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to travel
Brazil
Brazil
Samba party
Sturgis and Daytona? Sure, everyone knows. But have you ever heard of Boissucanga? The Brazilian biker scene meets every year in the small fishing village and celebrates an exhilarating Whitsun festival on the beach.
Werner Rudhart
05/28/1996
Harley-Davidson? The girl behind the counter of the ice cream parlor frowns. No, nobody knows her by that name. “But if there’s something going on here, it’s only on the beach.” The brightly striped circus tent can be seen from afar, and people are working feverishly around it: beer tables are set up, sales booths are built, an emergency power generator rattles loudly. Twenty men from the motorcycle club “Lobos do Asfalto”, asphalt wolves, are making the final preparations for the 3rd Harley-Davidson meeting, which is to begin tomorrow, on Whitsun Friday. Dentinho, who looks like Frank Zappa with his pointy beard and long brown curly hair, is just about to unload the last of the large loudspeaker boxes that he transported from Sao Paulo by truck. In a few hours, over 1000 Brazilian bikers will be celebrating the largest motorcycle festival in South America. A light drizzle begins and behind the houses of the small fishing village of Boissucanga, the green wall of the tropical forest slowly sinks into the clouds. “It rains more here than on the Amazon!” Dentinho’s worries are not unfounded. The warm, humid air masses that come from the sea rise up the slopes and make the Serra do Mar, the coastal mountains between the Brazilian metropolises of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, the wettest corner of Brazil. Nevertheless, this weekend too, thousands of Paulistanos, as the residents of Sao Paulo are called, are fleeing the industrial center and driving through the Cordilleras of the Serra do Mar down to the fine sandy beaches of the Atlantic. But this time strange characters have mingled with the vacationers – the “Aguias de Aco” (steel eagle) from Belo Horizonte, the “Pes Vermelhos” (red footed) from Curitiba and even the “Aguias de Ouro” (golden eagle) from over 1500 kilometers In the far south of the country, loud Harleys and mighty bikes from the local brand Amazonas thunder past cars overloaded with children, cones and cool boxes. The rainforest they cross with their machines extended earlier than the first Portuguese seafarers reached the new world , still like a huge green ribbon over 8000 kilometers along the coast. But over the centuries this once almost impenetrable wall crumbled. The trunks fell mercilessly in order to gain acreage for sugar cane and later for coffee. Today the Serra do Mar forms one of the last great remains of the Atlantic Forest, which has almost completely disappeared in large parts of the coast. Little by little, the individual motorcycle clubs appear on the site in front of the tent. At that moment it is the rain-soaked “Abutres” (vultures) from Sao Paulo – according to the inscription on their leather jackets, they are themselves an “extinct race”. But the refreshing beer at the long bar has to wait, what follows is a funny and tart welcoming ceremony: Instead of a handshake, the newcomers are grabbed by the shoulders of the already assembled bikers and pushed back and forth until they are in an oversized volleyball net land that is stretched in front of the stage. Only then does it go into the tent, where the music is already running at full speed. Saturday morning. The night of celebration has left deep marks on many faces. Tired of walking the first ones down to the beach, enjoying the still faint rays of the rising sun. The sleepy fishing village soon became the backdrop for a huge motorcycle exhibition. “There are around 1,000 Harleys here,” estimates Dentinho. Yesterday he delivered the truck in Sao Paulo and then drove the 200 kilometers back here on his motorcycle. Surrounded by an interested audience, he carefully cleans the chrome parts of his 47 Flathead. The rarity with the gear shift on the left side of the tank is just one of his four Harleys, all of which used to belong to the Brazilian police’s fleet. Until 1972, the cops on the federal highways sat on machines from Milwaukee without exception. “But most of the bikes in Brazil are just skeletons of old police machines that are brought back to life with other, mainly Japanese, engines – because very few can afford a new Harley.” To the chagrin of the Brazilian bikers, the government in Brasilia has all imported ones Motorcycles with hefty tariffs. A new Harley-Davidson 883, the smallest in the model range, costs the equivalent of 28,000 marks in Brazil, a current Heritage Classic is currently not available for less than 55,000 marks. Dentinho also tells of Peter and Boris, two Germans who traveled around the country five years ago looking for old Harleys and who ended up shipping a whole container full of motorcycles and parts to Germany. “Everything is being bought from us here,” agrees the dark-skinned Marcello. He runs a motorcycle workshop in Sao Paulo and values the festival above all as a spare parts exchange. Specifically, he has been looking for a cylinder for his Chicago 1943 model for over a year. But the search for spare parts has to wait today. With a long sidelong glance, he notices a blonde woman in the saddle of a pink 77 Shovelhead, smiling charmingly, he disappears in her direction. But the lady leaves no doubt about whom she prefers: “When I saw the first Harley, I fell in love immediately. I would never ride a Japanese machine. “For Fernanda, the school secretary from Rio, Harley-Davidson motorcycles are made for women:” They are heavy, but still require little strength from me as a driver. “Almost ten percent Izzo Motors, the Brazilian Harley importer, is now selling its machines to female customers – a percentage that can also be seen on the beach in Boissucanga. On the other hand, the five brawny motorcycles that form an impressive phalanx in the dust in front of a coffee bar are purely for men. The Amazonas brand bikes, built in Brazil, are equipped with VW 1600 boxer engines, weigh almost 400 kilograms and have a reverse gear without which they would not be maneuverable. In contrast to the riders of Japanese motorcycles, their owners are even accepted by Harley riders as their own equals, they belong to the family, so to speak. South American dominance also reigns in a competition in the afternoon: the aim is to pull a daring man on skis, who is hanging on a long rope behind a motorcycle, as far as possible through the mud. Various Harley riders struggle in vain, then it’s the turn of two daring-looking Amazon trikes with long forks. Howling boxers, spinning wide tires and two skiers who are dragged back and forth across the slippery square in front of a raging audience. This is how it’s done. The riders of Japanese enduro bikes are a bit behind: the organizers simply forbid them to take part in this spectacle, and everyone is allowed to join the big dance party after dark, no matter which motorcycle their heart beats for. This also applies to those who do not own a motorcycle. It is immediately packed in the marquee. The air boils under the stuffy tarpaulin, it smells of beer, smoke and sweat. The echo from the oversized loudspeakers is deafening, hundreds of bikers dance and twitch to the impulsive sounds of local blues and rock bands, to the music of the Doors and the Stones, and at a late hour the raging crowd roars out of one mouth, “Born to be wild.” «, The classic by Steppenwolf, which every motorcyclist in Brazil knows. The first travel reports about this region show that things were pretty wild on Boissucanga beach almost 450 years ago. The German shipwrecked Hans Staden, who was stranded in this bay in 1553, observed how the Tupinamba tribe encountered their enemies here, with whom they fought a violent battle. At the victory celebration that followed, there was vigorous drinking, and the Tupinamba served the prisoners to each other – fried piece by piece. The bikers from the 3rd Harley Davidson Festival form a peaceful bunch despite the provocative outfit and the wild tattoos. “Asphaltwolf” Pierro, initiator of the festival, sums it up: “At the weekend I sit on my machine and feel like a king, why should I behave like a rowdy then?” Boissucanga will be strong again next year celebrated. Contact address: Lobos do AsfaltoRua Natingui, 756Vila Madalena05443-002 Sao Paulo S.P. Brazil Telephone 0055-11-8157116
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