to Ubatuba should open by November. <\/p>\n
The trip through the colonial period of Brazil starts in Peru\u00edbe, on the southern coast. In the city lie the ruins of Igreja de S\u00e3o Jo\u00e3o Batista (Saint John Baptist\u2019s Church), also known as the ruins Abarebeb\u00ea. In the language of the native peroibe Indians, abarebeb\u00ea means \u201cflying priest.\u201d Such was the nickname they gave to Father Leonardo Nunes, a Jesuit who was sent to the city. Itanha\u00e9m also holds its treasures. In between the beaches of Gruta and Sonho there is a rocky formation known as \u201cAnchieta\u2019s bed.\u201d The priest would rest there whenever he was not teaching the Indians to read and write.<\/p>\n
Mongagu\u00e1 was used as a resting point in the Jesuits\u2019 journeys. In Guaruj\u00e1, the ruins of Ermida Guaib\u00ea are preserved. At this small church, located on the route to Prainha Branca, Father Jos\u00e9 de Anchieta used to say his prayers. The history of the Jesuits continues on the path to the northern coast. At the Fort of S\u00e3o Jo\u00e3o, in Bertioga, Manoel da N\u00f3brega and Jos\u00e9 de Anchieta, two Jesuits, rested for several days in 1554 before setting off to Ubatuba and negotiating peace with the confederation of Tamoios Indians.<\/p>\n
Ubatuba, in the final leg of the trip, also hosts its share of references to the days of the Jesuits. It was there, for example, that Father Jos\u00e9 de Anchieta wrote his \u201cPoema \u00e0 Virgem\u201d (Poem to the Virgin), on Iperoig beach, when he surrendered to the Indians during the negotiations for peace between Tamoios and colonizers. \u201cPaz de Iperoig\u201d (Peace of Iperoig), as the agreement has come to be known, ended the war between the Portuguese and the Indians.<\/p>\n
There are signs and warnings across the whole path, according to the state secretariat for tourism. Alternative routes enable the pilgrims to enjoy the natural beauty of the cities and get to know the fauna and flora of the Atlantic Forest more closely. They can even \u201cflee\u201d the daily walk to put their feet on the sand or going into the ocean. <\/p>\n
Upon registering on www.caminhasaopaulo.com.br, the pilgrim receives a bar code that must be traded in for a magnetic card in one of four posts during the trip, located in Peru\u00edbe, Mongagu\u00e1, S\u00e3o Vicente and Santos. The card gives discounts at hotels and lodges in the cities along the route of the Jesuits. As pilgrims place the card near each of the 22 electronic machines along the way, they record that they have passed through that section of the route. Their relatives and friends will be able to trace their footsteps.<\/p>\n
Upon recording their presence in at least 12 of the 22 electronic machines along the route, pilgrims get a certificate. Each person has one year to cover at least 12 sections of the route. On the Caminha S\u00e3o Paulo (Walk S\u00e3o Paulo) website, they may upload their pictures, accounts and travel surprises. Those who cover the 340 kilometres of the route will enter a contest to win a trip to Santiago de Compostela, in Spain, one of the main pilgrimage routes in the world. <\/p>\n
\u201cI did not know Anchieta\u2019s Bed, I had never heard of Po\u00e7o das Antas (another tourist spot in the region). This project is a chance to rescue our history and value the saga of the Jesuits,\u201d says the technical consultant for the project, Jos\u00e9 Palma. He calculates that in one year, 10,000 people should travel the route. The state government wants to expand the project and create seven other routes: three covering the Jesuit\u2019s tracks and four in the interior of the state, following on the footsteps of the Bandeirante colonizers.<\/p>\n
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cities along the coastline of the state of S\u00e3o Paulo where the priests catechized the Indians from the 16th century onwards are now part of a pilgrims\u2019 route.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2317,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-39366","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-tourism"},"wps_subtitle":"Cities along the coastline of the state of S\u00e3o Paulo where the priests catechized the Indians from the 16th century onwards are now part of a pilgrims\u2019 route.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2317"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39366\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}