Morrettes & Curitiba to São Paulo

After about ten days just enjoying the laid back coolness of Floripa I headed to the Brazillian state of Paraná and the tiny enclave of Morrettes, a small town in the jungle between Curitiba, on the high plains and Paranagua on the Atlantic Ocean. Getting there is rather fun as I take the Ruta Graciosa […]

Florianopolis: Paradise?

Ihla de Santa Catarina (Santa Catarina Island) is home to the capital of the Brazillian state that bears its name. Florianopolis, or Floripa as the locals call it, is really Santa Catarina island, though the city spreads to the mainland (the continent). The island has something for everyone. Beaches and bays shielded from the Atlantic […]

Itaipu Dam and Ciudad del Este.

The madness of crossing the Ponte da Amizade to get to Paraguay and Ciudade del Este is boggling. This is a border crossing between Paraguay and Brazil that is barely policed. Rift with crime, drugs and illegal exchange of goods, one wonders what’s going on here. Apparantly the joint venture between Paraguay and Brazil that […]

São Miguel to Foz do Iguaçu

The next morning I wandered the grounds of the old church taking photographs before moving on and logging about 250 miles to São Miguel D’Oeste in Santa Catarina state, arriving just before nightfall. A tiny enclave and barely a dot on my map, I rode around town twice without spotting a hotel. A guy on […]

Leaving Porto Alegre

The City Hotel here in Porto Alegre turns out to be a bit more expensive than I’m budgeted for, they offer me a much better deal after some haggling, but it’s still too high. I’m too tired to go anywhere else and I’ve got a lot of business to take care of: 1) Laundry 2) […]

Customs, Immigrations and the leaving the Devil

Today would be a long day. In order to make time and miles I’d have to leave earlier than the 9 or 10am departures which, no matter my efforts, seem to be consistent on this trip. The 6:30am alarm was slammed to snooze until 7am when I jumped out of bed to perhaps the coldest […]

How Many Days To A Brazilian Visa? More lessons.

Started out to tick those bureaucratic tasks off my list this morning. My desire to deal with the US Embassy relates to renewing a passport. So I made the leisurely walk this morning down Borges, across Santa Fe, past the professional dog walkers who are led by a pack of dogs sometimes numbering 20 or […]