"COVID COVID COVID I'm sick of Covid"
Donald Trump, 2020
I can appreciate Donald Trump's frustration with the worldwide pandemic and, to be honest, by early winter 2022 Melanie and I had had enough as well. We boarded the plane on February 22nd and headed for southern Brazil to visit our good buds, Don and Denise.
Brazil
Officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, its the world's fifth-largest country by area and the fifth most populous (208 million). Because it's such a big country and because we want to see most of it, we've had to visit many times (to see some of those other trips visit my earlier post "Brazil 2019").
This time we start in the southern state of......
Santa Catarina
Life’s a beach – at least in sunny Santa Catarina, which has 560km of spectacular coastline. If you like to beach hop, there is a spot of sand for you in Florianópolis region. Sun and sand aside, within the inland region of the state a great escarpment rises like a mountain wall; Santa Catarina has little level ground. The inland region is also where Santa Catarina exhibits the profound influence of its German ancestry. Plus it is one of the wealthiest and more developed states in Brazil!
We land in Chapeco (the nearest airport) and then drive for three hours to Joacaba. In 2019, when we first came to Brazil, our buds, Don and Denise, lived in Niterói, a bedroom community of Rio de Janeiro. However, in 2020, they moved to a communal farm near Joacaba, in Santa Catarina state, and built a new farmhouse. We would spend the first three weeks hanging out at the Farm!!
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| A Japanese Torii is the entrance to the Farm. Apparently, a Trolii traditionally marks the symbolic "transition from the mundane to the sacred". True story! |
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| The Farm's pond. Every farm gotta have a pond. |
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| The Farm's resident Turkey Vulture. Every farm gotta have a resident Turkey Vulture! |
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| Denise and Don overlooking their Empire from the balcony! |
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| The sun setting over the new farm 'digs'. |
After sitting around the Farm for a few weeks being fat and happy, we decided it was time to hit the road and act like real tourist! Our first stop was the picturesque village of......
Piratuba
Piratuba emerged in 1910, during the building of the São Paulo to Rio Grande do Sul railway, as a camp established for workers on Rio do Peixe (Fish River). Nowadays, Piratuba, is considered a thermal water spa town attracting mainly Brazilian tourists, while the old railway now shuttles riders on a reminiscent choo-choo ride!
We came for the choo-choo ride but did a short side trip to a muddy tributary of the Rio de Peixe. Urubici
Urubici is blessed with natural beauties that attract tourists from all corners of the world looking for ecotourism and adventure tourism. Located in the valley of the Canoas river on a highland plateau, the town has it all, from hills, valleys, trails and waterfalls and that's just within the town limits!
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| Urubici is influence by the original German and Italian settlers, who have left their characteristics in its culture (notice the getup on Mr.), arts, architecture, and cuisine. |
While in Urubici we have a full agenda. Our first adventure is a drive to the Altos Corvos Branco mountain pass at an elevation of 1245m above the sea level. |
| The road to the summit runs between two steep rocky cliffs which we could barely see due to the heavy mist. |
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| At the Altos Corvos Branco mountain pass. |
Next up in our pursuit to see something....anything in the fog, we drive to the Morro da Igreja (Church Hill), known as the highest point in the South of Brazil, with 1,827 meters of altitude. As we climbed higher did we leave the fog behind? Nooooo...
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| From here, at the Morro da Igreja, you can see the famous Pedra Furada (Holed Rock)....if, of course, it wasn't fogged in. And to think we left Newfoundland to escape the Rain Drizzle & Fog. |
Okay; so the first two sites were a fogged-bound-bust but our next destination seemed to be made for the RDF. The Véu de Noiva waterfall descends for approximately 62 meters to its base, forming, in its fall, an image similar to a white veil, from which its name comes. |
| The Veu de Noiva or, in English - the Bridal Veil. |
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| The first thing you notice when you arrive at this family-run park is the unusually large ferns that grow wild in this part of Brazil. The only place I ever saw similar was when we were in New Zealand! |
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| A boardwalk leads us into this bizarre but beautiful landscape...... |
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| ....to another waterfall. |
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| Getting to that second falls requires going down 100+ steps..... |
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| .....OR, you can take a taxi down....... |
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| ....OR, you can grab a chopper ride down to the falls. |
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| The Veu de Noiva in the background. |
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| The inner workings of an Araucaria pine tree OR the teeth of prehistoric man-eating beast of biblical size! |
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| The climate here in Urubici is humid throughout the year with warm temperatures during the summer (max. 30°C) and cold in the winter (min. -7°C) with occasional snowfall. True story. |
Second last stop for the day is to the Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto which was inaugurated in 1935 and has been a place pilgrimage ever since. We, however, were not here for the religious pilgrimage but rather to admire the setting of the Grotto.
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| A replica of the famous Pedra Furada (Holed Rock) sits in the parking lot. We were supposed to see this earlier today but couldn't because of the RDF. |
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| The fog lifted for a minute to allow us see Avencal Waterfalls drop 100 metres into the valley below. The dome on the other side of the valley is where the bungee jumpers jump from. |
The next day we wake to another day of rain, drizzle and fog and decided to head for sun, heat and beach.
We leave Urubici behind us and head for the coast.
Florianopolis
Florianopolis was dubbed by Brazilian weekly Veja as "the best place to live in Brazil", so it’s only natural that we would want to check it out, too. Florianopolis is a thriving destination for its perfect beaches, excellent surfing, amazing seafood, and juxtaposition of a modern megacity with 16th-century colonial fortresses and relaxed markets and parks.
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| Time to order a beer, lay back and soak up some sun! |
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| COVID spared no one, even Spiderman needed to supplement his income! |
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| Booze cruise sounds good except the weather looks like rain..... |
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| ....we'll stick to the party street instead and avoid the rain...... |
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| ....so much for that plan! |
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| Jeeeeeze what is it with this country and the rain? |
Time to switch gears and head for.......
Iguazu Falls
The Iguazu Falls consists of two national parks, one in Foz de Iguazu (Brazil) and the other one in Puerto Iguazu (Argentina). UNESCO declared it as a World Heritage Site in 1984. It is 28 metres higher than Niagara Falls with 274 more drops (compared to Niagara's 4). It was in 1901, that the first tourist excursion to the area arrived and they have been coming ever since!
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| The trail to the Falls and a Coatis comes looking for some food. |
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