Dia 138 - Tuesday April 26, 2011: Rio to Saquarema Area

We stopped at a Cambio to exchange $5K as money goes out fast here. We picked up the Porsche and were on our way to the next destination by noon. We are very appreciative of the excellent and collegial Porsche service in Rio.


Anisa was an excellent navigator. We had only 2 wrong turns and both were occasioned by incomprehensible signage. The drive through Rio and its harbor was scenic. Damage from the deluge last night was being cleared and it continued to rain on & off all day. Once out of the urban zone, the area was mostly a jungle forest preserve. We lunched on empanadas at a roadside combo market and prepared food place. The “Torpedoes” or Kibbi and the empanada with a beef and egg filling were the tastiest. We arrived at the “Paradise” country inn mid afternoon ready for a well-deserved rest. Which was more stressful: driving or navigating? We are now positioned for serious driving in Brazil’s Central East. Tomorrow, the plan is to cover 450KM to Victoria. I estimate 4 hours, but Anisa & Steve think that it will be more than 6.

Our dinner with the duenos of “Paradise” was full of laughs as we told each other our stories. They are a lovely German expatriate couple with a 2-year-old son.

Dia 137 - Monday April 25, 2011: Porsche Repair and Golf at Gavea

The phone rang at 5:40 to let us know that the flat bed was ready to pick up the Cayenne. Anisa & I went in the flat bed too. The assistant had to ride in the car on the flatbed. We were at the locked gate to the Porsche repair shop by 7:15. As things turned out, the gate did not open till 9:00. The shop people got to work on the car immediately. They ran a full computer check of the car’s systems. (I hope that future models might be programmed to communicate with my computer and thus directly to me.) The Cayenne has 2 fuel pumps. Both are used to start the engine and when the gas is floored. Once the car is moving the computer switches from one to the other depending on the fuel level. The low level one is bad. Fortunately, the shop had one in stock, as these cars need them as they age. We had other maintenance such as replacing the brake pads. We are due to pick up the car tomorrow at 10:30 and only have 100KM to our next destination. Once again, my hat off to Porsche service for their attentiveness and help. (The Navigation map disc for Brazil covers only Sao Paulo and Rio so the disc is of no further use to us.)

In the meantime, Carol and Steve taxied to Gavea GC awaiting us. The course is cash only so I stopped at a Cambio to change $1,600. Anisa & I arrived at Gavea at noon but that passed Carol’s time window so she went back to the hotel to get ready for 5:30 ride to the airport. The course was magnificent though short. I threw the party and Anisa kicked butt. 13 of the holes were on the hilly mountainside. It was like playing in the botanical garden without the monkeys. The 5 seaside holes were familiar to us. We enjoyed ourselves. I have to exchange more $$ because the round ate up half of my Reals.

Carol was happy to see us back at the hotel. She was happy to be going home, her part of the LatAm mission concluded successfully. She was sad to be leaving us and the adventures ahead. The feeling is mutual.

Dia 136 - Sunday April 24, 2011: Rio’s Jardin Botanico

The major events of the day were visiting Rio’s exquisite Jardin Botanico and dinner. The palm lined walkways and collection were started in 1858. I had no idea palms lived that long. When one dies, it looks like 25-year-old specimens are planted as replacements. We visited a number of fine dedicated sections: Medicinal plants, lovely orchids, cacti, water lilies, Japanese garden and so on. One of our favorites was the sylvan section, which had monkeys and a backdrop of a natural hillside jungle. It amuses me that the chief monkey made eye contact with me and shook the branch he was on. He we clearly telling me: “Don’t think about it.” The he went on with his business. We departed just as it started to drizzle.

We went back to the neighborhood fish restaurant in Santa Teresa. We had octopus with broccoli rice and Moqueca-style Wreck fish with white rice. Excellent! Steve and I tried the local ATM to no avail. We got back to Hotel Santa Teresa shortly before a deluge started. We thanked Chac & congratulated ourselves for our good fortune with an excellent bottle of Mendoza, Argentina champagne. Tomorrow, Anisa & I are going to the Porsche dealer first thing, then to a bank to convert $$, and then for a round of golf at Gavia GC for our fearsome foursome. Sadly, Carol goes back to the good life in LA tomorrow after dinner. We have had a wonderful time together for over 4 months of the Lat Am adventure. I miss her already just thinking about it.

