Part 2 - Porte Alegre

Day 6 – Friday, June 26.  Porto Alegre.  This town of ~1.5 million residents is the capital and largest city in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, and home to Karen’s friend Yasso.  Porto Alegre also was the southernmost place on our trip, with latitude of 30° south.  This is equal to about midpoint between Sydney and Brisbane in Australia or midpoint between Johannesburg and Capetown in South Africa.   We had a ~2 hour flight from Rio, and arrived in Porto Alegre at about 1 PM.  After checking into our hotel Karen sent a message to her friend Yasso. Yasso said she would pick us up at out hotel at 5.  Our hotel was only a short walk from a shopping mall, so we walked there and had lunch in the food court.  We then returned to the hotel and rested until Yasso arrived.

Yasso picked us up and drove us to her family’s apartment. They own a large 3 apartment on the 10th floor of a nice building in Porte Alegre.  When we arrived we met her husband Max, and their son Artur.  Max is a retired architect who had done urban planning work.  Yasso is a lawyer who works for the government.  Artur is 8 years old. They prepared a traditional Brazilian meal for us.  We enjoyed dinner, but desert was to die for - several different items, each better than the one before. We stayed at Yasso and Max's apartment talking until ~11 and then Max drove us back to our hotel.

Yasso and Karen

Yasso, Elizabeth, Mike, Matthew, and Max

Day 7 – Saturday, June 27.  Yasso picked us up at our hotel late morning. Porto Alegre is located on the eastern side of the Rio Guaiba (Guaiba Lake), a giant freshwater lagoon formed where five rivers come together.  Residents alternately refer to it as the river or the lake.  We went to a restaurant at a sailing club on the river/lake that friends of Yasso belong to.  We met the friends there and had lunch with them.  We then went to purchase tickets for our Sunday activity, more details on that later. 

After purchasing tickets we said goodbye temporarily to Yasso’s friends and Yasso took us to an area along the water where they close down the roads on weekends so people can bike, walk, run, and roller blade along the water.  There were vendors selling food and a band playing.    Yasso bought us some coconut water from one of the vendors.   We also visited the cathedral downtown, and saw some of the other sights in the city.  We ended in a small café up on the top balcony of an old hotel that has been converted to a multi-use facility (art museum, theater, ..) and had a small snack as we watched the sun set.  We concluded the evening by meeting Max and Artur at a Thai restaurant for dinner and more conversation.  Max drove us back to our hotel after dinner.

View from our hotel of the park along the river/lake

View from our hotel of Estacio Beira-Rio, the local football stadium

Local sailing club

Karen and Yasso drinking coconut water

Cathedral

Stained glass window in the cathedral

Karen and Mike in rooftop cafe

Sunset from the cafe

Day 8 – Sunday, June 28.  On our final day in Porto Alegre we had the privilege of being able to attend a football match (that would be a soccer game for most Americans).  The Brazilians are passionate about their football and we were able to attend a match with the local team, Internacional, against Santos, the club that the legendary Pelé made famous during his 18 years playing for the club.  This is the event that we had purchased tickets for the prior day.  We would be going to the match in the evening with Yasso, her family, and her friend’s family.  

Max picked us up at our hotel at noon and took us over to their apartment building for a barbecue with their friends who live in the same apartment building and who we would be going to the match with later in the day.  The apartment building has a wonderful common area that they reserved for the day, and a built in industrial type barbecue to roast meat on spits – not a small stand-alone barbecue that Americans are used to.  Victor, the father of the other family did the barbecuing – multiple cuts of beef, sausage, pork, chicken livers.  It was an incredible feast!

Victor tending to the barbacue

Eating the feast

After the barbecue we went up to Yasso and Max’s apartment to relax and visit.  On Friday night Karen had found out that Max had done the Camino de Santiago a number of years ago, and since Karen and a friend are planning to do it next year she was eager to hear about his experience, and he shared photos and other information from his hike.  We reviewed our remaining trip itinerary with Yasso and Max and they provided suggestions for things to do in our free time as well as restaurants to try.  We left their apartment around 5 to head to the game.  Max drove us to our hotel and we walked to the the stadium (Estacio Beira-Rio) while Yasso and Artur went with their friends.  We met outside the stadium.  It was a perfect night to watch a match.  Internacional dominated much of the match, but only managed to score a single goal, winning 1-0.  After the the match we walked back together to our hotel and said our good byes.  What an awesome time.  Yasso and Max, you are wonderful hosts, and we enjoyed our time with you.  We can’t wait to come back another time (our visas are still good for another 9.8 years), and hopefully can repay some of your hospitality when (I say when, not if) you come to Oregon.  

Celebrating after the goal

After the game

Estacio Beira-Rio