Guanabara Beach

The Steps of Anchieta (Os Passos de Anchieta) is one of the first Christian roads of the Americas. It is also a project of local people to reestablish and maintain this tourist, environmental, cultural, religious, and historical route. The Steps of Anchieta is a reconstruction of the 60 mile route that José Anchieta walked every 14 days along the coastline of the State of Espiritu Santo, between the Town of Rerigtiba, where lived for the ten last years of his life with the Temiminós Indians, and the Colégio de São Tiago in Vitória, where the Jesuits taught catechism and other subjects. The last time he traversed this route was in his funeral cortege, about 3000 natives carrying him the distance. They had nicknamed him Abará-bebe (The Holy Flier) because of the speed with which he walked. In 1998 a group of persons resolved to rescue that route and reestablish it, and then they began a large annual 4-day walk, averaging about 3,000 participants. This 2007 postal issue marks the 10th Steps of Anchieta.