Dear Family,
This is the rest of our Rio Grande do Sul trip. On Monday we had another churrasco with President Peixoto and all his family at his parents home where we stayed. Southern Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina know how to do meat. If you want really good meet, come down here and we'll take you to a churrascaria. If you can't come, go to Tucanos at the Gateway Mall in SLC or in Provo. There is also a really good one in the City Creek Mall but super expensive. Pres. Peixoto's father and brother took us back to the airport in Santa Maria. It is a small airport with very few flights coming in, less than I.F. But we did see some small fighter jets as the Brazilian Air Force share the airport with the city. They were doing some training flights. We got to Porto Alegre which is a big airport and our transportation to Gramado was waiting with a sign with our names. We had to wait for another flight to land so those people could go with us. By the time we got to Gramado, it was past 8:00 p.m. We were supposed to go to the "Noite Italiana" to eat but nobody was there to pick us up. I finally had the hotel get a hold of the tour agency and they sent a fellow right over. He was about as personable as a fence post. The restaurant was a block and a half away. We could have just walked if anybody had let us know that. Some times communication here is non-existent, but you get used to it. The food was really good with several kinds of pasta including lasagna, also some roasted chicken and ribs that were great, fried polenta ( I love it, Paula hates it) and some great desserts. I just had arroz doce (sweet rice) for dessert, kind of like rice pudding. I could eat it all day. Elder Mazzagardi's wife Elizabeth made some for me back in 2011 that was heavenly. We got back to our room which was heated and with a comfortable bed and hot shower.
Gramado is like going to another planet. You just wouldn't believe it. All the buildings, businesses, homes are built with German architecture. With lots of pine trees everywhere (even Idaho White Pine by the thousands were imported) and being up in the mountains around 3000 feet in elevation, we got a little homesick. The pines were planted by the German immigrants to make Gramado as much like the Black Forest as possible. The city didn't take off until the Germans arrived. They had the know how and the persistence to stay there during the cold winters (snow occasionally). The average high in June is 62 degrees and the low 45 degrees. A humid 45 degrees really feels a lot colder. There are about 600 hotels in Gramado and they are all really nice. That's quite a few for a city of 31,000. There are also numerous restaurants of every kind with fondue places being very popular. The shops are so numerous you couldn't get to all of them in a month. Besides that, they are super expensive. They have shops that you would find in the most expensive areas of New York, London, Paris and LA. They were mostly way out of our price range, but it was fun to look. There was one shop with dozens of imported cuckoo clocks from Germany, many hand carved and very expensive. The Hotel Saint Andrews is a high luxury hotel at $900.00 a night. The inside looks like a palace. I posted a lot of Gramado pictures on Facebook that you may love to look at.
We had a great breakfast Tuesday morning. I counted 67 choices. The juices are wonderful, many kinds of breads and cakes and sausages, eggs, etc. I am getting hungry thinking about it. We then got on our tour bus and went sightseeing all day in the cities of Gramado and Canela. We stopped at a nice little tourist trap and I bought me a nice leather coat. I had to get the biggest size they had. Mom got a few little Christmas things too. We went to the Steam World where they had numerous exhibits of all kinds of full size to miniature size machinery run by steam. It was really clever and very interesting. We went to a chocolate store and yes, we indulged. Chocolate stores every corner and in the middle. Everything you could ever want. We may retire here (ha ha). We went to Canela and saw the cathedral there. The tower is really tall, over 350 feet. We went to the crystal factory and watched a demonstration of several men making things. The oven they use is 1200 + degrees. They were doing glass blowing which was fun to see. Everything was off the charts as far as cost. We went to Mini Mundo (Small World) where a German man began making all kinds of miniature exhibits of things like Neuschwanstein castle, the Ipiranga Museum in São Paulo, scenes from Germany and Switzerland,etc. They are built to a 1:24 scale. It was awesome to see. Lots of moving trains and lots of sounds. We went to see the Cascata Caracol (Snail Falls) and it was beautiful. We went on the tram and that was fun. The tram came from Switzerland. We were with two newlywed couples in our car and we had fun talking. Later, I gave one of the couples a pass along card about raising a family in today's world. I hope they will call and get the book. We went to the Black Lake which is a manmade lake and was gorgeous. We walked around it. There were people out peddling their swan and pirate boats and having a great time. Families, young couples and old couples everywhere. The Germans put a big curve in the lake so you can't see it all and it gives the impression that it is much bigger than it is. We ate at a churrascaria for lunch and it was one of the best I have eaten at and was way cheaper, maybe because it was in Canela and not Gramado. We went to a store that had all kinds of sausages, cheeses, wine and juices as well as beer and lots of kinds of jam. There was so much more we could have seen like the Harley Davidson showroom and Snowland. Maybe we will have to go again at Christmas. That night we were supposed to go to Swiss night and we did, but we made a huge mistake. Because we ate churrasco, by the time we got through a tiny bit of fondue - the first course, we were full and ready to leave. We didn't even make the meat and dessert rounds. We just couldn't do it. I was embarrassed and assured the waiter it wasn't because we didn't like it. That night, mom got eaten alive by mosquitoes that somehow invaded our room. We swatted them several times in the night which didn't make for a very restful sleep.
