The Litoral Gaúcho
The coast of Rio Grande do Sul, or the Litoral Gaúcho, is a virtually unbroken 500-kilometre-long beach, dotted with a series of resorts popular with Argentines, Uruguayans and visitors from Porto Alegre and elsewhere in the state. In winter the beaches are deserted and most of the hotels closed, but between mid-November and March it’s easy to believe that the state’s entire population has migrated to the resorts. The attraction of this stretch of coast is essentially one of convenience: from Porto Alegre many of the resorts can be reached within two or three hours, making even day-trips possible. These resorts tend to be crowded, while – due to the influence of the powerful Rio Plate – the water is usually murky, and even in summer Antarctic currents often make for chilly bathing. Of the resorts, the only one really worth visiting is Torres, featuring impressive cliffs and rock formations. Further south, birdwatchers are drawn to the Parque Nacional da Lagoa do Peixe, while towards the Uruguayan border are the ports of Pelotas and Rio Grande, their grand nineteenth-century buildings testimony to the cities’ former prosperity.
Torres
The northernmost point on the Litoral Gaúcho, 197km from Porto Alegre, TORRES is the state’s one beach resort that is actually worth going out of your way for. It’s considered Rio Grande do Sul’s most sophisticated coastal resort, and the beaches behind which the town huddles, Praia Grande and Prainha, are packed solid in the summer with gaúcho and Uruguayan holidaymakers. However, by walking across the Morro do Farol (a hill, identifiable by its lighthouse) and along the almost equally crowded Praia da Cal, you come to the Parque da Guarita, one of the most beautiful stretches of the southern Brazilian coast. The development of the park was supervised by the landscaper Roberto Burle Marx together with Brazil’s pioneer environmentalist, José Lutzenberger.
Rio Grande and around
RIO GRANDE was founded on the entrance to the Lagoa dos Patos in 1737, at the very southern fringe of the Portuguese Empire. With the growth of the charque and chilled-beef economy, Rio Grande’s port took on an increasing importance from the mid-nineteenth century. Rather more spread out than Pelotas, it does not share that city’s instant charm. However, you’ll find some distinguished-looking nineteenth-century buildings in the area around Rua Floriano Peixoto and Praça Tamandaré (the main square), which is almost next to Largo Dr Pio and the much-renovated eighteenth-century Catedral de São Pedro. Among the city’s museums, you’ll want to visit the Museu Oceanográfico at Rua Reito Perdigão 10 (daily 9–11am & 1.30–5.30pm; R$5), perhaps the most important of its kind in Latin America and stuffed with fossils and preserved sea creatures. Also worthwhile is the Museu Histórico da Cidade do Rio Grande on Rua Riachuelo (Tues–Sun 9–11.30am & 2–5.30pm), whose photographic archive and objects trace the city’s history. The museum is housed in the old customs house (alfândega), a Neoclassical building built in 1879.
The Jesuit missions
For much of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Guaraní Indians of what is now northeastern Argentina, southeastern Paraguay and northwestern Rio Grande do Sul were only nominally within the domain of the Spanish and Portuguese empires, and instead were ruled – or protected – by the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits. The first redução – a self-governing Indian settlement based around a Jesuit mission – was established in 1610 and, within a hundred years, thirty such places were in existence. With a total population of 150,000, these mini-cities became centres of some importance, with erva maté and cattle the mainstay of economic activity, though spinning, weaving and metallurgical cottage industries were also pursued. As the seventeenth century progressed, Spain and Portugal grew increasingly concerned over the Jesuits’ power, and Rome feared that the religious order was becoming too independent of papal authority. Finally, in 1756, Spanish and Portuguese forces attacked the missions, the Jesuits were expelled and many Indians killed. The missions themselves were dissolved, either razed to the ground or abandoned to nature, surviving only as ruins. Of the thirty former Guaraní mission towns, sixteen were in present-day Argentina, seven in Paraguay and seven were situated in what is now Brazil.
São Miguel
The one mission site in Brazil that was not completely levelled is SÃO MIGUEL, not to be compared in extent and significance to San Ignacio Miní in neighbouring Argentina, but still of considerable visual interest, particularly for its dramatic location on a treeless fertile plain. Despite vandalism and centuries of neglect, São Miguel’s ruins offer ample evidence of the sophistication of Guaraní Baroque architecture, and of redução life generally. Founded in 1632, to the west of the Rio Uruguai, São Miguel moved only a few years later to escape paulista slavers, and then a few years after that it was destroyed by a violent windstorm. After being rebuilt, its population increased rapidly and in 1687 it was relocated across the river to its present site.
Gaúchos
During the colonial era and well into the nineteenth century, Rio Grande do Sul’s southern and western frontiers were ill-defined, with Portugal and Spain, and then independent Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, maintaining garrisons to assert their claims to the region. Frontier clashes were frequent, with central government presence weak or nonexistent. If anyone could maintain some measure of control over these border territories it was the gaúchos, the fabled horsemen of southern South America. The product of miscegenation between Spanish, Portuguese, Indians and escaped slaves, the gaúchos wandered the region on horseback, either individually or in small bands, making a living by hunting wild cattle for their hides. Alliances were formed in support of local caudilhos (chiefs), who fought for control of the territory on behalf of the flag of one or other competing power. With a reputation for being tough and fearless, the gaúcho was also said to be supremely callous – displaying the same indifference in slitting a human or a bullock’s throat.
As the nineteenth century ended, so too did the gaúcho’s traditional way of life. International boundaries were accepted, and landowners were better able to exert control over their properties. Finally, as fencing was introduced and rail lines arrived, cattle turned into an industry, with the animals raised rather than hunted. Gradually gaúchos were made redundant, reduced to the status of mere peões or cattle hands.
Still, more in Rio Grande do Sul than in Argentina, some gaúcho traditions persist, though for a visitor to get much of a picture of the present-day way of life is difficult. In general, the cities and towns of the state’s interior are fairly characterless, though travelling between towns still brings echoes of former times, especially if you get off the beaten track. Here, in the small villages, horses are not only a tool used to herd cattle, but remain an essential means of transport. While women are no differently dressed than in the rest of Brazil, men appear in much the same way as their gaúcho predecessors: in bombachas (baggy trousers), linen shirt, kerchief, poncho and felt-rimmed hat, shod in pleated boots and fancy spurs. Also associated with the interior of Rio Grande do Sul is chimarrão (sugarless maté tea), which is sipped through a bomba (a silver straw) from a cuia (a gourd). In the towns themselves, cattlemen are always to be seen, purchasing supplies or hanging out in bars. But undoubtedly your best chance of getting a feel of the interior is to attend a rodeio, held regularly in towns and villages throughout gaúcho country. Branches of the state tourist office, CRTur, will have information about when and where rodeios are due to take place.