Blogs from Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, South America

David here... As Suzanne has mentioned, the airport at Foz was awful. Once you were through the security there were no amenities or shops, just one big, crowded area where the gates are. We passed the time reading, I'm currently working my way through the Jack Reacher novels. The plane was a small, propeller plane and we'd been allocated seats 1A and 1B but had to move as it was an emergency exit and we don't speak Portuguese, no real hassle. The flight was uneventful, though we did get soft drinks and a generous pile of snacks, which was a surprise as we were on Azul Airlines, the Ryanair of Brazilian air travel. We arrived in Porto Alegre at 20:30 and promptly got our bags and walked the short distance between Terminal 2 and Terminal 1 ... read more

OK, I know I am far behind in my updates. And there is no excuse…. So let’s get on with it with my trip to Gramado and Nova Petropolis, two cities about two hour’s drive from Porto Alegre. And what a different place it was. With Christmas over and done with, and for the first time in over 25 years not celebrated the event with family and friends in Australia, Carla decided that New Year’s Eve should be spend outside Porto Alegre in a small town about two hour’s drive west. So we hired a car and set of early one morning to reach our destination in time to still fit in some sightseeing. Because it was New Year’s Eve we had difficulties in booking a hotel as everything was booked out, but thanks to Carla’s ... read more

Rota das Missões – Jesuit missions roots in Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil). After a few days at Robson's sister who lives in São Miguel d'Oeste, at the extreme west of Santa Catarina, about 10 Km from Argentina, we decided to go south again. Robson's niece, Stael, came with us and we were soon back in Rio Grande do Sul. We had to cross the river Uruguay (which, much further south gives its name to the country). As there is no bridge, we took the “barca”, I added a few pics. It took us 6 hours to arrive at São Miguel das Missões, a very special place. During the 17th and 18th century, the Society of Jesus, serving the Spanish Crown, founded 30 settlements in territories traditionally occupied by the Guarani Indians in a region that ... read more

Gameday!!!!!! Well, not only gameday, but also the day I find out what my path to the Final is. My options are to follow Nigeria as 1st or 2nd in the group or Argentina as 1st in case Nigeria was knocked out due to a win by Iran over Bosnia. I had booked flights and hotels based on me following Argentina, and if Nigeria advanced, I’d have to do some extra work. After we woke up, we headed down to the hotel cafeteria for breakfast. The room was full of Argentina fans, no plates, no glasses, and a little bit of juice. The workers were doing their best to replenish the food and plates. We managed to eat a really good breakfast to make sure we had lots of energy for the day. There were a ... read more

In Porto Alegre I managed to find quite cheap accommodation (see photo 1). However, the floors sloped slightly and one had to be careful about rolling out of the beds that would be set out at night. An unusual feature of Porto Alegre is the so called Haemorrhoid Monument, a giant futuristic representation of a group of haemorrhoids (see photo 2). It is not widely known that Porto Alegre is where the world's first successful human haemorrhoid transplant was carried out. The monument is a tribute to those pioneering but under-appreciated and misunderstood surgeons. * En Porto Alegre me las arreglé para encontrar un alojamiento bastante barato (ver foto 1). Sin embargo, los suelos con pendiente ligeramente y había que tener cuidado con el despliegue de las camas que se establecen en la noche. Una característica ... read more