Boa Viagem

Boa Viagem is known only through the testimony of Seu Júlio (Julio de Almeida), a former prisoner of the Dois Rios Correctional Colony on Ilha Grande. In a 2012 interview when Seu Júlio was 82 years old, he recounted his experiences practicing capoeira in Rio de Janeiro before his imprisonment.

When Seu Júlio lived in the Catacumba slum, located on the hills surrounding the Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas, he practiced capoeira, running, and boxing with "nortistas" (Bahians) at the lagoon. Among his training partners was "a friend known as Boa Viagem," who also served time at Dois Rios.

The Catacumba favela existed from approximately the 1930s until its removal in 1970. At its peak, it housed around 15,000 residents, many of whom were migrants from the state of Maranhão who arrived in the 1940s. The community was located in a privileged position overlooking the lagoon, but lacked basic infrastructure—residents had to share fifteen public water spouts near the asphalt.

The capoeira practiced at Catacumba and Rodrigo de Freitas was part of a broader pattern of informal training that occurred in Rio's favelas and public spaces during the mid-twentieth century. After the near-extinction of capoeira following the brutal Republican-era suppression, the art survived in "more discreet locations," including popular neighborhoods and favelas, where techniques were passed on by malandros and practitioners who had learned from Bahian migrants.

Boa Viagem's imprisonment at Dois Rios connects him to a larger community of capoeiristas who served time at the colony, including Sete Coroas (from Bahia), Edgar, and Americano—all mentioned in Madame Satã's prison memoirs. At Dois Rios, the fighting art was often called "tiririca" rather than capoeira. As Seu Júlio explained: "capoeira and tiririca mean one thing only, it depends a lot on the teacher and (...) the lightness, the instruction (...) that was different from capoeira."

Nothing else is known about Boa Viagem—not his full name, the nature of his crimes, or his fate after imprisonment. His apelido, meaning "good journey" or "bon voyage," is also the name of a traditional capoeira farewell song and a neighborhood in Salvador, making research challenging.