Dia 135 - Saturday April 23, 2011: Stranded in Rio at the Relaix & Chateau

We planned on a leisurely start to the day for arriving to a late seaside lunch, planning to reach up the coast an hour or two. Unfortunately or fortunately, with the car very fully packed and less than a few blocks on its way, the engine just cut out. Several times, it started but cut out in less than a minute: It seemed like a fuel cut out. The car was parked out of the way of traffic, but in the heart of the neighborhood. The car from California and our being there taking care of its breakdown were part of the lively street action. Many people came to visit with us, and touched or had their pictures taken with the car in the picture. A nice lady, who spent ages 17 & 18 in Hollywood doing design, spoke reasonable English and helped us navigate the information to get assistance. Two different mechanics confirmed my diagnosis but were unable to handle the repair on the spot. The second also had a flat bed for taking the car to the Porsche dealer nearby, but only on Monday. We are stranded, but what a place. Hotel Santa Teresa was able to accommodate us again. I think that Carol prefers being stranded in the Santa Teresa neighborhood of Rio better than being stranded at Emiliano in the Jardin area of Sao Paulo.

It turns out to have been a treat that we were stranded on a busy & quaintly picturesque street corner (thereby becoming part of the street action) in one of the youthful, artsy and happening parts of Rio. Notwithstanding the anxiety of figuring out and arranging repair, we enjoyed interaction with all the friendly people. We were a curiosity and approachable. People let us know they had been to or had someone in California. Some just wanted to know something about our experience re “LA to Buenos and Buenos to LA”. And we were a free event! Once the disposition was sorted out, the ladies went back to the hotel to make room arrangements and chill while Steve & I went across the intersection for Cabrito & Rice till the flat bed arrived. We provided a lot of action for the street to the amusement of all.

We had dinner near the scene of infamy in a pleasant Rio Bohemian restaurant with a great musical group. The accordion (lead) player was in ecstasy as he played. There were several impromptu guests especially what seemed to be a recognized guitarist that sang his heart out. The music had me tapping the whole time. The restaurant had so much business on this holiday that they ran out of most of their menu items!

Dia 134 - Friday April 22, 2011: Rio Sightseeing

Rio de Janeiro is divided in half by a mountain range. The waterfront southern side has the beaches, lakes and a lot of the nice areas, but some favellas running up the hillside. The northern half is more industrial and has working neighborhoods. The city setting is gorgeous! See the pictures.

Stefan, our driver-guide, took us on a spirited and knowledgeable tour of the major sites. As today is the Good Friday holiday here, the crowds were too big to take the tramways to Christ the Redeemer or Sugarloaf. Stefan took us to vista-point park. We had a lot of pictures taken of us with various beautiful backgrounds. Ipanema and Cococabana beaches were next. They were full of umbrellas and even more people than at Santa Monica beach on a summer holiday. Everyone was enjoying the beautiful day at the beach. We had coco frios at Ipanema and it turns out that was our lunch too. We visited several other beaches.

Stefan was sophisticated, worldly, and very good about explaining the history and society of Brazil. For example he explained that after slavery was abolished in 1888, there was a strong drive to bring Europeans, mostly Italians and Germans, and Japanese to balance out the racial mix of the population. The most recent census weighted by DNA shows 1/3 indigenous, 1/3 African and 1/3 Caucasians & Asians. The southern states of Brazil are overweight on the Caucasian. We will next go to the more African side and then the indigenous around the Amazon basin. He took us through a number of affluent neighborhoods and ours, which is historical. We loved Selaron’s personal statement – he is an artist who uses tile remnants to make an ordinary stairway into a work of folk art. Stefan took us for a spin around the Santa Teresa area, including by his home a couple of blocks from the hotel. He is restoring a mid 19th century house.

Back at the hotel, we were happy that Carol seems to have been restored. We had an excellent meal just a 5-minute walk from the hotel. The salads were fresh mango, pineapple, heart of palm, chayote and fresh lettuce leaves. We had Conger eel with broccoli rice and a delicious fresh water fish -- “Wreck fish” in translation. We ate and ate.

Dia 133 - Thursday April 21, 2011: Golf at Itanhanga in Rio

The drive around the prosperous neighborhoods and numerous scenic waterfronts was delightful. Golf was a lot of fun in most aspects. The setting was stunning. The backdrop of granitic rock escarpment changed color as the day wore on. The course had tropical fauna and flora. There were lots of birds and gorgeous palms. The golf course threw insects and some humidity at us. Obviously, Anisa is the sweetest of all of us with 44 mosquito bites. She is even talking about being defeated by the bugs. Ja! Ja! I took her by 35 Rials and she is 5 Riyal up on The Duck.

The pro at Itanhanga went to college on a golf scholarship in Georgia. He interviewed with Eddie Merrins and almost went to UCLA. His wife was the designated English speaker at the Club. Everyone was very accommodating. This is the # 1 course in Rio and a 2016 venue for golf in the 2016 Olympics. We loved the drive both during daylight and at dusk.

