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Published: October 25th 2007
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Hotel Praça Matriz
Just waiting to be bulldozed and turned into an office building! The Uruguay to Brazil crossing was the most anxiety (and the most fun in retrospect) we have had in crossing a land border. There is a big city that straddles the border, called Rivera on the Uruguay side and Livramento on the Brazil side. We arrived early afternoon at the bus terminal on the Uruguay side. We made the mistake of asking for the Brazil border. About 4 or 5 blocks north we found the border with a bustling market (Brazilians taking advantage of Uruguay prices) and a square with both flags standing in it denoting the border. Otherwise it was all the same city. People moving freely to both sides. And this was not where you find the immigration offices for either Uruguay or Brazil. On the Brazil side we asked a bloke in a uniform where we could get our passports stamped out of Uruguay. He was Brazilian and said in English that it was 10 blocks back the way we had come. Oh joy. We started walking and decided to ask someone else to be sure. We found a friendly Uruguayan policeman but he sent us the wrong way. So, with our heavy back packs we walked probably
a total of 20 blocks before we found the Uruguay immigration office. For anyone else going to the same town I would definitely suggest asking the bus driver as you get into town. You would probably get dropped at the door!
No queues, we were quickly stamped out. And there were two tourist offices in the same small building. One for Uruguay and one for Brazil. In the Brazil office a lady gave us a map and showed us how to get to the Brazil immigration 5 or 6 blocks north of the border, and she also filled out our immigration forms for us. That was a bit bizarre. Being quite buggered we took a taxi to Brazil. The driver pointed out the moment as we turned a corner that we entered Brazil. We made the driver wait and Pieter waited in the car also while I went in with both passports. The guy at the counter happily stamped Pieter's without him coming inside. The driver then took us to the bus terminal on the Brazil side. There was a bus for Porto Alegre in an hour. Quite expensive at US$35 each for 6 hours.
Our first major
confusion in Brazil was the identification of the correct loo to use. At the station they had Eles and Elas. An educated guess, I decided Elas was girls and the lack of urinals meant it was a good guess. We had only one driver on the bus, in Paraguay and Uruguay there were always two people sharing the driving and collecting of money and helping with luggage. We arrived in Porto Alegre at 11 pm after a long dark ride. We picked a hotel from the Lonely Planet and grabbed a taxi straight there. The Hotel Praça Matriz was old and run down and expensive at $70 reais (US$35) but we couldn't be arsed shopping around at that time of night and we had a view of the square and the cathedral from our balcony so it wasn't too bad.
The next day we took a proper look at the hotel from the outside and found it sandwiched between two modern high rises. The pattern was repeated along residential streets where small old houses were squeezed between apartment blocks of varied and not ugly structures that had obviously replaced other of the small old houses. The city was nice
and welcoming, downtown seemed a little dodgy but we were not too concerned.
We had our first taste of the Brazil banking system today. We couldn't get any reais out. Most machines would not accept visa or maestro and the few that did were just not working, the connection must have been down.
At the mercado we wandered inside where it was packed with butchers and fish monger amongst other stalls, and found a tourist info desk. The red head kid was useless, no maps and he didn't know where the museums were. So we went off the Rodoviaria (bus terminal) where we had arrived and found the tourist info lady there had maps and lots of useful information. We bought tickets for Curitiba (US$40 each for 11 hours) and were forced to exchange US dollars for reais.
We wandered town looking for the museums but found them all closed for renovation. But is was a nice walk which lead us to the waterfront where an old grain warehouse or factory was being restored. Like the museums it would be ready when the high season arrived. Next door we found tourist boats and decided to amuse ourselves
with a US$4 boat trip. They had a bar downstairs where we had a drink before sitting on the top deck in the warm sun waiting for boat to leave. The boat would weave around the islands in the harbour. First the boat went across the river passing some simple fisherman's houses before passing some rich peoples houses. Then it went past some undeveloped areas where only a few shacks existed before heading back to port and giving us a great view of the city.
We spent the evening in the trendy part of town. Boutiques, cafes, night spots and the Moinhos Shopping Mall next to the Sheraton. Posh cars, posh people and stupid little dogs. In the mall we found the movie theatre and arrived just in time to catch 'Evan Almighty' with Morgan Freeman as God. It was really funny. In the bookshop we found the Lonely Planet Central America. It was 2004 so we double checked it was the latest on the internet before buying it. We had a long chat to a Brazilian who was also in the travel section. He was a big traveller and told us where the good restaurants were. We also
discussed the banking situation. He too had days when he couldn't retrieve cash from the machines. One recommendation from our talkative friend was 'El Fuego' in the mall so off we went. For R$22 (US$11) they had a fantastic buffer with a selection of bbq meat. It was fantastic and our first real taste of Brazilian food. Brazilian food was Pieter's favourite in South America.
The next day started with a walk to Farroupilha Park. The park was filled with people. It was Sunday we quickly came to realise that Brazilians really enjoy spending time in parks at the weekends. Some carried flasks and mate cups. But the cups looking different and the leaves of the tea more green and powdery. I think in is known as Chimarrão in the this part of the world. Many people were walking, others sitting and soaking up the winter sun. We found the market that was already very busy. They had a number of antique stalls at one end. At the other were many many craft stalls of various and colourful nature and lots of striking art. We enjoyed our wander tremendously. We popped in a tourist info to check directions to
the Botanical Gardens. The lady spent ages and rang someone up to get the directions. We filled in some feedback forms for her and when she realised we were from New Zealand she told us how she studied English in Auckland for a year. We also struck lucky with the cash machine across the road. HSBC are the only bank in Brazil that delivered us cash during the many weeks we were in the country.
It was R$2 (US$1) each to get into the Botanical Gardens which we found with no trouble with some help from the bus ticket man. There was a turtle pond and it was full of turtles, many sun bathing on the shore. You could get really close to them. There was a Natural History museum with a collection of stuffed animals and dead spiders and a giraffe skeleton outside. We had lunch there and sat on a bench for a while practicing for our old age. It was lovely and quiet but started to get quite busy as we left.
Back downtown it was dead quiet. Nothing was open, there was only a flea market, no food. So we decided to have a
McD burger. Walking towards Plaza da Alfandega we heard gun shots and Pieter saw the police running across the square. There were lots of people running and looking concerned. We realised that the excitement was over but there was a man on the ground writhing in pain. He was either shot (couldn't see blood) or perhaps beaten with a baton. We think he had stolen some DVDs.
That was a nice final impression of Porto Alegre as jumped on a night bus to Curitiba.
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