Rain in Brazil

Spending Update: I spent a total of 10 days (through the morning of Feb. 25) in Uruguay. I spent $245.13 for a daily average of $24.51 and a monthly rate of $735.30.

Friday, Feb. 25

It was a rough ride last night. The bus was constantly turning, and the roads kept us bouncing. I didn´t sleep much. My seatmate was rather still, but the constant movement of the vehicle bothered me.

I checked into my first-choice hotel. It isn´t far from the bus station. I went to bed and slept two more hours. I am still sluggish due to lack of sleep, but I wanted to get out and see Porto Allegre.

I can tell I am not in Argentina or Uruguay. The people here look poorer, and the city looks dirtier and less maintained. It is a bigger city than I expected with about 1 1/2 million people. I have only seen part of it so far, but it seems well worth visiting. Actually, there are parts of the city that are quite nice. This is considered one of the best run cities in Brazil. It also has the highest literacy rate and the highest per capita income level. It´s just that in Brazil there is more of a contrast in cleanliness from one area of the city to another and there is a greater contrast between the levels of income than I saw in Uruguay or Argentina.

I had lunch at an all-you-can-eat place that featured churascaria--Brazilian charcoal briled meats. I had several kinds of vegetables--corn, peas, potato salad, fried potato patty, black beans, etc. I had two kinds of meat--roast beef and some type of rolled beef. I went back for pineapple, watermelon, papaya, honeydew melon, and caramelized sweet potato for dessert.

The local art museum had some interesting works in a nice building. And I saw an exhibit of the history of the city. I explored the market which is obviously one that has continued in operation without any efforts to gentrify it. The restaurants inside have been there forever and serve predominantly local people, and the stalls are a varied mix of interesting shops. There is a style to most of the stall displays that makes it seem special--a style that apparently comes naturally to the owners but is what contemporary stop owners often expend a lot of effort trying to duplicate all over thw world.

I bought a ticket to Florinopolis for tomorrow and went looking for a cyber cafe. I had seen only 3 all day. Two didn´t have posted prices, and the other was a business center charing $4 per hour. The usual going rate in Brazil for those who post prices is 67 cents-$1 per hour. Those who don´t post prices usually are higher and hope to snag customers who won´t ask. A good cyber cafe near by hotel (which was in a block with 5-6 other hotels) would do well. Anyway, I didn´t find a place open and had to postpone updating the blog.

Everything but bars was closing at 7:00 p.m. I didn´t want to eat at a restaurant, but snack places were among those closing. It was already dark, so I just went back to the room and ate crackers and peanuts and drank Diet Guaraná, a Brazilian soft drink (now owned by Coca Cola)

It began to rain in the evening and looks as if it may continue. Will see what happens as I go to Florinopolis tomorrow.