Turismo Rural
Rural tourism represents a new tourist prospective. Brazil as a whole and our state of Rio Grande do Norte, with it's rich culture, steeped in agriculture, offer a wide variety of working ranches and plantations. The climate, the pure air, the natural plant life with abundance of fresh fruits, the homes and life style constitute the principal attractions of this type of tourism.
The guests can help with the activities of the fazenda. Many of the stays combine both cultural and eco-tourism and some of the fazendas are actually ecological presevres.
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Casas de Fazenda: These are ranches or plantations, historic or not, that have set aside an area, furnished and decorated in the typical style.
Casas de Colonia: These are houses that are identified with the colonization of the region.
Fazendas-Hospedarias: These are actual hotel-fazendas with separate accommodations for the guests.
Hospedarias Coloniais: These are colonial homes setup as hotels.
The following websites offer some examples of rural Brazil:
Net Farm : Rural network used by ranchers and farmers all over Brazil
NOTE: THE NET FARM HOME PAGE IS TEMPORALLY OFF LINE!
Vaquejada Homepage : Brazilian rodeo circuit information (in Portuguese)
Fazenda Rio Negro - Pantanal - Ecological Preserve
Traditional popular festival of the Northeast, the vaquejada more and more resembles the rodeos in cities like Barretos or Ribeirão Preto in the interior of São Paulo, or even those in the United States. Only in Ceará, 130 annual vaquejadas attract nearly 13 million persons. This sport attracts the urban elite 'nordestina' who show up in cowboy shirts, leather gloves, and fine pointed boots. Participants in the professional tourneys, the 'agroboys nordestinos' (Northeast cowboys) arrive at the festa in their Cherokee or Pathfinder pickup trucks.
The proper and traditional vaquajada is: the rider runs his horse after the steer, and the rider ends up throwing the steer by catching his tail and flipping him. There has been a rule introduced to turn the sport into one less violent - the 'cavaleiro' that breaks the tail of the steer, for example, receives a punishment or fine.
Annually there are 450 + vaquejadas in the Northeast, where there are nearly 2000 'parques' for competition. In the state of Ceará, a 'peão profissional' (professional rider) can earn R$ 7000 per month, and the competitions, sponsored by breweries, automobile manufacturers, and distillers of 'cachaça', are held in special 'parques', who also operate cattle and horse auctions, with the 'vaquajadas' and the accompanying 'forró ' (country dance) serving to attract the public.
Catch a ride to 'vaquajada' country; in Fortaleza there are two locals specializing in this 'O Clube do Vaqueiro and O Parque do Vaqueiro', where the 'chapelões' dance to the rhythm of the Forró; in Natal the most popular is Maciaba - Parque do Vaquajada (Sr. Umberto Pessoa - my friend). Oi Sr. Umberto!
NOTE: On our mototurs (motorcycle tours), if there is a vaquajada around, it will be part of the itinerary! On our other normal tours, we also offer this.
COMING SOON! A COMPLETE PROGRAM LIST OF THE VAQUEJADAS IN THE NORTHEAST!
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