I’m really not sure whether this post will be of any use to anyone, but you never know so here we go!

I’ve just come back from a 3-day stay in Vacaria, a tiny tiny town in the North of Rio Grande do Sul. I had a lovely trip but Vacaria is so small that I can’t imagine anyone reading my blog going to visit it (there is nothing to see) or to live there (there is nothing to do). The town, however, does have some good points:

1) cool climate: in the midst of the current not-really-spring-more-like-summer heat Vacaria was freshened by a welcome wind – the heat was still there but much more bearable and but especially at night it was wonderfully chilly.

2)  raspberries: I know Brazilian tropical fruit is awesome, but sometimes I REALLY miss a good gooseberry or raspberry. Vacaria is home to ITALBRAS, a company with two huge berry plantations: raspberries, strawberries, physalis, strawberries, blueberries and Brazilian blackberries. I’ve come home with three over-priced punnets and 3kg of frozen fruit! The manager actually took time to show me around the plantation so of course I asked a million questions – surprisingly the fruit mainly exported to Europe, since Brazilians simply have no interest in buying it. And there I was buying raspberries in England thinking they were local… The really crazy piece of information was that the company SENDS Brazilian workers to Sweden during the picking season, since it’s cheaper to pay Brazilian wages plus flights plus accommodation than hire Swedes… what a crazy world we live in.

Anyway, my new aim is to work up a national demand for all the products I miss (real cheddar, real brie, real camembert, chocolate hobnobs, etc) so that companies start selling them here…

3) this view:

This was the view from the floor-to-ceiling windows in our hotel room. We stayed at the wonderful Pousada Santa Teresa.

I so wish there were something exciting to see in Vacaria so I could get people go and stay at the pousada. The rooms are beautiful – simple, but elegantly furnished in a kind of country/Japanese style mix. All rooms come with a double bed, TV and slightly temperamental free internet connection. The main building also has a stunning TV room with more floor-to-ceiling windows which drag your eyes away from whatever program you are watching. The place also has a restaurant and bar, the food is delicious, all cooked by the owner’s wife, and the bar actually serves GOOD red wine by the glass!  The pousada is tucked away from the main road and the rooms were relatively cheap at 45Reis per night per person. Every room looks out onto this lake:

At sunset the colours were just fantastic (obviously I forgot my camera at this point). I’d brought my laptop along to work while my fiancé was at the office so I set up my own “office” looking out onto the lake – seriously, my dream house definitely has to come with a lake and ducks!

4) …

Thats it. Seriously, Vacaria, over three days, seemed to demonstrate the worst points of a small Brazilian countryside town:

* no centre: I tried to drive to the centre and I think I found it, but the only thing showing it was there was a church: no central square, park, meeting area or anything

* nondescript streets and houses : Vacaria seems to have had no real planning – no tree-lined streets, no parks (again), nothing to make walking along the sidewalk only slightly pleasant

* nothing to see in the area: usually there are signposts around urban centres pointing to historical routes or tours or sights. Here? Nothing. We asked one of my fiancé’s colleagues what we could go and see on the way back…answer? Nothing.

Sigh.

I met two people from the city who told me they would never leave it for the world, but I did have a colleague in Porto Alegre who said she would never go back. Perhaps the city has its hidden charms and social life, but on a first glance? However, if anyone happens to be on a road trip across Brazil, when you cross from Santa Catarina into Rio Grande do Sul, this is THE definite place to stay.