Bem-vindos ao Litoral Sul de São Paulo

The People

Here's our section about the people who live in the city. They are just ordinary people that contributes to the history of the city and that one of the region. They are students, house agents, painters and fishermen. People that are present in our everyday life, maybe the most important ones because they help us write the pages of our own history. Let's see who they are...

Marcelo Pires	helm wheel	compass	sonar

Marcelo Pires Cavalcante is maybe one of the most popular and famous fishermen of the city. He's very nice and friendly. He really enjoys chatting with his friends and acquaintances about what he sees in the sea... what he feels when he goes out fishing in the open sea...the animals and places he spots such as the whales, the dolphins, the islands and the blue waters that are out there. “I'm not originally caiçara" he says (note: Caiçara is the one who is born on the shores in between the Northern shores of the State of  Paraná, all the shores of the State of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro). "I was born in the Capital of São Paulo and came to live here when I was just a kid. I worked in many fields and maybe the destiny chose me to me work as a fisherman. I had my own boat some years ago. I used to make a good money with the sea harvest, enough for me and my family (he's got a wife and 3 children). I really enjoy what I see in the sea; the dolphins are always escorting the boat, the whales, the big manta rays and enormous sharks (called Cação here - smaller than common sharks). The sea around here, on the Southern Shores, is very rich and it's got many fish! The waters around the coastline are sometimes a little bit darker due to the maritime currents that raise the sand from the the sea bottom, but when I sail a bit far from the coast, the water becomes totally blue as of a cobalt color. Besides, Itanhaém is the home of  2 of the most famous islands in Southeastern Brazil which are the Queimada Grande (Big Queimada) - the island which is the home of one of the most poisonous snakes in the world called Jararaca Islander and the other one island, called Queimadinha or Little Queimada, located nearer the coast than the the previous one. The water around the Queimada Grande Island is so blue, some people simply cannot believe it...We can't get too close to the island because it is a preservation area. Even from the deck we can spot Manta Rays "flying" down there under the sea. It's so beautiful! It looks as though the boat were floating in the air!"

Nevertheless, a couple of years ago, Cavalcante got involved in a terrible shipwreck, he won't ever forget!...

"Once, we went out for fishing very early, even before the dawn, when the sky was still dark. It was cold. There were 3 people; another guy who worked for me, an old man and myself - all of us fishermen. When were were getting closer to a place called "Cascalho" (where the bottom of the sea is rocky) near the Islet of Conception, I heard a sudden "bump" noise that came from underneath the boat. I got upset because this is usually a sing that the boat had hit the bottom or that a rock had hit us instead. I came down to the basement of the boat and searched as fast as I could for any kind of damage but everything looked OK. At that time, I didn't even suspected that the the worst was about to come. Some minutes later, the water started to get in the boat. There was so much water I didn't have time to do anything, not even to ask for help on the radio. It was too dark and cold, it was not summertime and besides there was a horrible fog everywhere! Of course we couldn't see anything at all. All that horrible accident happened all of a sudden and we were in the dark and in that frightening cold water. The boat disappeared in a matter of a couple of minutes. We just had time to grab some empty barrels that were floating on the water and here...we were very, very lucky! That's all I can remember, I was too frightened. I started screaming to the others in order to guide them towards the sound of my voice, telling them that there were too dangerous currents in the open sea that could takes far way from each other in a couple of minutes. I remember I told them also there were good currents that could take us back to Cibratel Beach or that we could try swimming in that direction....but everything was just too dark. Sometime later, there came the dawn and then with the daylight I looked up there in the sky. I couldn't see anything at all, just that thick fog everywhere about 1 meter from where I was. I am protestant, I asked GOD to be merciful with me...I thought about my children. It was too cold and I was under a terrible stress. I guess we stayed for more than 14 hours in the water. Our friends, other fishermen who work on the Fishermen's Beach are used to counting all the fishermen who gets back. They missed us and then came out to rescue us. They found us about 10 kms off the coast at 5 p.m. We were taken to the hospital since we were too dehydrated and trembling with the experience and the cold of the water that seemed to have invaded our bodies. I consider our rescue a miracle. If I can call this an adventure, I will certainly never forget it for the rest of my life.  No one has a real idea of what the sea is, its vastness and grandeur, unless you are exactly in it as the way we were". Nowadays Calvalcante continues to work in the sea and he definitely loves his work. He is one of the most experienced captains in the City. The ones who want to hear this history live, in person, can go to The Little Port (Portinho) and search for Cavalcante, since he's always around there.

			Adriano Ferreira Nascimento is young and intelligent. He works with his girlfriend Carla Ambrosio in the field of tourism in Itanhaém. "I was born in the City of Itabuna in The State of Bahia", Nascimento says. "My father was a kind of farm manager and we had to leave for a cocoa farm because he was hired to work in one of those in Southern Bahia. Sometimes I think how curious the destiny is! I came from far away (Bahia is in the Northeast), from a cocoa farm, my family is of humble origin. In the beginning of the 80's, my uncle left to Itanhaém and then sometime later he brought my family to live here. I was a gardener in the section of the city called Cibratel where most of the rich tourists have mansions and I never got ashamed of my job, because all kinds of work dignifies man. I'm very proud of my efforts! Nowadays I am about to graduate in Tourism at a College in the City of Santos.
in the Chamber House	on the Cibratel Beach