Wednesday morning after breakfast we went with a fellow to see the Itaimbezinho canyon about two hours east of Gramado. I had seen a picture of it 45 years ago in Brazil and thought it would be neat to go see. We went because I had long forgotten about it but saw a picture, the same one, on the internet. It was a gorgeous and deep canyon. We had a little picnic and then headed for home. The fellow who took us was blonde-haired and blue-eyed but was a descendant of Palestinians. He said that he knew that many Indian tribes of the Americas originated from the people of Samaria. I don't know how he knew that, but it was certainly interesting to us. When we got to the hotel (Hotel Kaster), we took a walk downtown and window shopped. We did stop in a gaúcho shop and we bought a leather tripod seat that is cool and wasn't overly costly. The fellows in the shop had on their gaúcho gear and we got some pictures. We then went across the street and decided to eat light, no meat, sick of meat. We got a caesar salad and some split pea soup in a bread bowl. It was nice to go meatless for a change. In the morning, we played pool until it was time to go. I left a Book of Mormon in the room and wrote a challenge in it to whoever finds it. I did tell the two maids that they were welcome to take it as I was leaving it on purpose. The people at the hotel really treated us well the whole time we were there. Gramado is a really neat place and is worth it to go.
We got to Porto Alegre in the early afternoon and were dropped off at the airport. So we had to get a taxi. I talked to a fellow about taking us to the Mormon temple and he said he knew where it was because he lived not too far from there. I told him that I needed him to pick us up again in the morning for our flight back to São Paulo. He agreed to take us. We had a real nice visit all the way to the temple. Went by the Gremio stadium which seats around 50,000 soccer fans. The temple is gorgeous and it was fun to come up the road and all of a sudden there it was. We stayed at the alojamento (temple housing). President Arides had arranged that for us. We met his sister in the store (garments, church books, dvds, etc.). We ate some pasteis in the kitchen and then hurried to get to the 4:30 session. There were only seven in the session, but we enjoyed it very much. We met the Mathis couple who serve in the temple. They had us over for ice cream and cookies. They talked a lot about the young missionaries who just expect the Church to pay their way, never giving saving for a mission a second thought. That is what I see when I do the translations of the recommend forms. Very few do anything to prepare financially. As Elder Ballard said in 1998, " If I have a fear, it is that the principle of sacrifice may be slipping away from us. If being a member of the Church becomes too easy, testimonies will become shallow, and the roots of testimony will not go down into the soil of faith as they did with our pioneer forefathers." Mom has given quite a few talks about her ancestors and their sacrifices. They had nothing when they came to Utah, but they got busy and worked to make their own way. There wasn't a place to go ask for a freebie, they just worked. Some day, I think the Church may have to cut the aid off and challenge the missionaries to forge their own path. They would surely be better prepared missionaries. I could talk about the things we see here, but now isn't the best time. Our taxi driver came a few minutes early. We got talking about the Church again. He kept talking about the Mormons which led to an opportunity to tell him the full name of the Church and who Mormon was. He got all excited and said, "So was he the one who put the record together.?" I told him yes and placed a Book of Mormon on his front seat which I had already written in. He was astounded that I had given him the book for free. His comment was, "I am going to start reading it today. I can read when I don't have people in my taxi." Gave him a big abraço and hoping he will read and know that the Book of Mormon is true, every single verse, every single word. I love having missionary experiences. It is never, never, never scary to talk to people or give them a book or a card or an invite. I do it every chance I get and I know it is what we need to do. Had a great flight back to São Paulo and we are glad to be back to our little home away from home. We love you all very much and pray the Lord's blessing to always be with each of you.
Love you all a bunch,
Dad
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