Connections

VW Golf Wagon from Nysa to Opole, courtesy of Urich. Late bus from Opole to Warsaw. Hopped off a bit earlier than the central station, and caught a cab to the Warsaw airport—at rush hour, of course. Arrived at the airport with time to spare, and had to wait for the Air France counter to open in order to check in. Only LOT Polish airlines seems to have a lot of counters there; all others are shared by various airlines depending on the time of day and when flights are scheduled.

Air France from Warsaw to Paris, and then from Paris to Sao Paulo/Guarulhos. Got through passport control and customs, found the TAM (Portuguese airline) counter, and picked up my boarding pass for the trip to Porto Allegre, where I would then get a shuttle to Gramado. Rechecked the bag—after shifting lots of heavy stuff into my day pack because of the domestic weight restriction on luggage—went back through security and waited on the TAM flight. First, a delay, then our plane is at another gate, then another delay, and we board a Varig plane, code-sharing with TAM. Once on board, they announce an “operational delay”, and then come on and say that the pilot has a “health problem” and cannot fly. Hmmm. A substitute pilot is on the way. Indeed, he or she is and we’re on our way in another 10 minutes, but now 90 minutes late.

My friend Alex had e-mailed me the details for the Sao Paulo-Porto Allegre-Gramado run, which he had kindly worked out for me with his travel agency, but the e-mail was lost in cyberia. Things were in place with TAM, so I was feeling ok, but had no idea of the name of the tour company that would take me on to Gramado. Indeed, arriving in Porto Allegre, no one was holding up a sign to greet me. Thankfully, they had a wonderful staff at the information booth in the Porto Allegre airport, and Lucas, who had spent two years in New Jersey as a child and spoke passable English, took care of me. First we walked outside to check the various shuttles, but learned nothing. Back inside, he soon found a driver that was supposed to take two people to the Hotel Serrano in Gramado—my hotel!—but he didn’t know his passenger’s names. A match made in heaven. Soon, I was in the van heading out of the city and up into the mountains of southern Brazil. By the time we arrived at the hotel two hours later, the driver had confirmed that I was indeed supposed to be one of his riders! :)

An easy check-in at the hotel, a pleasant surprise with a large, luxurious room, a hot shower, and then I went looking for my friends. I found Iveli in the lobby with her and Alex’s daughter Giulia, we left a message for Alex, and headed for lunch. Alex is an orthopedic pediatrician, and an especially good one. He was there for a conference and had some obligations to fulfill during our time there. We had lunch at a café in town (ham & cheese crepes with the national soft drink, guarana), and ran into Alex on the way back to the hotel.

Gramado is a fascinating town; it and its surrounding state, Rio Grande del Sud completely evaded inclusion in my Frommer’s guide to Brazil. The region received many German immigrants during and after World War II, both Jew and likely Nazi. The town is in the mountains, gets a little snow in the winter, and looks more like something out of Bavaria or Switzerland than Latin America as most imagine it. Think Gatlinburg, Tennessee with less commercialism, lots less cars, more tasteful architecture, all with a Brazilian twist and you get the idea.

My time in Gramado is already a blur. Eat, go site seeing. Eat some more, go for a walk. Eat yet more. And more. Brazilians love to eat, and much good conversation happens around the table. They also happen to enjoy very, very good food. One night it was all-you-can-eat steak at a bar-b-que, where you return with your plate to the grill again and again to sample the succulent meats. Another it was fondue, with a small griddle on our table to cook the various kinds of meat, finishing up with a chocolate fondue to dip fruit and cookies in. A breakfast buffet each morning in the hotel with tropical fruits and juices, crepes, meats, cheeses, yogurts, breads, and the best coffee of the entire trip. Then the afternoon of fijwada (very bad spelling here), where you get rice, black beans, some kale, and then meat. Alex was showing me the meats, all stewing in soup pots: these are ribs, this is sausage, this is foot, this is loin, this is ear, this is another sausage. He failed to point out the pig’s tongue; I knew after one bite that it was not something I wanted…

One afternoon we drove out to a park and hiked down 600+ steps to a beautiful waterfall, and then of course, back up. Near the top, we watched wild monkeys playing in the trees. Another day, another park, this with a deep gorge carved by a river, magnificent cliffs, hawks soaring and screaming, trees with yellow blossoms, purple blossoms, red blossoms; cotemunde congregating and circling near a picnic table, sniffing up to tourists with ringed tails in the air. Then a steam museum in Canela, with small replica steam engines demonstrating the production of goods a hundred years earlier; a full-size steam train engine dangling out the upstairs window to the ground in front replicating an historic—and spectacular—train wreck in Paris. A classic car museum, cathedrals, a chocolate factory (strawberry’s dipped in white chocolate!), then Papa Noel, a kind of Santa Claus land on the top of the mountain with spectacular views. A new “alpine slide”, a German-designed sled ride on aluminum tracks down the mountain and over a cascading stream, kind of a one or two person roller coaster. Evenings were capped off with a soak in the warm pool and a snack of cookies my friend Ewa had sent from Poland.

Gramado is a first-class town and a fun place to visit: many fine restaurants and hotels, beautiful state parks with amazing natural features, beautiful flora and fauna. It eludes me why Frommer’s would neglect the entire region—maybe they just didn’t make it down that far. It’s well worth your time for a fascinating look at another side of Brazil.

Next: Sao Paulo!