Trip to the Canyons

For another P-day activity we took the Egberts for a visit to the canyon lands.  It is about a two and a half hour drive from Gramado to where the river has created some beautiful canyons.  About an hour before getting to the canyons we passed through a little town called Cambara do Sul where we stopped and had lunch before driving on up to the canyons.

 

The paved road ends and the last 45 minutes or so we had to drive on a dirt road.

 

 

There is a sign that says to stay on the main road, but the main road is so bad I can't imagine anyone wanting to go off it to something worse.

 

When we finally arrived at the park entrance we saw how primitive it was.

 

 

As we drove on to the parking area we were greeted by some small fox like animals that wanted a treat, so we shared some popcorn.

 

 

From the parking area we could see the bluff off in the distance where we had to hike to see the best views.

 

It was a beautiful hike and we enjoyed it, even though it was rough at times.

 We love seeing the quaresmeira trees with their purple and white flowers.

 

On the way up we met a couple that were going to be married and had gone up there to take pictures.  The bride had made the hike in her wedding dress.

 

The views from up on top were magnificent.

While up on the top we saw a lizard and though about how our grandsons would have loved to catch him.

After returning to the car we went back to where a branch of the river pours over the canyon wall down into the bottom of the canyon.  We had to walk along the very edge of the waterfall where the river drops off.  In the U.S. they would never let people go onto such a dangerous area.  We enjoyed it, and no one fell over the edge.

 

After crossing the river we could look back and see part of the falls.  In some of the pictures you can see the top of the falls where we crossed the river

 

On the drive back we took pictures of the tree farms that they plant and harvest.

 

Across the road the state has built monkey bridges so the monkeys can cross the road without getting hit by cars.  Unfortunately we did not see any monkeys.

 

 















Snowland

For one of our P-Day activities we went with the Egberts to Snowland.  Snowland is an indoor area where they have tried to create a winter environment in an area where they don't have winter.  We felt that they did a fine job of making you feel like you were somewhere where it is cold and snowy.  This is a picture of the outside of the building and inside the front entrance.

 

 

The admission is usually about US $30.00, but for one week each year the admission is just two kilos of food.  As poor missionaries we took advantage of the two kilos of food admission.  There were lots of other people taking advantage of this as well, and Snowland collected lots of food as you can see in the pictures.

We went in wearing light summertime clothing. 

There were so many people in line we were not sure everyone could make it in.

Once we were through the admission area we were sent to the clothing area.  They give each person a full set of winter clothing to put on all sized to fit; a helmet, coat, snow pants, boots and gloves. Our personal stuff we put in a locker.

 

We then went through a divider into the cold area.

 

 

They have a little hill you can ski or snowboard on, but you have to pay an extra US $20 to rent the equipment.  We did not feel it was worth it for that small hill you can see on the right.

 

 

There is a small tubing hill that is free and we all tried that.

 

 

There is one area where they tell the story of a snow giant and have a presentation where it starts to snow.

 

They have several replicas of animals that lived in the snow.

There were some bumper cars on ice that we had a lot of fun with.

There was ice skating but we decided not to try it for fear of falling down and breaking something.

 

All in all we had a fun time and felt that it was a great place for Brazilians that have never seen snow before.  After Snowland we went to lunch at Subway, one of two American eateries in Gramado, the other being McDonald's.  Outside the Subway is a Fountain of Eternal Love.  People put their names on locks and attach them to the fence around the fountain.