The Lexington advertiser. [volume] (Lexington, Miss.) 1904-1985, 1949-05-19

HAZEL
EYES

is only an journey
from Rio de Janeiro.
Called the City of All Saints
it was thus named because it
was discovered on All Saints Day
in 1892.
Santos is best known as the
port city from which most Of the
coffee in the world is shipped.
The size of this business is hard
to imagine but one authority has
it that during good years more
than two thousand ships line its
uuays to take the beans valued
around one hundred million dol
lars to all parts of the world.
Fruit, frozen meats and cotton,
too, are shipped from this port but
coffee is the principal export.
Santos itself is built on an is
land and faces the open sea or
channel or three sides out OF four.
It's beaches are broad and beau
tiful-even more lovely than fam
u Copacabana in Rio. One OF
the most delightful days OF many
was the one I spent at Guaruja
beach in the vicinity of Santos.
Brazilians love the surf and
every weekend the beaches at
Santos are crowded with people
who come from miles around, par
ticularly from nearby Sac Paulo.
I'm until noon Mondays the bus
ses are crowded with the crowds
returning home from the beaches.
Besides its coffee and beaches
Santos is also noted for it's orchid
growing industry. Orchid farms
containing more than four hun
dred different kinds of orchids
may be visited and the beautiful
blooms purchased for as little as
twenty-five cents. Many tour
lists, who have secured speclaf
permits from the U. S. Depart
ment Of Agriculture, buy the
plants and bring them back to the
United States. When this is done
the orchid fancier must wait at
the port Of arrival in the U. ).
for the plants to be sprayed and
passed upon by an official OF our
Department of Agriculture. Many
Americans not knowing these re-
gulations buy expensive plants
and 90 to a lot of trouble nurs-
ing them to get them safely home
only to find they can't bring them
in.
The city Of Santos is not parti-
cularly pretty though it does boast
some beautiful homes and pala-
tial modernistic apartment build
ings. But a nice view OF the city
can be had by going to the top OF
Monte Serrat. a shrine overlook
ing the city. Here great crowds
come on the pilgrimage days be-
ginning September 7th, am told,
to be cured of their ills or to
thank the Virgin for past favors.
No visit to Santos is complete
without a trip to the nearby city
of Sac Paulo. The most excit-
ing and interesting of these is
the one by funicular railway in
which you are literally pulled up
the mountain in a cable car. The
journey takes only a little over an
hour and the cost very moderate.
The trip by train to Sac Paulo
takes you through lush tropical
vegetation, banana plantations
and gorgeous mountain scenery
very similar to our Smoky noun
tains, though not nearly as high.
Sac Paulo is the capital city OF
the state of Sac Paulo and is
proudly called by its residents
fastest growing city in the world.
1t has a population in excess of
two million and is hailed as the
Chicago of South America.
Highly commercialized and in
dustrialized the city has the most
modern and beautiful residential
section as a whole of any city I've
ever visited. This section is
unique in that ithas a street NAM
ed for practically every state in
North America and for most OF
the countries of the world.
Most tourists go also to the
snake farm at Butantan which is
operated in connection with a
medical college. Worldwide pub
licity is given the achievements
of this institution which has de-
veloped anti-snakebite serums
which saves the lives of an estl-
mated 5000 Brazilians alone every
year. 1t is quite a fascinating
sight to see hundreds of these
snakes Of all sizes sliding along
the ground or trying to climb the
wall of their enclosures where
they are housed in little cement
huts.
The delightful temperature OF
Sac Paulo is very much like our
September days though the nights
are almost always cool. The year
round temperature seldom varies
more than one or two degrees.