Back at the Hotel Santa Teresa, we got ready for a fabulous dinner and it was! See the pics.

Dia 132 - Wednesday April 20, 2011: Sao Paulo to Rendezvous in Rio

Early wake up and breakfast in the room got us started for the rendezvous with daughter Anisa and brother Steve. I can’t say enough good things about the service at Emiliano. It was a pleasure being stranded there. Carol’s navigating was faultless again today – not even one wrong turn. Map quality is still poor, but having point to point guidance from Google available in Brazil made it possible. Exiting Sao was pretty smooth. The 4-lane Highway 116 is generally good or under upgrade.

The entry into Rio was beautiful but congested with 2 major traffic jams. The Relaix & Chateaux, Hotel Santa Teresa, is a former coffee plantation mansion on a hill overlooking the central part of the Rio. The rendezvous was in time for lunch and everyone was very happy. We spent the late afternoon at rest. We certainly wanted to enjoy dinner. As anticipated, the restaurant here is top notch. We ate everything in our starters and main courses. Sad to say, even for the fresh heart of palm salad, I was derelict in taking pictures till we finished. This is proof that my stomach is more in charge than my brain. The view of the city lights at night is lovely.

Over the next 2 days, we aim to focus on golf in the Rio area and one other major activity each day. We plan to leave the driving to taxis when in town.

Dia 131 - Tuesday April 19, 2011: Sao Paulo

This extra day at Sao Paulo was used to visit the Afro-Brazil Museum, the huge Japanese section of town and the Botanical Garden, plus meals, of course. From the museum, we find that some 11 million Africans were transported to the Americas with 4.5-5 million each to the Caribbean and Brazil. Only .4-.5 million went to the US and an equal number to Mexico, Central America and other parts of So. America. They were put to work mainly in plantations, as they were able to cope with tropical diseases, unlike the indigenous people. Their full legal emancipation in Brazil was in 1888. There is no overt (legal) discrimination in Brazil. Nevertheless, on the drive to the Botanical Garden, the homeless people taking shelter under bridges and between the highways and rivers were mostly black.

I am charmed to hear clearly Japanese descendants speak Portuguese. Sao has the largest Japanese population outside of Japan. We had to see it in honor of Kuni Murai. The grocery stores carried excellent looking produce. We had “ramen” or in an experimental “lamen” restaurant. We could have been on Sawtelle in West LA.

The highlight of the botanical garden was the long walk through the undisturbed rain forest that preceded Sao. See pictures. We were hoping to see more on the Umbrella pines, but this garden featured more Amazon & international flora. It was very peaceful.

The lengthy drive through Sao with a fluent English speaker was most informative. The Cayenne arrived fully repaired and clean with just a minor scratch on top of the rear hatch. It has been a pleasure being stranded here. We met Mina & Chris after dinner at the fabulous Figueira Rubiat Restaurant and with a lot of laughter we drove to “Vipiteno” for the best gelato I have had on this trip. We came up to our suite for tastes of Glenroth & Bunnahabin 18 yr old single malts. I am adding Minas to the single malt aficionado list, right along with Eduardo Sr.

Dia 130 - Monday April 18, 2011: Sao Paulo, Jardine District

A note under our door asked us to see the manager: The valets drove the car into the underground garage without checking the clearance of the tire on top of the car. The front bar of the roof rack was ripped off its track and the top of the rear hatch was dented so that it couldn’t fully open. The hotel and parking service took full responsibility for the damage and even covered the costs of an extra night at the hotel. The Porsche dealer will have the car ready & back at the hotel by 6PM tomorrow. As our clubs are in the Porsche at the dealer, we will probably visit the Sao Botanical Garden and Zoo tomorrow. That means an early departure for Rio on Wednesday. We will try to make lunch with Anisa and Steve, but do not count on it. Being stranded at Hotel Emiliano for a 3 night stay could be a lot worse.

We walked around and window-shopped the Jardine area, the Beverly Hills of Sao Paulo. Visa did not authorize cash withdrawal from ATMs until I called Merrill Lynch because there is a lot of credit card fraud in Brazil. It was relatively easy to change $$ for Reals at a Cambio. Unfortunately the US $ declined 1.5% since Friday. Dining at the exquisite restaurants in Sao is about 50% higher than comparable Beverly Hills eateries. Thank you George Bush. We lunched at Restaurant Arabia serving genuine Lebanese cuisine. We had familiar foods: Humus, fool, salads, Kibbi, mahalabiya, mint tea, etc. Happy tummy!

