Porto Alegre, Brazil
A Colourful Brazilian State Capital, A City Of European Influence Renowned For Its Friendly Gaucho Hospitality
Nossa Senhora das Dores, Porto Alegre, Brazil. December 8, 2015
I still have difficulty believing that I was freezing my you-know-what’s off while smiling at penguins in Antarctica mere days ago. Here in tropical Brazil the White Continent feels a long, long ways away, maybe because it is. The oppressive temperatures here in Porto Alegre, Brazil, mean it still may not feel like Christmas is around the corner but in parts it certainly looks like it.
I first saw Christmas decorations in a Chilean supermarket back in early October but my peregrine existence means I’ve largely avoided the unnecessarily long buildup to a time of the year that, rampant over commercialism aside, I still love. I can never before recall sweating while photographing a Christmas tree but the perspiration was flowing when photographing the massive plastic tree yesterday in Alfandega Square in central Porto Alegre. It was also the first time this season that I heard a Christmas song, any Christmas song – hearing Bing Crosby’s White Christmas in 30+ degree Celsius temperatures was as alien to me as the sight of seeing such a massive ornamentation in such temperatures. Christmas in Alfandega Square, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. December 8, 2015.
I’ve really been moving of late. A flight from the Ushuaia at the very tip of the continent, Fin del Mundo, to Buenos Aires, where I spent a day, followed by a combination of ferry & bus journeys from Argentina & through Uruguay has me here in tropical southern Brazil, somewhere I last was back in early September when it was nowhere near this warm. I’m one bus ride shy of Rio de Janeiro, the penultimate stop on my mammoth 2015 itinerary. I’ll spend the next 24 hours on a bus getting there, an iconic world destination I’ve longed to visit for as long as I’ve longed to travel. And I’ve even put some Christmas music on my iPod to help pass the journey. Oh yes, it was late coming but I’m in the Christmas mood now alright.
A few more pictures from yesterday, a day of walking the streets of Porto Alegre, a city with few reasons to visit unless, like me, you use it to break a long journey on Brazilian buses.
Travessa dos Venezianos in Porto Alegre, Brazil. December 8, 2015.
Running in Porto Alegre, Brazil. December 8, 2015.
Dessert time in the Public Market, Porto Alegre, Brazil. December 8, 2015.
A section of the run-down facade of the Positivist Temple in Porto Alegre, Brazil. December 8, 2015.
On the steps of the stunning Nossa Senhora das Dores in Porto Alegre, Brazil. December 8, 2015.
A statue on a building off Matriz Square in Porto Alegre, Brazil. December 8, 2015.
On the 343 bus in Porto Alegre, Brazil. December 8, 2015.
Porto Alegre || The Gallery
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- On the 343 bus in Porto Alegre, Brazil. December 8, 2015.
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- A statue on a building off Matriz Square in Porto Alegre, Brazil. December 8, 2015.
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- On the steps of the stunning Nossa Senhora das Dores in Porto Alegre, Brazil. December 8, 2015.
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- A section of the run-down facade of the Positivist Temple in Porto Alegre, Brazil. December 8, 2015.
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- Dessert time in the Public Market, Porto Alegre, Brazil. December 8, 2015.
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- Running in Porto Alegre, Brazil. December 8, 2015.
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- Travessa dos Venezianos in Porto Alegre, Brazil. December 8, 2015.