Road Trip Serie (Part III) - Visiting Rio Grande do Sul - Brazil - Welcome to Cambara do Sul
Heyho Readers! How are you? Third post about Rio Grande do Sul, my beautiful home state in Brazil.
Hey guys, giving continuation on the series about my home state, Rio Grande do Sul - the southernmost state in Brazil, where climate can be freezing during the winter, where we have mountains and beaches, where people drink Mate and ride horses.
You can check the first and second post down below:
Road Trip Serie (Part I) - Visiting Rio Grande do Sul - Brazil
Road Trip Serie (Part II) - Visiting Rio Grande do Sul - Brazil - Welcome to Porto Alegre
The idea of this series is to get off the beaten track, of showing cool tropical beaches, that everyone is so used to see over the internet when talking about Brazil.
On the first two posts I brought you with me on a tour through Porto Alegre, the capital of Rio Grande do Sul, where we visited one of the most beautiful parks the Parque da Redenção and some of the historic buildings.
Since the series is about a road trip I did with friends in 2016, we'll continue with the adventure. So, fasten your seatbelts because we are going to hit the road, pass mountains and get to one of the most amazing places there is - The Canyons in Cambará do Sul.
Vacaria - Rio Grande do Sul
After leaving Porto Alegre our journey continued through the mountainous part of the state until we reached the city called Vacaria on the North-East part of Rio Grande do Sul. We only passed through there, because of that the only pictures taken were of the Nossa Senhora da Oliveira Cathedral, which is beautiful.
Even though it looks ancient, it was designed by Jean-Louis Bernaz in early XX century but only inaugurated decades later. As an engineer, I found it interesting, as it presents the curiosity of having been executed in basalt stone, and characterized in a similar way to the Notre Dame Cathedral, which I have also visited.
Beautiful view of the Cathetral.
Nossa Senhora da Oliveira Cathedral
Internal view of the Cathedral
Lovely park where the Cathedral is located.
From Vacaria we moved to a friend's farm for a camping weekend and a farewell party. I don't think it's relevant to share pictures of the moment, however the farm happened to have a beautiful river with some nice waterfalls.
Those were beautiful days among friends, beer and barbecue. We managed to reunite friends from USA, Belém, Israel and Rio Grande do Sul into a farm in the middle of nowhere, what a great fun that was. After the party we had planned to go back to Porto Alegre, but not without visiting some of the most amazing places in Rio Grande do Sul. Keep on reading.
Welcome to Cambará do Sul
And now, with all the suspense we can move to one of the two most amazing places of the trip - the canyons of Cambará do Sul.
The city itself didn't impress us much, it's a small touristic city on the high fields of Rio Grande do Sul. There we found a place to sleep called Pousada Recanto dos Amigos, where I paid a bargain to place my tent while my friends were paying an eye to sleep inside the fancy little wodden houses. Once a broken backpacker, always a broken backpacker!
Main house of the lodge.
Little wodden houses they rent.
Main living room.
Beautiful Lake.
I'll tell you, being 1000 meters above sea level, Cambará do Sul is cold! The average temperature of Rio Grande do Sul during the summer day is 30°C, there we found 10°C during the night. Fortunately, I had my winter sleeping bag, otherwise I'd freeze my butt. This is one of the cities in Brazil where there's snow on specific winter days.
After surviving the first night on that fridge, also known as tent, it was time to wake up early and go visit the national parks.
Parque Nacional da Serra Geral - Canyon Fortaleza
This is one of those places where you just sit and contemplate, I lack the words to describe the sensation of being near such an enormous natural creation.
With more than seven kilometers long and two of width, this fantastic work of mother nature reaches a height of 1,240 meters above sea level. It is absolutely difficult to see it's bottom as clouds usually cover it, but for us it was lucky day. Enjoy the pictures.
There are no words do describe this.
Canyon Fortaleza.
This waterfall goes all the way to the bottom.
Breathtaking.
