A land far, far away

Alright, so the evenings have started drawing in, you’ve got your big coat out of mothballs and all the ‘special’ isles in the supermarkets are filling up with a mixture of Halloween and Christmas chocolates. Face it, summer’s over. Apart from when Michael Palin’s on the telly. He seems to have figured out a very successful way of battling S.A.D. symptoms, as apparently, although he spent years and years travelling the world on telly, the one place he’s never been to – a massive hole in his passport’s canon in fact – is Brazil. It gets to something when you’re listing the places you haven’t been rather than the places you have. But I’m being churlish. And jealous.

Palin’s Brazil is stunning. He has the very best guides, taking him for drinks in local bodegas (the only places in the world where you can buy nappies, original art work and a beer in one place), to see the sights in a national park filled with moving sands – meaning that every day the landscape is different – and an actual chasing of the bulls by real cowboys, with skin to rival their protective wear in its leathery aspect. With such a mixture of influences from empirical invaders, the slaves they brought (meaning that one of the cities Palin visits is the largest African city outside of Africa) and of course the indigenous people, the architecture, music and very belief systems are a unique blend filled with colour and noise.

“real cowboys, with skin to rival their protective wear in its leathery aspect”

Being an international celebrity does add another edge to this travelogue, as Michael is invited in to be a guest on a local radio station and ends up singing an old Elvis song with the host, much to his dissatisfaction. But then he also drums with the street children, joining a local initiative in an area constructed chiefly of shanty towns that have met and decided to join forces. And he dances. And cooks. With a woman who has one of the best laughs you’re ever likely to hear, and a story of rags to relative riches that will no doubt be snapped up and made into a TV movie before the series is out.

It’s all so vibrant. The history, the sculpture, the street celebrations and the suburbs that congregate on the beach – a wealth leveller for all the city as they gather and create a cacophony of music as the sea laps the shore.

And this is only the first episode. I honestly don’t know how Michael Palin does it all. Maybe it’s because he has several days to travel about and we see it all crammed into an hour, but this really does convey the veritable barrage of cultural influences and smorgasbord of amazing experiences that are to be had in Brazil. Clearly the poverty cannot be ignored, but neither is it actually acknowledged, more painted as local colour – which it also is.

When the hour with Michael had passed I looked again out of the window at the dark evening, the drizzle and our national weather report, and to be honest, felt vaguely as though I’d just had a holiday in the sun and returned. The rain looked crisper and newer, like it does at airport arrivals. Maybe a whole series will help us all ward off the S.A.D. symptoms.

Brazil With Michael Palin, BBC1, 9pm, Wednesday 24 October 2012