Rio Grande do Sul

---

Rio Grande do Sul is the southern most state of Brazil. It is about 9 times bigger than Belgium for the same number of inhabitants (11 Million). It was colonized by a mix of Portuguese, Italian and German settlers. The Germans came here in 1830, when a Brazilian/Portuguese princess married a German prince. It was then decided to offer land to German people interested with the idea to develop this huge area, which they did very well.

The Italian who started arriving in 1875 planted vines so that there is now a wine production in Brazil, their sparkling wines are of high standards, well... we liked it!

We crossed the northern part of the state, close to its neighbour, the sate of Santa Catarina. This part is called Mata Atlantico, it is a “serra”, a high plane with an average altitude of 900 meters.

It is beautifully preserved, with some roads still in dirt. Along the road, blue ortensias and other flowers provide a magic feeling. Worth mentioning also are “frog's umbrellas”, which are plants with huge leave that locals you as umbrellas in case of sudden rain. Araucaria's are pine trees the nuts of which are very big and used in lots of gaucho dishes.

Rio Grande do Sul is the Brazilian Gaucho state. Gaucho's are south American cowboys also found in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. There is a real Gaucho culture still alive in Rio Grade do Sul, with their own music, costumes, food and rodeo's. By extensions, anybody from that state is called a gaucho.(pronunciation: ga-ou-tcho). Most of them have the local costume, even if they don't wear it on a daily basis; but some do.

With its big forests, wood is a key resource for furniture or construction, with plenty of house built in wood.

---

Photos

IMG_5036
Typical wooden house of Gaucho country