As they say that everything that you have in excess ends up making you sick, I decided to spend my last days in Brazil away from its coasts and its dangerous caipirinhas that turned every night of jauja into a hungover dawn like a black witch’s wand. He wanted a bit of tranquility and a slightly cooler climate, fleeing from the heavy heat he had experienced in Guarda do Embaú.
I returned to the Rodoviaria -Brazilian bus terminal- in Florianópolis and went into a cybercafé with the intention of seeing what my next destination would be. I was traveling without a guide and alone, so I dedicated myself to looking at travel blogs about the area of ​​Brazil where I was: the Southeast.
I ended up asking the guy who took care of the cyber -while chatting with several good-looking friends on messenger- and he recommended Gramado -in the state of Rio Grande do Sul- or Porto Alegre. I inquired about both places and I thought that the size and situation of Gramado was more in line with what he was looking for at that time. That same night I took a night bus that took me to my destination in about 10 hours.
It was dawning but the sun’s rays – which he had seen in the sky for the last 15 days uninterruptedly – could not break through the barricades of clouds. I appreciated it. The temperature did not exceed 15 degrees and I had to put on my sweater. From there I took a bus that for 2.10 Reais took me to the outskirts of the city, where the only hostel in Gramado is located. The hostel is unbeatable. It is part of the Hostelling International chainand for 35 Reais you have bed and breakfast. It is a clean and spacious wooden house with gardens, a common room and a kitchen, with the staff being its best asset. The girl who runs it, Vanesa, is a charm as well as the cook and her daughter who helps her. I spent there 3 nights of absolute comfort and good vibes. In addition, only Brazilian people and a couple of Chilean girls stayed those days, so no foreigners .
In the afternoon I went out to explore the city. From the hostel it’s about a 20 minute walk but it’s a nice walk. Upon reaching the urban core I had a strange feeling of sadness. They were all wooden houses with pointed roofs of different colors. Immaculately landscaped gardens dotted streets packed with expensive shops. All very nice, all very tidy and modern. That was not Brazil.
It was January 10 but Christmas seems to never end in this place . They were still making nightly parades through the center. Floats, sleighs, lights, rockets, hundreds of actors dressed as Santa Claus, tin soldiers, fairy godmothers…etc, etc. There is also a theater where there are performances, until the middle of January, of a kind of muppets that tell a Christmas story. In one of the parks there is a spectacle of singing Christmas songs in the voices of tenors and sopranos, lasers and fireworks over the water of a lake. It is necessary to pay an entrance fee -which ranges from 40 to 60 Reais- although you can see it, as I did, from outside the park since it is not fenced. The truth is that it was quite nice and the place was packed for what would be the last performance of the year.
It is also a place for chocolate fans . Being the town of eternal Christmas and stories, they could not miss their chocolate houses. And not just little houses, but there are factories and museums of this sweet that so many like and say that it can be used as a substitute for sex (I think it’s not that far, but anyway).
There is a museum of the history of the region told by dolls, a museum of miniatures and the famous Village of Santa Claus , where wooden maples and the elves of the chubby man in red -sorry, I will always be one of the Three Wise Men- will do the delights of the smallest of the family.
I only spent one day in the city and dedicated myself more to visiting the beautiful surroundings of exuberant nature that I could find. I will write about them in another post.
Gramado , in short, is famous as a tourist spot among the Brazilian upper or upper-middle class . Its Germanic influence is seen in every corner, every house and every store. For them it is a fabulous place but for the European traveler it is not so much. Authentic Brazil is a much more chaotic, colorful, lively, intense and exciting one.
Still, it’s worth using as a base to see natural parts of the region that are just a stone’s throw away.
