Barefoot Brazil (via @TabletHotels)
The world needs Brazil,” says Emmanuel Rengade, and as the owner of two of the country’s finest small hotels, he should know. In part, he means that we need the fantasy. The Brazil of our imagination is a particularly honeyed vision of the good life — gregarious and sultry, with hammocks and caipirinhas.
At least, that’s the Brazil in the minds of expats like Rengade, who grew up in France and was working a finance job in London when a backpacking trip through South America led him to chart a new course. Traveling along the verdant, sparsely inhabited coast south of Rio, he came across a charming old pousada in the tiny fishing village of Piçinguaba (population about 500). At the time it was rundown and abandoned, but he was immediately smitten. Within a few weeks he owned it, and set about turning it into an idyllic retreat.
His ten-room Pousada Piçinguaba is a place of simple pleasures: hammocks on the terraces, communal dinners under the stars, kayaks and stand-up paddle boards for cruising along the uncrowded beaches. Set on a gem-cut coastline of bays and coves and tiny uninhabited islands, it’s pure barefoot luxury.
That there’s no internet access and only the faintest of cell phone signals is simply part of the appeal. Being disconnected underscores the strong sense of place that’s been cultivated at Pousada Piçinguaba. The staff is entirely local, and the village is small enough that virtually the only tourists are guests of the hotel. But it also has a veneer of sophistication, thanks to Rengade’s social connections, taste in friends and ability to attract like-minded guests.
Once the pousada was going strong, Rengade became determined to buy a farm to supply its restaurant. When he found the right piece of land in the highlands outside São Paulo, he discovered that it came with an 1850s fazenda (farmhouse). Soon that farmhouse would become Rengade’s second small hotel, Fazenda Catuçaba, which opened in 2011.
Like Pousada Piçinguaba, Fazenda Catuçaba keeps things simple, the better for focusing on the profoundly peaceful natural environment. Surrounded by rolling green hills that are dotted with lakes, its ten rooms are spacious but homey, with big slate bathtubs that have staggering views. Guests freely wander through the kitchen where meals are prepared, and the staff is from the area. Yet even in such a casual atmosphere, a subtle glamour shines through. Artists in residence have included Pasha Radetzki, who created giant sculptures on the grounds. Brazil’s famous Campana brothers designed a chair for the lounge, and just unveiled an outdoor “bamboo cathedral” for dance, yoga and meditation. Star architect Marcio Kogan designed a handful of eco-houses, which Rengade is selling exclusively to friends and friends of friends.
To Rengade, however, it’s not about Kogan houses or Campana brothers art. It’s about the communities he’s creating, where guests, staff, owners, artists and local workers can come together. The world can use this, indeed.
by Ann Abel for Tablet Hotels