I consider myself a privileged man because everything I have, I made with my own effort. I love the city I live, which is Itanhaém. I adore the section of the city where my house is located because it is a calm place, too close to the Atlantic Forest and the Sea Mountain Range. When I began to work as a gardener, I worked along with my uncle and my older brother who is blond and totally different from me (he starts laughing). I studied hard and had a bachelor degree. Then some years ago I enrolled in Tourism and succeeded to pass the examinations for the College. I'm paying the course with my own money. Once I remember that I wanted to take English at one of the schools in the city, but I didn't have enough money so I asked the director to take the course working as the school gardener. He agreed, and I took the whole course. I even took a training course to become an English Teacher and began to work at the same school. I enjoy music so I also took an electric piano course. During this time, I began to work in the field of Tourism. Nowadays I keep some gardens to help my mother at home and to get extra revenues. I keep studying foreign languages; nowadays I'm taking French that I like so much. My favorite hobbies are reading and music. Sometimes during the weekends, I compose musical arrangements pretty much like a DJ."

Mrs. Herta Waesel Müller, was born in the State of Saint Catherine (Santa Catarina) and she is an example of loyalty and courage. German and Italian descendant, she left for Saint Andrew (Santo André) and then a bit later she got married and moved to Itanhaém in 1962. "This Peruíbe Avenue wasn't even urbanized!", she remembers, missing that time. "We opened our Bar, the Mini-Golf, as soon as we arrived here. It was just a simple place in the beginning, but then later it got very famous around here in the Cibratel (one of the sections of the city). It was maybe the only one bar in Brazil that had mini Golf Courses. People from all places used to come here to play golf. Once, I guess it was in 1966, my later husband, Mr. Jorge, went with some of his friends in a kombi wagon to fish on the Peruíbe Beach...that is the Cibratel Beach, near the Rocks - as though this place were too far away from our Mini Golf (in fact just a few blocks southwards)", she says, smiling. "They went fishing with a Picaré (a local word for Fishnet), they were in fact going to fish with that long net. I'll never forget how many fish they brought  home! I remember that I even got mad with Jorge because we didn't have such a big refrigerator for so many fish! The section of the City called Cibratel 1... didn't have light; in the beginning we just had some gas lights. I still remember the mayor had built a small and tall white house at the end of the so called Street number 20, near the Indians' Well Beach (Poço dos Índios) to install an electric generator there. There were woods everywhere and all the streets were not urbanized. Houses?  There was one over here, another one over there... but that was a wonderful time...very good and peaceful. There were no stores or grocery stores around here, except for the Raising Sun (Sol Nascente) that was tore down a long time ago to serve as a parking lot for the new Krill Supermarket. Another section known as Beautiful Arts (Belas Artes) was just widely known as the "60". It was as simple as that. I still remember that wonderful dark navy blue sky full of stars and those gas lamps!"  Thoughtfully, she adds: "I worked to hard in the Mini Golf and in Itanhaém!" – she remembers. "During the summertime, I used to sell more than 300 drinks on a single month! I worked hard, too hard! I ran the Bar and after constructing a facility at the back, I opened a Pizza Restaurant there. Then later, we closed the Pizza Restaurant and I started to rent that place for events and parties. I guess I am a workaholic, I cant stop working. I remember the beginning of the 70's when the channel 4, The Tupi TV from São Paulo came here to record a series (better than the style of soap operas) called Women of Sand (Mulheres de Areia) on the Fishermen's Beach. We used to find a good place at the back for the actors and actresses (so that the people would not bother them) like the actors Eva Wilma and Carlos Zara. At the end of the 80's I opened a small Real Estate and Managing Company. Time has passed since then, always leaving its scars. My children got married, my husband died, Itanhaém has grown and changed a lot, the Cibratel Section nowadays stretches much farther than the region of Gustavos' Bar on the beach, Cibratel's ancient frontier (the bar was closed permanently in 2003 after Gustavo's death). I still live with my only boy, Renato. I was and I am still too happy here. I love this place and I intend to stay here forever. My husband passed away and I keep working. I have many plans for the future. I'm planning to visit all the beautiful places in Brazil first and only then I'll travel abroad to visit the other countries.

painting on the beach	pure art

Passos was born in the City of Juquiá, in the Ribeira Valley and he works as a painter. "I came to Itanhaém when I was a child. Nowadays I work for the City Hall teaching painting courses at The Memorial House and of course, selling my paintings. I have a series of paintings that were acclaimed at most exhibits in Itanhaém and in other cities. I love painting sea views found on the Peruíbe Beach (Cibratel Beach). Living here is a privilege. Sometimes when I go out painting sceneries, my spouse comes along with me; both of us have a strong willpower to win. I feel a sensation of vastness, all the immensity of this place as I look all around. This place is magic, surrounded by these far horizons pointed on the background by the mountains of Juréia and the bluish heights of the Sea Mountain Range. Those are contrasts of blue and green colors spread by an incredible luminosity. I love living in Itanhaém. It is a very calm place. It's wonderful living and working here.

Do you think you know someone who's got an interesting profile and of course that lives in Itanhaém or on the Southern Shores? Keep in touch at editor@itanhaemvirtual.com.br sending your digital or scanned picture, that we are going to show it here! Please help us to promote the City and the region!

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