We'd sailed into a beautiful little port area called Porto Belo. There are no high-rises in Porto Belo. It is a nice place, situated behind fringing islands. The settlement probably got its start as a fishing village and now there are some pretty cool beach-front residences there. Hopefully they have some zoning controls and can maintain the current building heights. There are also a number of small shops and restaurants near the pier but there are no McDonalds, thank God. Near the pier, we boarded the fanciest bus that I have ever seen. It was the latest Volvo with two decks. The driver was situated in a separate compartment on the lower deck. We rode in comfort that day.
We left the coast and traveled inland. The road-trip really gave me a novel perspective on the country of Brazil, especially the state of the State of Santa Catarina. This part of Brazil is booming and new infrastructure is popping up all over the place. Part of our travel on this excursion included a drive down Brazilian Highway 101 which runs down almost the entire length of the east coast of the country. BR-101 is 4800 kilometres in length. It is a wonderful 4-lane, divided highway that has modern overpasses and a 100 km/hour speed limit. It is nicer and more modern than most parts of the Trans-Canada highway. And it is busier too, there are trucks everywhere, but thankfully they are smaller than the North American semi-trailers.
What I saw today was an investment opportunity. Now I might not act on this opportunity but lots of folks are cashing in on the growth of this part of Brazil. Infrastructure is being built, new high-rises are springing up everywhere. And someone owns the shares of those steel manufacurers and cement companies. The lightbulb went on so to speak.
Across the bay from Porto Belo is an example of this economic growth. You can see the brand new high-rises of a different beach-front neighborhood. The city of Itapema includes a brand new stretch of high-rise apartments which our guide said sprung up from the ground in the past few years where there used to be just a beach. Apparently, the apartment units are only part-time residences for the upper middle-class guys that owned shares in those steel and cement firms.
I have rambled a bit and I should get back on the topic of the main point of the tour which was to explore Blumenau. The drive from the pier took about an hour and a half. I wanted to go on this tour to see if there were a bunch of blood-haired, blue-eyed germanic types that were walking around a country that was mainly comprised of dark-complexioned citizens. We did see some german-looking people but they spoke Portuguese. The germanic folks had been Brazilianized.
After a great lunch at the Oktoberfest fair grounds in Blumenau, we returned to the coast and got back on the boat. There were no casualties.
As we continued our sea voyage southward that night we continued to experience fair seas. Mrs. Gym had not had to open the bottle the seasickness pills yet.
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| Porto Belo, and look at those calm waters |
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| The city of Itapema across the bay from where we landed. All of this is at most a few years old |
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| Volvo makes a nice bus |
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| Brazilian Highway 101 |
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| Dr. Blumanau, the settler who lead a group of German settlers to Brazil and founded the city in 1850 |
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| Blumenau Lutheran Church |
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| this is Dr. Blumenau's house which you can enter for a small fee and view an extensive collection of the founder's furniture and other personal items that have been restored and are on display |
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| In back of the house you hike a short distance into the woods and there is a cat cemetery which was started by one of Dr. Blumenau's relatives... very curious indeed |
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| Downtown Blumenau |
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| A germanic Brazilian greets us at the Oktoberfest grounds |
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| This is where Blumenau Oktoberfest happens |
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| This Oktoberfest attracts 700,000 each year. The one in Kitchener-Waterloo is actually bigger with attendance of 750,000-1,000,000 each year. |
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