Porto Alegre, Brazil

When i arrived off the boat into Uruguay I missed the immigration office and later forgot all about it so i had no entrance stamp when in Uruguay.

When leaving the country i had a chat with the official in his kitchen, as requested i gave him a coffee donation and was on my way...(expensive mistake) When arrived in Brazil i didn’t even have to get out of the bus to get a 90 day stamp, i was shocked to find it so easy and they didn’t even verify it was i on the bus....weird... so,,,

My first stop in Brazil was the Marechal hotel in Porto Alegre. There is no such thing as a hostel in Porto Alegre and i didn’t meet one tourist, not to mention the difficulties i faced with another new language.

After the lady workers in sub way finished laughing at my terrible Portuguese effort, i got myself some lunch. A lady with a little English was shocked to hear that i was travelling solo in Porto Alegre....why??? Well i wanted to see a non touristy town i explained...she laughed and said i was crazy

Well there really is not much to do in Porto Alegre. I travelled to the suburbs (closest swimming pool) ...and i give up...."marketing office" would not let me swim without instructor and 5 day package which i reluctantly accepted and then the instructor would only be available "tomorrow", i give up.....WHAT IS WITH THIS South America PROCESS obsessed culture..."whatever happened to the dell boys...the people who want to make money...¡¿

In the evenings i chilled in bars next to the not so beautiful Marechal hotel. The people of Porto Alegre are lovely people and genuinely friendly, Brazil certainly has a higher crime rate than its neighbours but genuinely nice people all the same. I was informed by locals that unfortunately the city centre is not the place for a solo white foreigner at night and i did not feel like going out to the safer district as i didn’t want to get taxi´s solo at night. This may have been somewhat prudish of me but i adhered to the local advice. So the mafia nightclub was out of the question and some quite beers at night were the resolution :)