Colonia del Sacramento

Originally a 17th century Portuguese port, Colonia holds a very portuguese feeling about it, again with some resemblance to the south of Portugal. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and an absolutely must see little town, with a range of ochre and honey-colored buildings, palm and orange trees on the sea-side. It has also some of the best restaurants (including the one I had lunch in, between Calle de la Playa and Calle del Comercio, don't remember the name, but with delicious food and nice decoration and music), and that is to say a lot in Uruguay.

Yo tengo pintada en la piel
la lágrima de esta ciudad,
la misma que dá de beber,
la misma te hará naufragar.

(...)

El mar que me trajo hasta aquí,
el puerto en que habré de zarpar,
un día pensando en volver,
un día volviendo a escapar.

Un día cualquiera me iré
dejando su lágrima atrás
la pena que me haga partir
la misma me hará regresar.

Montevideo, Jorge Drexler

At home in Montevideo

So far, as in all big cities I've been staying, there is always someone to welcome me. In Montevideo I didn't know a soul, but there was a guy from Peru (thank you David!) that a friend who knew another guy that lives in Montevideo, so that was it. He went to the bus station to pick me up. As he is both a History and theater teacher, and there was a play with the kids happening that afternoon, we just went home to leave my stuff and went strait to the school, in the surroundings of the city.
That was a cool experience, as this is a program that uses theatre as an intervention method in the society in order to integrate the kids. After the play there was a party with all the groups from Montevideo, in the center.

On the next day, as he couldn't come, his father and 12 year old brother were my tourist guides, taking me to the main points of Montevideo. It is a lovely city, much more to the scale I am used to in Lisboa, with less people and space to walk around. Even the buildings remind me of Portugal, in a strange mixture of Lisboa with some cities in Algarve like Faro and Tavira. I was also lucky with the weather, a beautiful sunny day, that is perfect to go with the colorfull buildings.
And don't forget to eat a Chivito if you go to Uruguay! It is a typical food they have here, kind of like hamburger but with a very soft steak and lots of things inside (your choice), always with fried egg and mozzarella on the top.

The cultural offer is also amazing! In a Saturday night, there were so many plays to choose from, all with late night sessions and invinting prices. We went to a play called "Rescatate", a social critique from an uruguayan author, Gustavo Bouzas, that I absolutely loved. So so good. The text, the actors, all the scenography... really an amazing play.

Punta del Diablo, Uruguay

First stop in Uruguay: Chuy.
Crossing the border, from the Brazilian side, I got my passport stamped, all fast and easy. However, the bus didn't stop in the place I should get into Uruguay legally, so I just got in the country with no visa, no nothing, without even trying to, from Chuy to Punta del Diablo.

Well, whatever, I just continued the trip, the people I asked about (locals!!) it just sayed to relax, "no worries, being illegal here is not the same as in Europe", so va bene (stupid me), so I didn't care.

Punta del Diablo is a very small beach village in a Peninsula, very good for surfing (even though I don't surf, but that's just a detail), surrounded by sand dunes and forests. In fact, after Florianópolis, this beach didn't look that spectacular, and actually very similar to Costa de Caparica in foggy days: big waves and dark sea. But it is the best place to rest, almost desert, peace and quiet.

E caminando, camina, camina (next steps)

On my way to Uruguay...

Gramado, or a taste of Germany in Brazil

Gramado is a small town close to Porto Alegre. I went there with my friend, her cousin, her cousin's son and mom, like a little family weekend trip. I really enjoyed it, not only for the city itself, that is adorable, but for the family feeling with a grandma and a kid thats quite cool for a change. As this town has also italian influence, there are many restaurants with fresh pasta, a really delicious way for a small pause from the turistic walking around.

Very strange was the Xmas decoration all over the city. In here the weather is very summer already, and I didnt even realized yet that Xmas is coming.. no idea, whatever. Good thing about being a Germany/Swiss community: chocolate everywhere!!!! So many chocolate stores, with candies and giving chocolate for the clients to taste, chocolate, chocolate, chocolate od tralalalala. And the ultimate present from a friend: a mate cup full of chocolates! (I repeat, I will leave this continent way too spoiled..)

Porto Alegre

I have two friends in Porto Alegre, that studied with me in Italy for the Italian Language course. However, as both of them were working the day I arrived, a friend of them was my touristical guide for the first day. After lunch, she took me to the center of the city - to see the cathedral, the market and so on - and to a book fair. There, she sayed to this guy I was portuguese, and he was the kindest, offering me Chimarrao (the brazilian mate drink), because "it is tipical and I had to try it" and told me some stories about the South of Brazil. In the end, both as welcome and goodbye gift, he offered me two books from a writer from Rio Grande do Sul.
This is... people here in South America are extremely nice and make everybody (or at least me!) feel soooo welcome, I will end up getting spoiled.

The center of the city is very pretty. So far, from the big cities in Brazil, this was my favorite. Has big avenues, with space to breathe, many trees and the buildings are pretty as well. And as in Sao Paulo and Floripa, street art is everywhere.

The sunset in the river is another beautiful thing about Porto Alegre. Reminded me a little of Istanbul, the colors and some towers that looked like the mosque's towers, the boats.. I don's know why, but it kind of resembles.
After the sunset, time for dinner! And the meat in Rio Grande do Sul is delicious... They took me to this restaurant with an amazing churrasco service with all kinds of meat, salads and so, delicious beer and with a life show of tradicional music, dance and performances, Gaucho style!