If You've Never Heard of the Place....

 .... there's probably a pretty good reason!

On Thursday we were in Rio Grande do Sul and on Saturday we visited Porto Belo, two cities/towns we had never been to or even heard of. They had their own historical significance, which was explained to us during our tours, but there really wasn't much to see in either one.

So, here goes!

At Rio Grande do Sul we did a walking tour of the old city. We have no idea how large the city really is, as we never saw any more than a few frankly dilapidated streets, but it has had maritime significance since it was first settled in the 1730s. It is located at the entrance from the Atlantic Ocean to a couple of very large lagoons, which I recall seeing as we flew from Sao Paulo to Buenos Aires. The Portuguese were able to defend the lagoons at this entrance, and thereby created one of the major ports along the southern coast of Brazil.

Doesn't every place have one of these nowadays?
"I Heart Rio Grande"

A horse and cart outside of the market
building. It looked a little out of place among
the cars.

Rio Grande do Sul, after being created as protected port facility, was then settled by Portuguese from the Azores and Madeira, and livestock were brought with them. As the port became a commercial hub, one of the largest building at the shore became the Customs and Taxation Building. When the main port was moved away from the old town, the building became redundant and was left, like many others in the town, to fall into ruin. When the government wanted to tear it down, the residents refused and set up a committee which got corporate and individual donations to repair it. At the same time, the people of the Rio Grande do Sul province were asked if they had any 'artifacts' from family members who had immigrated from Portugal or other places. The old Customs Building is now a museum that has revolving displays of these items, which including clothing from various eras as well as things like old spinning wheels, musical instruments, and even typewriters, cameras, and probably one of the first cash registers. We spend about 20 minutes looking around in there and found it very impressive.

The tiles in the sidewalk outside the
museum were originally from Portugal and
have been in place for over 200 years.

One view of the museum building. You can see
how the residents would want to keep it.

The main square of the old town was where all the action was, especially in the 1800s. There had been benches all around this fountain, and on Sunday afternoons, the gentlemen would sit on the benches while the young ladies (and their mothers) promenaded around. There was a very strict introduction process between the young people, and this was how many a marriage started out for a very long time. According to our guide, most families in the city can tie at least one of their ancestors back to one of these meetings.

At one side of the central park stood these two extremely large Rubber Trees that are over 300 years old, which makes them older than the city itself. 

This monument commemorates the freeing of the
last slaves in Brazil by then-emperor Pedro II's 
daughter Isabel in 1876. This became part
of the downfall of the monarchy only a few
years later.

This tree is the Bao Brasilianis, the Brazilwood
Tree, which gave the country its name. It was known
for the red sap from the cut edges that was
used as a dye, initially for clerical robes.

The second building we visited was, at one end, the Cathedral, and at the other a museum that housed items used in the Catholic church as decoration or were used as part of the liturgy. This museum was once the chapel for the mariners, as it faced the lagoon. 

Inside the museum

The Cathedral of Saint Peter was inaugurated in 1755 and was obviously one of the most important buildings in the old town. It is quite beautiful on the inside. Unfortunately I can't remember much of the history our guide gave us, and the internet isn't being a particularly useful source of information. 

We left the tour a little early as it was threatening rain and we had no umbrella, and our tour bus was picking us up at the ship shuttle bus stop for the next visit anyway.

Overall we weren't really impressed with this port. So many of the buildings that could have made it quite a heritage spot have been left to fall apart due to weird government policies and uncaring owners. Apparently once a building is declared a heritage site, the owners can't change the building, especially the facade, but can get a tax exemption for making necessary repairs and repainting. But if the building is beyond repair it can be torn down and replaced. So many owners just leave the buildings, or, as the guide put it, give them a little destructive help. It is a very odd system that doesn't help the historical value of the city in the least.

We had a sea day on Friday. More on sea days and food, etc. in a later post.

On Thursday we arrived at a large bay with a very large city on its shores. But our tenders didn't take us there; we went to a small outlying town called Porto Belo, where we boarded our tour bus to head for the town of Santo Antonio de Lisboa on the island of Santa Catarina. 

