Today we are still in Brazil, taking the first morning tender into Porto Belo. This will be a long day, as we are on a bus for about 1 1/2 hours to the city of Blumenau. Due to traffic, the bus trip to the city was 2 hours long, but the tour guide had a lot of information to share. She is 56 years old and was born and spent most of her life in this area. Blumenau was settled by a German man who loved the area and got authorization to create a German settlement in this part of Brazil. They have worked very hard to maintain their German heritage. Part of the trip was a “German” lunch and I quizzed the tour guide about the foods, as other than the sauerkraut and red cabbage it was not very German. The potato salad had mayonnaise and not vinegar. She admitted the food was somewhat German with a Brazilian twist. From the pictures you can appreciate some of the German flair in the town. The flower clock was cute and the train was a replica of the one they used to get back and forth to the coast. On the drive back to the ship we went through the city of Florianopolis with numerous skyscrapers. From this city back to Porto Belo there were at least 100 high rise apartment/condo buildings under various stages of construction. Literally, one building after another. It seems that this area is a region where lots of the effluent people are moving to get closer to a retirement community nearer to the beaches. We made the last tender back to the ship through some rather rough water. With my German heritage, it was fun to learn about some German influence in this country.
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