We spent yesterday waiting to hear from the vet. There was no expectation because they told us the Department Agriculture will take two days usually to release the exit papers. Nevertheless you know how it is…you keep glancing surreptitiously at your WhatsApp hoping against hope they have got it done early. So we spent the day lurking around Santa Vitória on a sunny breezy day interrupted by scattered showers. Rusty got it into his head he wanted a long walk mooching around downtown so I naturally took my Iphone instead of my camera and it shows in the zoomed pictures.
The Brazilian habit of using bathroom tiles on sidewalks and outdoor walkways is bizarre and perilous in the rain. But they don’t care about my opinion and do it anyway.
It’s pretty downtown. The dirt roads are in the suburbs and they suck.
But city planners like their little surprises:
I appreciate the crosswalk cutouts but the city is not wheel chair friendly on the whole.
These old Toyota pick ups called the J40 Land Cruiser make hip overlanders drool. You’ll see them on the road adapted with camper shells on the back.
The Brazilian version is called the Bandeirante with a proprietary diesel engine from Mercedes Benz Brazil. It was built between 1962 and 2001 Antarctic course still running.
We had a half baked idea we might like to drive a few days by the sea. A mechanic we want to talk to in Uruguay is out of the workshop till Tuesday so we have a few days in hand.
Letters place by the sea for a few days we thought. Hermengildo is a small waterfront village so we thought we’d take a look at a place Layne had found at booking.com.
Summer high season is long past and in Hermengildo it showed. The place is rolled up for winter. So much the better for us.
The house at $60 a day looks ratty on the outside but it’s pretty nice inside and the location is excellent.
It offers a ringside seat tomato the waves.
The only trouble was the neighboring house had two large dogs that barked so loud we couldn’t hear ourselves think. And when they saw Rusty they took it up a notch. We left.
We went back into town and had lunch empanadas back at the town square then I drove us out to the waterfront behind town, a four mile drive to waters edge more or less.
A straight line that they are almost finished paving but typically Brazilian they haven’t quite finished the project: so irritating.
They also built some kind of weird art deco block at the very end of the road and it’s quite empty and locked shut. Go figure what that’s about.
I walked out on the pier trailed at a distance by Rusty who saw no reason to walk in the wind after his long walk in town.
The road out here is lined with working class little houses and apparently the fishing community keeps its boats on the tidal creeks here.
Our sleeping spot.
We put out food for them as we usually do. Rusty got his and does not care to share…
The chief security officer on the job. Later he ate a huge dinner and passed out.
An unusual yet quiet spot for the night.
