Pelotas Day 3

Today we explored Pelotas while Sergio and Sylvia had work. We had some recommendations from them as well as a couple of places we wanted to see too.

We drove into the center of town and our first stop was the main square. There's an old fountain with yellow paint chipping off in places and the fountain wasn't working. Along the outside of the square were some formerly beautiful buildings that had all pretty much fallen into a state of disrepair, some more than others. We held off on exploring the buildings around the square and instead walked about 10 minutes to the cathedral. The cathedral was undergoing renovation inside (and I feel like the outside could have done with it as well). It was a plain gray building, but had a nice deep blue dome at the back half of the building. Inside, half the church was blocked off for the renovations. It was surprisingly beautiful inside with some intricate paintings along the walls and ceiling as well as cream marble columns. The paintings and marble were accompanied with some gorgeous stained glass windows. This building epitomized don't judge a book by its cover.

We walked back to the main square after visiting the church and stopped at a sweet shop on the way. Sergio told us that Pelotas is well known for its sweets, so we decided to try a few. They were all very good. I liked the nut one, it tasted like nuts and brown sugar. Allan had one that was custard based and the last one was like chocolate ganache with pistachio filling. They were a bit too sweet for Allan's taste.

After our sugar rush, we walked along the inside of the plaza to see the buildings around it. There were so many potentially nice buildings it made us wonder what Pelotas used to look like. The public library was one of these buildings, and unlike many others, it is still open. We went inside and up the stairs. There's some beautiful marble and nice windows that open up to the plaza. It looks like a nice area to rent out for an event. The yellow building next door is city hall. This building was in pretty good shape compared to all the others. Inside was a big open room with a couple of desks along the far sides and a staircase in the center that we assume leads to the offices.

Our walk around the plaza continued leading us a little further from the main plaza to the theater that is still in operation. We also saw the central market and an interesting church that was entirely blue. Our walk back to the car brought us to an old church covered in vibes making it look like it came out of a fairy tale. Unfortunately we couldn't find a way in, so we just finished the walk to the car and drove to Laranja beach.

The beach was surprisingly dead compared to the ones we experienced in Florianopolis. There was a pier at the beach that we walked across, again not busy at all. After seeing the beach lined with orange trees we got back in the car and started the drive to the longest beach in the world. However, we made a few diversions along the way to try and see old tanning factories. Each one we tried, was either not open to visitors or was closed entirely. After the failed detour, we stopped by a sad looking obelisk on the side of the road (not even sure what that commemorated, but it was marked on Google maps when Allan was looking for things to see). Eventually we drove back to town to get lunch because of all the detours before we finally set out for the longest beach in the world.

It was a straightforward hour drive to the beach. When we got there I was surprised, again, by how chill it was. There weren't many people on the beach. Many people were choosing to dish off the sides of the large rocky pier. I was excited to be at a beach where it wasn't blisteringly hot, not crowded, and there were seashells all around to look at and collect. I enjoyed the sand for a little while before crawling up the pier to meet Allan and go for a walk. We went as far as a kilometer, about halfway, before we turned around and came back. Not far from the car when we got back was a swing that was wide enough for two people, so we sat together and swung for a little bit before getting back in the car to head to Sergio's.

When we got back to Pelotas we decided to stop at the shopping mall to see if we could pick some snacks up for our long 12 hour drive tomorrow. Our quest for snacks was successful, but unfortunately in the meantime I lost the ticket for the parking. Eventually we managed to get it paid and a receipt with a barcode to scan us back out, but it was a bit stressful running around the mall trying to find it and then trying to find someone to help.

Our last stop was Parque Baronesa to see a now closed museum. The house that holds the museum was pink and white and looked very nice. It had a small tower in the back of the house that looked like it had a bathtub in it. Very strange if that was the case! We got there 10 minutes before the park closed, so we had just enough time to look around the outside of the house before heading back to the car.

When we got to Sergio's after the park, he and Sylvia were on their way out, so we had showers and packed until they were back and dinner was ready. Sylvia made a lovely pasta dish and it really made me miss cooking and home cooked meals in general. We chatted for a while after dinner, but said our goodnights around 11:00 so that we could head to bed and get some rest before the big drive tomorrow.Læs mere