We were picked up for dinner by Minas and Chris Mikaelian, good friends of the Gulesserian family. Dinner at Jardim de Napoli was filled with laughter and camaraderie. Chris commands the subtleties of English. Minas is a daredevil with all types of vehicles and full of life. We hope to see more of them. I promised Minas use of performance vehicles if he visits us in LA while he is young at heart.

Dia 129 - Sunday April 17, 2011: Curitiba to Sao Paulo

Our first impression of Sao Paulo is that it is one of the great megalopolis of the world with 20 million inhabitants. We are staying in a fashionable part of town, in a chic hotel not too different from the Four Seasons of New York, including the $800+ room rate and a lot of high rises. The room is very nice, stylish & contemporary.

The countryside was fabulous! It included pine forests, national parks, small farms to banana plantations and lots of jungle in the lower elevations. There is a lot of road building going on and none too soon. There are more trucks than cars. The pictures tell a story. Sao Paulo itself is at about 2,000’ in what was originally highland jungle. The preserved countryside around it is lush and beautiful.

As we are in a fashionable part of the city, busy and safe at night, we walked a few blocks to dinner at one of the great Italian restaurants of the city. My Bresaola with arugula, and Penne Bacalao was rivaled by Carol’s Polenta with mushrooms and Fettuccini alla Vongole. We ate well!

Note:

The spread between the $800+ room rate and the way Brazilians live is anecdotal evidence that the exchange rate feels like 3 Reals per $, not 1.59.

Dia 128 - Saturday April 16, 2011: Wine Country through Brazil’s Mountain Plateau

We really enjoyed our stay at Pousada Borghetto Sant’Anna. I wish we had more time to visit with our host who is enjoying the good life. After a quick stop at Casa Valduga (Boutique XYZ Winery) for 3 bottles of fine valley wine, we started toward Curitiba – a 7-hour drive. It was long and fascinating. The terrain was between 2,000’-3, 000’ and many winding tropical & forest roads. There were forests of an ancient pine type, what we dubbed some “the umbrella pines”. See pictures. The Appalachians often came to mind. The highway usually went around the towns along the way. They were in good condition in general, but not set up for speed. Trucks were more than half the traffic on BR116. 450 hp in the Cayenne certainly opens the 2 lanes for passing. Driving is a wonderful way to see the country. We feel the immensity of the landscape, always imagining what it would be like to live here. This is certainly not a tourist destination, but the accommodations are sure better than the Andes.

We lunched at a local family run Commida Corrida restaurant in a small town on the roadside. We always have an eye out for home cooked road food and we found one. Once again, the food was delicious, but a little too rich. See pictures.

We made it to the Sheraton 4 Points in Curitiba which aims for the middle class aspiration market. We took a walk around a couple of the major streets of this mainly high-rise residential neighborhood. We settled for an easy dinner at the hotel.

Gas is about $8 per gallon. In general, it feels to me that the Real to Dollar exchange rate should be set at 3/1, (not 1.59/1), to be competitive internationally. However, prepared food is about 1/3 less than what it would cost in the US. I bet wages are out of balance with the economy. The feel is that of the US in the ’60s, adding Internet & recent technology. English is not widely spoken here. Financial transactions such as credit cards, ATMs and exchange of $$ are difficult. Those who were English fluent or spoke well were very friendly. It has been a pleasure interacting with the people of Brazil.

Dia 127 - Friday April 15, 2011: Discovering Brazil’s Vale Dos Vinhedos (Wine Country)

We spent some time to effectively map our route to Posada Borghetto Sant’Anna. Google directions gave us a clear wrong address. To avoid hassles we had to stay alert to changes in the name or number for the same road and different reference towns on road signs. We noted the large number of “love hotels” along the route. We read an article about them in our last on-flight magazine. Once outside the urban center, the countryside became beautifully verdant mountains.

This slightly mountainous part of Brazil had many Italian and German immigrants. The valley where we are staying was settled by Italians who started to grow grapes to sell a little wine. The industry has started to take off internationally in the last ten years. The valley is so coming and beautiful that, it looks to me like a several “beautiful people” winery owners are building fantasy estates, just like in Napa.

The Posada is a series of little houses, each with 2 rooms overlooking the valley full of vineyards. Most of the downhill wall of our room opens onto the valley. We can hear roosters, hoof-beats and farm equipment along with the traffic. Lunch was at Casa Do Madeira. We had a beautiful unoaked chardonnay from the next-door winery (Casa Valduga) that tasted of its grape. This accompanied the daily menu of godorniz (game hen) braised with onions and wine. The side dishes were polenta with some of the onion sauce, home made pasta with fresh basil pesto, baby lettuce leaves and dessert. Carol had grapes cooked with tapioca and I had ice cream with sweet wine sauce. Molto bene! We visited 2 quality family vineyards & wineries. This area produces sparkling wines of note, as its soil is acidic. Pizzato Vinhas & Vinhos had an extremely interesting sparkling wine and tannat. Vincola Don Laurindo produced an excellent sparkling wine, chardonnay and a Malbec. Este lugar es muy amable.

