The road to Ubatuba

The first time I heard the name Ubatuba it sounded very exotic to me. Where could that be? I was told that we could go the beach there.

Only in the north-east of Brazil wide rivers go to sea. In the rest of the country rivers flow into the country and most of them end up in the Rio de la Plata in Argentina. The Portuguese that landed at Rio the Janeiro thought they found a river (in January)…. But alas no river just a large bay. It is because right behind the coast lies a mountain range: The Serra do Mar. 

The clouds from the ocean bump into the mountains and provide the water to sustain the rain forest (the Mata Atlântica) on the coast. 

So when you want to go to the sea you have to cross the serra. From Taubaté it is 90 kilometers by bus across the Serra do Mar. 

The landscape on the land side of the serra reminds me of England; nice flowing green hills. Only the vegetation is different. Plumes of bamboo, palm trees, banana plants and too many Eucalyptus trees. There are cows and horses grazing. Some meadows are full with anthills. The earth is bright red. Erosion is everywhere.

After three quarters of the trip you reach a pass on around 1000 meters. Once you passed that pass the road goes down. I tried to count the very steep curves. There are at least 25 of them. The bus slows down to first gear and needs the left lane to round the curves. 

Here in Brazil they even sing a song about a bus driver Barbosa going over the serra: O Barbosa, essa curva é  perigosa.

At the end of the curves the first house you see has an “SOS breaks service” sign….  and sells bananas. 

Finally we arrive in Ubatuba. Ubatuba is an Indian name and it means “many canoes”. Ubatuba has some fine old Portuguese houses. 

But there is something far more interesting here. The Tropic of Capricorn reaches the continent of Latin America in Ubatuba. You have to search for the small sign in the grass behind a seat. But there it is!

 Next time we will go to some of the 84 beautiful beaches of Ubatuba!