Petrol in the Pampa

Roads through the pampas of Patagonia (Argentina) are long and lonely. No villages, almost no cars.... All cars driving fast; very eager to arrive at their destination. From the coast, Puerto Madryn, to the foothills of the Andes takes a day. Somewhere along the road is this petrol station where they also serve coffee and tea. A little girl is telling you all kinds of events in Spanish, while her mother is serving the customers.

A remnant of the past. Still functioning, but almost gone. 

Around the station lots of things that can be useful and chickens. Also a lonely turkey.... Surviving Christmas this time.

Behind all this just empty pampas...... Even behind the horizon.

Impressions from the Casa Rosada.

Visiting the Casa Rosada is mentally going back in time. Not such a long period though. Entering this Palace by the Plaza de Mayo means you already were confronted by the Crazy Mothers. 

Inside the palace itself, for people of a certain age, there is still the ghost of the junta that ruled from 1976 to 1983. There are no artifacts as such to remind us, but the feeling is there. It is good to see the portrait of Allende among other portraits of more classical freedom fighters like Sucre and Martin.

There is a possibility to take a guided tour through the building. The group was rather large and we had to go single file in some places. So it was difficult to hear all that the guide told us. 

I tried to find just a few things that would give an impression of this building.

The most famous person that was here is of course Eva Peron, Evita. Her desk with her picture....

The balcony from where she spoke to the Argentinian people.

The mirrors in this large room.

There is a gallery of more Argentinians that are famous. Like Maradonna, Piazzolla, Gabriela Sabatini....

The Casa Rosada contains many paintings. Of the different landscapes of Argentina, but also very abstract ones. I could only take details.....

 

It was an interesting visit. That ended with a quick look at the rooms of the president Cristina Kirchner. But: No fotos......

(I made this blog on my I-pad. Hope everything is all right....)

An empty beach in the morning.....

Do you like empty beaches? Well no problem then.... go there in the early morning. Lots of things to see....  Not so hot yet.... Peace and quiet!

The chair of the lifeguard is just waiting there for someone to take its picture.

Leftovers from the day before....

The man who sells the "brinquedos" has reserved his place already. "Respect my space - 5 meters.

And there are interesting things going on at the other end  of the beach. Fishermen pulling their boats out of the sea.

Fishermen cleaning and selling fish.

The nets are drying for the next go....

The boy is busy putting sand inside his handlebars......

A quiet beach and a lot of space......

This peace is only short-lived in the high season.... An hour later all the other people come back to enjoy the warm water and the freedom of the beach. Their holiday will end soon enough....

To much backlight..... ?

Sometimes there is a surprise among your pictures; to much "backlight". In most cases you didn't want it that way. At other times it creates a fascinating "world of silhouettes". A picture with no or little detail makes one look at a subject in a different way.

Itaguá beach - Ubatuba

I remember at school, translating from classic Greek, Plato's allegory of the cave. It took us weeks, so I didn't get the clue of the story at that time. Later when I read a translation (that made sense...) I understood that the prisoners, normal human beings like us, looking to the silhouettes on the wall considered this as reality.... Only the philosopher could see and understand the "real real world". Well I am not a philosopher!

Itaguá beach - Ubatuba 

Itaguá beach - Ubatuba

Being at the seaside in the evening, when there is not enough light, also many pictures turn out to be mere silhouettes. 

The seller of "cocadas" (cocos cookies) goes home......

Enseada beach - Ubatuba

The boy and the girl are still playing.....

Walking back before sunset....

In Brazil the sun goes down quickly and for some people a little to early....

Lazaro beach - Ubatuba

Spot on the Tropic of Capricorn.

Ilha das Couves

Ubatuba (state of São Paulo, Brazil) is known for its fantastic beaches but also for the fact that it is the spot where the Tropic of Capricorn enters the mainland of Latin America. I remember seeing Michael Palin on TV being there, showing a tiny plaque.  

It took some discovering to find the right spot. There is a large monument further down the road halfway the Itaguá beach. Next time we will try to visit that place. This time the heat was too “tropical”….

The plaque is just next to the river, the Rio Grande, in front of the most "grand", but derelict, building of Ubatuba; the Casarão do Porto. This was built in 1846 and used in relation to the harbor until 1890. Then it was left by the owners, who went to Rio, as the harbor of Santos took over from Ubatuba. In the 20th century it came to the state and had different functions. Now it is closed. It looked worse than some years ago. On the edge of the roof you can just see the two Majolica vases that are left. There must have been at least 6. 

Casarão do Porto

It is a pity that sometimes there is so little interest or possibility in keeping the history of the old cities of Brazil alive. 

Ubatuba has some pretty buildings, but it is hard to find them between the raging tourist trade. 

Ubatuba church and bandstand

We noticed some strange code on the little plaque - TCL114-13. Looking on the internet it refers to site about boxes (TCL114-13). When there is a box.... then the next question is: What is in there??? No answers yet.

Looking south

Looking north

Back again to the Tropic of Capricorn. North of this line are the tropics. On the 21 of December the sun turns at this spot and starts going north again. Even when I took this picture (Januari 2) the sun is still straight above our heads. There is very little shade. Look at the lamppost or at the huge pylon that holds the electricity cables.... no shade!!!

Looking south

Looking north

I took a picture of somebody walking there (north of the Capricorn)... Just a small blob of shade. Ample evidence that we are in the tropics….. 

You can imagine that around Christmas and the New Year, it is extremely hot to be in a car (without airco) in the queue to and from the beaches like a large part of the people of São Paulo that come to Ubatuba during the Christmas holidays. Yes everybody goes home at the same time!! 7 kilometers in 2 hours! At a temperature of 41 C.  

Then even south of the Tropic it sure feels like the tropics. Ahh let's stay on the beach.....

Perequê Açú  (Ubatuba - SP)

A bodega named "A Bodega"

In the  Serra de Mantiqueira mountains, on the road to Campos de Jordão, north west of São Paulo in Brazil, lies the little village of San Antonio de Pinhal.

It is a holiday village. Lots of hotels, pousadas, restaurants, and bars. Also lots and lots of artesanatos, the small craft shops that the Brazilians are very fond of. It is hard though to find one that sells other things than their neighbors.

Many Paulistas go here in the weekends not only for food and scenery, but also because at the height of 1143 meters it is much cooler than down in the valleys.

Friends were showing me the countryside in that region and around 2 in the afternoon it was time to visit the "A Bodega". The owners of this place produce and sell cashassa, a distilled strong drink made from sugar cane.  It is the main ingredient, besides the juice of small green limes and sugar of the famous national Brazilian drink; Caipirinha.

The light was shining trough the bottles with different fruits (for different tastes). The bottle that said "viagra" was a deep glossy red.

Nothing as tempting as nice shiny bottles in warm colours. It was alowed to taste the different cashassa's.

As the male section of our party went to sample the different varieties, I spend some time looking around. Taking pictures and walking in the garden. This was amazing. I haven't seen many places in Brazil that looked so clean and cared for.

Outside they have a nice green lawn. A lawn is something very special her. Besides selling plants there was (of course!!) an artesanato.

After some time the afternoon was already almost gone. The women had some "refrigerantes" (soft drinks) someone had to drive.....  Well, time to head to the restaurant. No problem for the cashassa that will be ripening in the barrels for a long time ....