Pardon my Espanol. The Brazilians have no trouble understanding my simple Spanish. English is not widely spoken here. Now I have to start learning Portuguese. I understand the written language as the spelling & grammar changes between the 2 related languages is not too great. I hope to hear and spell Portuguese better soon.

We were alerted that the recommended Restaurante Sbornea’s serves excellent and large amounts of food. That was an understatement. We stopped at about 8 types of filled crepes, about 9 types flavored rice, about 6 meats and 8 different desserts, mostly filled crepes. Not that there weren’t more types of everything that kept coming; we just couldn’t go on. We missed Justin. We did finish a bottle of tasty Calza Malbec. A good time was had!

Dia 126 - Thursday April 14, 2011: Road Day – Punta del Este to Porto Alegre

The seaside drive out of L’Auberge was brilliant! The saddleback bridge was fun – see photo. The small beach resort towns were atmospheric. The drive through the Uruguay countryside was through rolling hills and flood plains of the South American Atlantic coast. I am reminded of the lower Mississippi drainage. There was a lot of wildlife, especially birds. The countryside changed from ranches to industrial farming, including rice, and natural areas.

The border crossing was relatively smooth and efficient on both the Uruguay and Brazil sides. We were clearly a novelty. Progress was everywhere especially the super highways under construction. Still, I was unable to change money or use my cash card in Pelotas, a town of 140,000. The place is entirely un-touristed. The drive through Pelotas was interesting if slightly dreary. Half way through the day, we finally located maps for Brazil and Rio Grande del Sul – the southernmost state in Brazil. Our ‘gourmet’ lunch was hot dogs wrapped in pastry dough and mystery flavor soda. We talked a lot about Inka Cola – one of our food adventures. We moved east without a time change so the days got shorter. It was dark by 6PM. We had been on the road for 9 hours. That got us to a reasonable roadside hotel: Canoa Parque Hotel. The hotel dinner buffet was both tasty and healthy. The people have been nice all day and very helpful. We are a curiosity so the look is both ways.

We are poised to take off on 2 alternate options tomorrow: 1. The Brazil wine country, an hour away, or 2. Golf at one of the top 100 courses in Brazil, highly rated by Golf Digest, also an hour away. Yum! What a quandary!

Dia 125 - Wednesday April 13, 2011: Recreation in Punta del Este

Wednesday 10AM, we had Cantegril Country Club all to ourselves. We pull carted ourselves up and down the rolling hills on the shore west of the Punta del Este peninsula. It was just us and the field and stream birds. There were black Ibis birds, many green parrots, hawks, teros, and so on. They were quite lively and noisy. There are many familiar flowers, plants and trees and many that are different. See the pictures from the 19th hole. All are thriving here.

We enjoyed lunch back at L’Auberge. I liked my fresh river fish. I have had similar tasting fish but not this type. I will look from more Rio Plata fish tonight. We spent the afternoon lolling around, enjoying ourselves and preparing for the southern most Brazilian state.

Dia 124 - Tuesday April 12, 2011: BA Ferry to Colonia & Drive to Punta del Este

Yesterday’s navigation preparations made finding the Buquebus terminal fairly hassle free; though not free of anxiety - Only one wrong turn. We arrived 2.5 hours before departure so we were the first car in line. The ferry terminal looks and feels like a modern airline terminal. The border formalities for exiting Argentina and entering Uruguay were next to each other and without hassle. We have accomplished “LA to Buenos Aires” and now we are on the “Buenos Aires to LA” leg!

Uruguay is a lovely country of rolling hills and lots of water. Enjoy the pictures from Colonia, through Montevideo and then to Punta del Este – a major international resort area. That means great accommodations and great food! We ended up with a beautiful suite at L’Auberge Hotel. It is next to the best golf course in town where we will play tomorrow.

When asked what we could do to top this LatAm Road Trip, I wonder if driving around the Himalayas would be as adventurous. We would pick up a new SUV in Germany within the next 4 years and head through East Europe, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia, then turn around in SE Asia to drive the south side of the Himalayas. The car would be shipped to LA from India, unless by then it would be safe to drive through Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf. The car would have German plates so we wouldn’t be obvious targets for anti-American feelings. Who wants to sign up for any part of that adventure?!