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Dec. 3, 2006 Two beautiful cities that I had the pleasure of passing through last year are Florianópolis, Brazil and Punta del Este, Uruguay. Unfortunately, I did no more than pass through on my bus ride from Sao Paulo, Brazil to Montevideo, Uruguay. The bus was an ultramodern double-decker with an on-board attendant who served meals and, at the frontier, negotiated passports, but the fare was high, at about US $125. The 1000-mile ride took 30 hours. We left Sao Paulo at midnight and reached Montevideo at 6 AM the second day. I could have purchased a package that would have included ferry transport across El Río de la Plata, the 40-to-70-mile-wide river between Uruguay and Argentina, but then I would have had to forgo a short stay in Montevideo that I had been planning. I bought the ticket for the hydrofoil ferry to Buenos Aires later, separately. I confess to ignorance, never having heard of either Florianópolis or Punta del Este till I got there, though I can’t even guess how many hours in my life I’ve spent poring over atlases and geography books. South of Sao Paulo, the land begins to undulate into little green hills with forests of araucaria trees here and there. The Atlantic keeps appearing and disappearing as the bus makes its way along the curving highway. In mid-afternoon of the first day we reached Florianópolis, which, from the seat of a bus, is about as beautiful a city as one can imagine. Laid out on a range of coastal hills and an adjoioning island connected to the mainland by an awesome bridge, the city consists primarily of high-rise apartment buildings scattered at varying distances, with green, green interstices. On a beautiful sunny day, I could see the silvery rollers lapping in onto the miles-long beach as we negotiated the bridge. Florianópolis is the capital of Santa Catarina, one of Brazil’s 26 states, and has a population of 400,000, with a metropolitan population of 800,000. The city is a magnet for South American and other tourists, and looks as if it could be pricey; Brazil is expensive anyway compared with other countries in these parts. However, lying on the 27th parallel, roughly equivalent to Miami, Florianópolis definitely has warm and cool seasons, unlike the ever-warm cities in north Brazil. January high and low average 82 and 71, July high and low 69 and 56. Annual rainfall is over 60 inches. Anyway, if you’re planning a trip to Brazil, it would be worth your while to consider Florianópolis. Here’s a picture: http://www.svb.org.br/15congresso/florianopolis.jpg We arrived at Punta del Este, Uruguay at daybreak the next morning. Punta del Este is an ultra-fashionable spot that attracts the haut monde from these parts and from around the world. As we passed through town, I could see, parked on the parking tiers of the high-rise apartment buildings the BMW’s, Corvettes and Rolls Royces. This town too has a very scenic situation on the Atlantic coast about 80 miles east of Montevideo, Uruguay’s capital. It’s permanent population is 10,000, but the number increases during the South American summer, January through March. Punta del Este is a suburb of Maldonado, the capital of Uruguay’s department of the same name. You can buy a bus-ferry combination ticket there for Buenos Aires, or you can just wait till you get to Montevideo. Here’s a picture of Punta del Este: http://www.turismodeluruguay.com/ingles/puntadeleste/fotos/punta_001.jpg Here’s an enlargeable map of Brazil that includes Uruguay, but does not show Punta del Este, which is just east of Montevideo. http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/americas/brazil.jpg I heard faint whispers of anti-American sentiments in these places. I don’t know whether it’s because the locals think that Americans are often brash and gauche, or whether it has something to do with the war in Iraq. ------------ About the author Thomas Keyes: I have written two books: A SOJOURN IN ASIA (non-fiction) and A TALE OF UNG (fiction), neither published so far. I have studied languages for years and traveled extensively on five continents. Email: udikeyes@yahoo.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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