Bus Tour

I met the wonderful V. at 8:30 AM on Sunday morning for a tour of Zona Sul, the greenest part of Porto Alegre. V. (who's Brazilian) and I met in Austin when she was doing research at The University of Texas and so it's been fun to hang out again on another continent. One of the things I appreciate about V. (and need to learn from) is that she is never afraid to practice English, even if she knows it won't be exactly perfect...who cares, it's the communication that matters!

 

V. was right about the earlier bus tour, because the weather was still pleasant. And we had seats on the top of the bus!

The tour was mostly in Portuguese, with some intermittent English thrown in. We got to see the stadiums of Porto Alegre's rival teams and their accompanying blue and red colors. I was told that I better choose a team quick, neutrality is not looked upon kindly. 

And then there was the wonderful water (though apparently you shouldn't swim in it).

And a beautiful view of the city...

...From a church high up on a hill....

...that we all had to take lots of pictures of...

...And of course I had to take an obligatory graffiti shot...

A great way to spend a morning.

An hour and a half later, we returned back to where we had begun. The sun was getting increasingly hotter. And so it seemed the perfect time to embark on the insane quest of finding an ATM machine that would accept my debit card (not such an easy thing here, let alone on a Sunday). V. was awesome enough to accompany me through the quiet downtown center to help me fulfill this mission.

Next time, a tour of the downtown...perhaps after that one, I'll know where the ATMs are by heart...