Porto Alegre and Park de Aparados da Serra

Finally we made it into Porto Alegre. Alright, the question is, why going all the way south of Brazil? We wanted to visit our friend Beatriz, whom we have met in Lukla/Himalaya, Nepal four years ago. Back then she invited us to her home and with this in our mind we headed south.

As usual we travelled with the sunshine and this was just perfect to watch the World Cup Finals Germany – Argentina. The best place to watch was definitely the Fan Fest in Porto Alegre. Due to Geographic there was a majority of Argentinian fans. Luckily we got some support from Brazilians and we joined a German group.

The Argentinians went crazy when the goal fell and they didn’t realize it was offside. So they were showing us obscene gestures and smiled derisively. Well let’s see who smiles last and when Goetze hit the goal in Minute 113 it was an overwhelming feeling. Finally Germany won the World Cup and we danced breathlessly. What a feeling! With some Brazilians and Germans we continued to celebrate the victory in a bar.

The evening seemed perfect so we shared a taxi. Unfortunately the taxi missed our house and dropped us off two blocks to far. This was already enough to get robbed. Two man, one with a gun pushed us in a corner. The one man went to the crossing to make sure, no one is coming.

The second robber was so frantic with his gun and didn’t let go of us after we gave him the money. He was yelling “bolso, bolso” (bag) and was pointing with his weapon towards me. I was shocked because we had the big camera in the bag. We only took it because my condition was to take a taxi home. When I made a step back he was getting nervous and fumbling with the gun towards my belly. Then he grabbed the grip of the bag and tore it off. Gone was our big camera and gone was our excitement over the World Championship.

The next day we went to the police with Beatriz but the anger and disappointment stayed with us. Luckily Beatriz had a good medicine – hiking in the Canyon. She took some days off from work and showed us the beautiful landscape around Praia Grande.

Due to my massive cold we couldn’t hike inside the Canyon since you have to cross the ice cold river at least 10 times and the water goes all the way up to your knees. So we climbed the Piedra Branca and had a fantastic view over the landscape.

To get a little taste of those massive canyons here we went inside the Malacara Canyon. The next day we explored the area and walked along the Rim of the Canyon in the Parque Nacional Aparados da Serra. Thanks to Juju, Beatriz friend, who borrowed us here camera, we could take plenty of pictures to share with you.

Back in Porto Alegre we tried to get a new camera. Due to the high import taxes in South America the prices are insane but Michael found an online shop in Sao Paulo with a reasonable price. On arrival we paid the camera and Michael adjusted the settings. The lens is not as good as the one we had before but they cost here three times as much. 

We arranged a meeting with the Germans we had met at the Fan Fest and enjoyed a Churrasco (Barbecue). Tessa works at Berlitz and she told us about the great need of Language Instructors for German and English. We listened to it and thought about an opportunity to take a time-out from traveling. So we sent out our application and got a job interview. So, that’s what we took on Monday. You never know.