Mount Penha is visible from our house and is a treasure that deserves its own post where we can talk about the area’s majesty. To frame today’s story just remember that we can normally hike to the sanctuary at the peak in under an hour (leaving from our front door) and the direct route takes ten minutes in a car.
In late September our friend and neighbor (once again) Jorge stopped over to the house and asked if we were free on Sunday because he wanted to go to see an event. We always speak Portuguese with Jorge and rarely have any translation problem that can’t be quickly resolved so we were quick to understand that the event was a race on the curvy road going up Mount Penha. This is a normal occurrence because this twisty, hilly road is perfect for all sorts of races (running, bicycling, and various race cars shut the road down each year for scheduled events). This time we really struggled with what type of race it was, “Corrinhos do Rolamentos”. Eventually we narrowed down the idea that rolamentos directly translates to ball bearings and this phrase refers to non motorized homemade rolling carts made with ball bearings. The closest thing we could think of from an American standpoint is Soap Box Derby Cars which were a bit before our time and neither of us had seen a race of this type.
When I was in the Boy Scouts my dad helped me make a pinewood derby car which is the same concept but toy sized. It was during that dark stage where I was painting soldiers with reflections of nuclear holocaust in their gas mask eye covers. Have I forgotten some stray nuclear scare in the late 80’s or was my perspective warped by reading completely inappropriate books? In any case my derby car was black and emblazoned with skulls and barely rolled. Dad (a proud Eagle Scout) probably wished for a different car design but he helped me realize my gothic vision. I didn’t last much longer in the Scouts.
In any case, Michelle and I had a general idea about what our upcoming adventure would be. Jorge picked us up before lunch so we could drive up the back side of the mountain (which takes about twice as long) and enjoy a meal at one of the restaurants atop the hill. We chose to eat at one of the fancier options, Chalé do Carmo, and I treated myself to a yummy steak covered with a bread crumb topping accompanied with a slab of bacon, chicken wings, and a side of beer.
As we finished lunch the race start time of 2:00 p.m. was fast approaching and we were a bit concerned because there wasn’t much activity at the summit. When we tried to clarify when and where the race starts with our waitress, she had no idea. We paid the tab and set out toward the roadway used for all the other races. Jorge asked a few people and eventually someone confirmed we were headed in the right direction. Soon we were surrounded by a steady stream of people all heading down the mountain. We found the starting area which had a DJ playing and police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances all staged and ready to respond to any accident. People were now lining both sides of the road and staff were visible every 50 meters or so wielding whistles and ready to keep people out of the line of danger.
Early on we took a seat near a curve at the top of the hill. It was about 2:20 and the ground was damp. The race was late to start and Jorge saw a good photo spot across the street. Michelle and I decided to hike a bit further down the hill to see what other views were available.
Michelle and I ended up choosing seats about 300 meters farther down the hill which were near a bit of a curve and thankfully quite dry. Another half hour had passed and the race still hadn’t started. Trucks carrying racers and other various race associated vehicles were going up and down the hill including a group of go kart riders.
We still didn’t really know what to expect. The poster promised a few different race categories but we hadn’t seen any of the competing rolling carts. Then the first few racers came down the hill just after 3:30 and a breakdown happened right in front of us! This category had very few participants and the carts were basically a few pieces of wood fastened together and some very tiny wheels attached to get them down the hill. The riders were basically going down the hill on a portion of 2×4 and we felt bad for the poor woman who lost a wheel near us. She popped it back on and kept on rolling though. Were things going to speed up or was this a preview of the rest of the day?
Back to waiting. We noticed a cute caterpillar just below our seats.
Finally, just after 4:00, two hours late, the real races began. For about 20 minutes there was a constant flow of all different race vehicles zooming past our seats. Ball bearing carts, tricycles, mini floats styled like coffins or beer crates, hard core racers in F1 style gear, and a variety of costumed riders having a laugh as they rolled down the hill. One vehicle even emitted a bright green (somewhat noxious) gas.
The day was fun and full of laughs. Jorge is a much better photographer than me and got amazing pictures of almost all the participants, if you’d like to see more check out his Facebook post HERE. Our Autumn has brought excellent weather and some other fun outings, we’ll be back with more in the upcoming weeks. Have you seen a similar race? If so, tell us all about it in the comments.