Santa Catarina was the seat of government for the province of Santa Catarina, which had until the 1820s also included Rio Grande do Sul and all of what is now Uruguay, and, very much like in Rio Grande, also oversaw the settlement of Portuguese from the Azores into the area. These are the people who developed the agriculture, livestock raising and fishing in this part of Brazil, and established the local culture.

This tour was very oyster-oriented. We were supposed to take a small boat over to an island in the large lagoon between Santa Catarina and the mainland to visit an oyster farm, but the wind was too high and the shallow water much to choppy to operate that boat.

There is a particular species of tree that is hollowed out to
make these boats once it is of a size that two men can
 reach their arms around the trunk and touch hands.

So instead of going to the oyster producer on the island, we visited the shack, literally, of one of the small locals. He did actually give us a very good understanding of how these oysters are grown, how big the oyster business is in Brazil, and the history of oyster production.

Full sized oysters right out of the nets

Our host shucking an oyster while he explains,
with translation help from our guide

The species of oysters farmed here at Santa Catarina is originally from Japan. The local oysters are smaller than clams and take far too long to grow to an edible size. Now the seed oysters are produced with the help of local laboratories and shipped out to the growers where they are farmed in the waters of the lagoon. About 95% of all the oysters sold in Brazil are farmed here, and that is in the neighborhood of 300,000 dozen! Virtually none of them are exported and that's too bad, because they really are very delicious. A little saltier tasting that the Nova Scotia and PEI oysters we're used to, but very good.

Oyster growing nets waiting for their next use.

The oyster growing season starts in the winter, June-August, and the full-grown oysters are ready for harvesting in the summer months of December through March.

Once we were done with the demonstration and explanation, we headed for local restaurant, Lisboa 46, where we were having an oyster themed lunch. The problem, though, was that on the way a small group of ladies from our tour were interested in seeing the local church. Instead of sending them on their own, the guide went with them, leaving the bulk of us to go to the restaurant on our own and discover that the staff there didn't a) speak any English, or b) know exactly what we were supposed to be having. 

After about 15 minutes of total chaos, the guide finally showed up and explained that we were getting a platter of oysters cooked in a variety of methods. Sounded good, but when the waiters brought them, it was a case of grabbing a quick photo, grabbing a few oysters from the platter, and watching the waiter take it away. Huh??? And the waiter had also taken our menus away in the meantime.

Our fellow guests from tables around us were getting things they hadn't ordered, so we ended up taking one of those dishes, a wooden 'boat' of lightly battered shrimp. There was enough there for two of us, but we certainly didn't get the kind of lunch we were expecting. Waiters never did come back around to ask if we wanted anything else, and there were some interesting dishes being delivered to other tables.

The restaurant just after we sat down, before the chaos

The oyster platter. We thought our guide said that
we were getting one of these for each of us

My Caiphirania. Looks big, but it was
full of ice cubes and limes

The remnants of the shrimp boat, when I finally remembered
to take a picture.

As a 'we're sorry' gesture from either the tour guide or the restaurant, each table did get a dish of these steamed oysters.

The second highlight of the lunch - steamed
oysters. That's one way we've never thought 
of to make them, and they were really good!

Once we were finished with lunch, we had a bit of time to wander around the town until the bus came back for us. Of course things were shutting down and being blocked off as Carnaval parties and parades would be starting soon, so there wasn't much to see.

The church that distracted our tour guide

Setting up for Carnaval. The celebrations were
starting at 5 p.m. and would last through
Sunday and Monday.

Once back on the bus, we were expecting a 45 minute drive back to Porto Belo....which turned into an hour and a half. There is apparently just one road through these little beachside towns and there was some roadblock ahead of us. We crawled along for almost an hour before we passed what might have been the site of an accident and finally got going again.

Once again, not the most impressive introduction to a new port. Larry went down to Shore Excursions to cancel one of the upcoming tours in Rio de Janeiro, that would take us outside the city, since we really didn't want to have a 6 hour tour turn into an 8 hour tour because of traffic. At the same time, he told the Shore Excursion Manager how bad this tour had been. Hopefully it will make a difference if ever they offer it again when one of Silversea's ships is in South America.

Sea day on Sunday and then our three days in Rio!