Parque Nacional de Aparados da Serra - Canyon Itaimbezinho
This is the most famous Canyon in Brazil, it impresses by the long extension of up to 5km in a maximum depth of 720mt. It is one of the largest Canyons in the Aparados da Serra complex. Being inside a park you'll have to pay a small fee, it has marked trails all over the edge and people there seem to be more worried about a selfie than actually contemplating it.
It's incredible visiting this place, although the canyon Fortaleza was the one to make my heart beat stronger. I can't help but liking wilder places, far away from annoying tourists.
Canyon Itaimbezinho.
Araucaria trees.
More waterfalls.
Click image to enlarge.
This concludes our stay in Vacaria and Cambará do Sul, if you like those places and plan on going there be sure to contact me and I'll link you to more in depth articles on accomodation and restaurants. As you may know, those subjects are not my strongest hand, as I'm broke and usually sleep and eat as cheap as possible.
Hope you've enjoyed knowing a little bit about my state and stay tunned for the next parts where we'll continue on this amazing road trip through Rio Grande do Sul. If you'd like to know more, feel free to leave a comment down below, I love talking to you all.
If you liked this post, please, consider leaving your upvote for a hot coffee.
~Love ya all,
Disclaimer: The author of this post is a convict broke backpacker, who has travelled more than 10.000 km hitchhiking. Following him may cause severe problems of wanderlust and inquietud. You've been warned.
I'm Arthur. I blog about Adventure Stories, Brazil, Travel, Camping & Life Experiences.
Follow me to stay tuned for more craziness and tips.
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Fantástico, @mrprofessor! O Rio Grande do Sul já é bonito, mas nas tuas fotos fica ainda mais :D Ainda não conheço Vacaria, só estive lá de passagem, mas agora vou querer conhecer :P E Cambará é um lugar para voltar mais vezes, melhor viagem que já fiz, paisagens impressionantes e povo muito acolhedor. Obrigado por compartilhar ;)
Daaaale @casagrande, muito obrigado pelo suporte cara! Baita pressão pra eu iniciar a escrever em Portugues ahahahahaha.
Vacaria é banana, bem pequena mas arrumadinha, pena que não ficamos muito na cidade, fomos direto pra fazenda.
Agora, Cambará é fantástico... aqueles canyons lá não tem nem palavra pra descrever. Ouvir dizer que tem uma trilha de 5 dias que iniciar na Serra Geral e termina le em Santa Catarina, já está na lista.
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Woooow, we turn our back and the mighty @travelfeed attack! Thanks a bunch guys, love you all.
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Mazaaaaaah @brazilians! Grande presença e muito obrigado pelo apoio, com certeza é um grande boost no animo de quem escreve. Em breve estarei apto a retribuir a ajuda.
Wow! My friend, you live in a very beautiful place. Amazing nature! I liked this waterfall. The canyon looks amazing. I am not surprised that tourists try to capture selfi, because to visit here and see this beauty with your own eyes - it's a great success. Thank you for an interesting story and photos :)
Heeeeyho @madlenfox, thank you so much for the lovely comment! It's indeed fantastic this place, the photos don't show the dimensions, it's HUGE.
On the Itaimbezinho there's a guided trail that goes through the bottom, it's a 1 day hike of absolute awesomeness.
Oh yeah. I see that there you can get a lot of great and pleasant experiences and make thousands of beautiful landscape photos :)
Ahhhhh you are true, but I'd be amazed if I were to visit the Baikal too!
I think it's a very real dream and one day it can happen :)
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Awesome post, thanks for walking us through this part of the world. That canyon is just stunning, I'd love to go there one day. YOur photos are also great. But darling, by the way, when you say 'broken' do you mean 'broke' as in poor, no money? xxx
Bring Buttercup, let's go there!!!
Yeah I meant no money, I always write it wrong, I know. It's one of those words that I always confuse hhahahhahaa my disclaimer is also wrong ihihihihiaha.