The borders between the south of Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina are weak, the area is very homogeneous, the immense pampa occasionally interrupted by some cities and finally the mega-cities of Montevideo and then Buenos Aires.
The roads run through endless territories with no human traces, then suddenly appear faster gauchos on horseback directing endless herds of cattle.
This is the journey through the Uruguay. These impressions of a fleeting day in Uruguay.
The images in the mind of many months spent in Brazil and the promise of making a last Argentine dream, kept in the drawer for a long time.
Porto Alegre, land of gauchos
Porto Alegre is a pretty and peaceful town. Around a lot of green and boundless land of the gauchos, prelude of Argentinean pampa, where the local cowboys live their herding and hard life, sipping mate and waging a tough challenge with life.
The ring is almost closed, lacking only a final touch, a final check and then off to a new world … In this corner of Switzerland everything takes on the contradictory contours of allegory: sympathetic northerners who fled from hunger past centuries have colonized a world so different from them, but they were able to shape it as they wished. To their own image: order, cleanliness, progress. All seasoned with a hint of green and gold fantasy. Até logo Brasil, muito obrigado!
Florianopolis, an island one step away from paradise
Florianopolis, or Floripa for friends, is a true paradise, perhaps so perfect as to arouse some questions. I write on a rock by the side of a quiet and crystal clear ocean, almost sleepy, in front of my eyes a cream-colored beach, lots of green and some nice islets. Simply idyllic.
Too bad that I cannot take pictures, this will only be part of my memories and my stories.
Last night I attended the carnival in the city of Florianopolis, a wild mixture of all imaginable kinds of music and dances from samba carioca to maracatù pernambucano. It is not clear if the mix is really spontaneous or the classic tourist trick served to the many Argentines who spend their holidays here.
This is also why I feel more and more intense and inviting air of Argentina. Party tonight and then Porto Alegre, land of gauchos.