from 25.01.: Vacaria / Rio Grande do Sul

25.01.:

The Ferrari Hotel met my expectations. But I didn't expect such a breakfast. At this price range, I would have expected the quality of Blumenau. Infusions from past days. But no: plenty of freshly cut fruit, several types of sausages, curd cheese as a spread, scrambled eggs with chives, freshly squeezed juices.

This hotel is mainly occupied by technicians and truck drivers. The philosophy of the hotel: breakfast is more important than the view from the window or the brightness of the room.

Since I arrived early, I was lucky with the room. It had a window facing the back.

Today, I'm leaving the European valley. A beautiful tour awaits me, which will take me through Douglas fir forests and a windy high plateau in the best weather. The temperatures are changing, and I'm glad that my anorak is within reach. The wasp buzzes and purrs. The inclines don't bother it much because the wind is coming from the east. Little traffic and good roads except for a few potholes.

Although I'm not hungry yet, I know that I have only found fast food in the evening so far, so I go to a cantina anyway. The buffet is as rich as usual(!). The potato salad is missing, but I can live with that today. Instead, the dessert buffet is abundant. Orange and raspberry cream and the flan that I also encountered in Chile, Peru, and Ecuador.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cr%C3%A8me_caramel

A remarkable peculiarity on the side: 'sitting culture' is not well developed in South America. Plastic chairs in white, red, or yellow or simple chairs dominate.

In this cantina, all chairs are provided with a high-quality and relatively new woven seat. Where does the required raw material for this grow up here on the high plateau?

In the afternoon, I reach the border between Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul. So I have arrived in the southernmost state of Brazil. Now only Paraguay, Argentina, or Uruguay are left.

Photo opportunity for the wasp!

Vacaria, located on the almost 1,000 meters high plateau, welcomes me with temperatures below 30 degrees and a strong breeze.

My hotel: a bold investment object.

The 'lounge' and a covered parking lot in the background

The door leads to the hotel rooms

The hallway

My room with an (un)obstructed view

The view from my window. New rows of rooms are being built here. Windows are not planned. At least I still benefit from the skylight

My hotel resembles a construction site, parts of which have already been completed.

It gives the impression that it has been built inside one of two adjacent industrial halls. The building with the rooms is located in the middle of the hall. To the left of it, the beginnings of the hotel extension can already be seen. The window of my room, which is not very large, only receives light through the relatively narrow skylight of the hall wall about 10 m away from me. Here, too, rows of rooms are being created. Windows are not planned. The outer hall wall is bricked up with red stone.

It all seems quite surreal. A setting for a Jack Nicholson film...

26.01.:

In Pomerode, I literally fell out of bed. Here in my darkroom, I take my time. Through the slit of the skylight in the hall wall, I can't see the color of the sky.

So I take it slow, update my blog, and look at the course of my route for the umpteenth time. It mercilessly leads me back to the coast to Porto Alegre. I have to leave the cool high plateau again. The hope remains that as I go further south, the temperatures will become more bearable.

In the face of these temperatures, a concept called 'travel fatigue' is spreading in my head. Southern Brazil in midsummer is the reason for it.

The city center of Vacaria is only 3 km away from this hotel. I take the wasp and look for a nice breakfast restaurant. It's called Casa Blanca and is also a house from the 1930s that has been converted into a bistro. White tables with umbrellas are in the front yard, and the dark green lawn is freshly mowed.

Afterwards, I prefer the shady trees on the plaza and immerse myself in the world of resistance, which Ken Follett vividly and excitingly describes in his book 'The Leopard'.

To my delight, I manage to avoid fast food tonight. Casa Blanca offers crepes with vegetable filling. I order a double portion.

27.01.

Today is, in general, a copy of yesterday. Very relaxing and many hours of reading on the park bench.

A good lunch at Casa Blanca, then the siesta rest on the plaza. Only a few benches are occupied. No traffic. After an hour and a half, the siesta is over, and life awakens. But no comparison to Peru!!

The cathedral built of basalt stones rings at 6:00 p.m., and it reminds me that I also want to see it from the inside.

I attend a church service, which is well attended overall.

The priest gives his sermon sitting in front of the altar. He is an old man whose charisma reminds me of a grandfather telling a story to his children.
That has a different effect than when he stands behind the altar or on the pulpit.

Tomorrow, I will stay in the mountains and head a bit northwest before turning south towards Nova Prata.