Chasing Dreams: Weekend in Caxias

Friday morning we headed to the city of Caxias. (Pronounced Cah She As) It was about five hours away. We stayed with Mariani’s sister in her apartment. She just graduated from pharmacy school and now works full time. She, her roommate, and boyfriend were gracious enough to host us all weekend! We had a blast!

Friday we went to a spot where we got a great panoramic view of the city. Caxias is big and pretty industrial! Did I mention it was cold there!? Like REALLY, REALLY cold! Thank goodness it doesn't get that cold in Santa Maria! The view was a little limited but still really awesome!

(See that we are all bundled up?! --> COLD!)

Our next stop was a winery. YUMMMMMM! It was beautiful and huge and made all the better by our guide! He was a spunky little old man from Italian origin. His family has been running the winery for many years. The tour ended in the wine shop where we were able to try all of the wines! A few purchases later, we were off to check out a few popular places in the city. We saw the old train station as well as the “place to be” for nightlife. We ended the night we a delicious churrasco along with bread covered in cheese and onions.

At the Winery

Saturday, we got up and headed towards Gramado and Canella, two towns that are known as the “Little Europe” of Rio Grande do Sol”. On the way, we stopped in a small town that had a great town square. There was even a maze! We looked around a bit and bought a very expensive coffee.

The area was beautiful!

We made it to the middle!

Our next stop was an awesome waterfall! I can’t even explain how beautiful it was. We walked down 714 steps and then back up again! Check.

My roommate Ashley! She's awesome! I sure got lucky!

After the waterfall we went to an adventure park where we signed up for an high ropes course. It was challenging, entertaining, and left me wanting more! They put you in a harness, hooked you to a wire and then sent you off to play on ropes strung between trees many feet above the ground! This adrenaline junkie loved it. The course also included two zip lines. Good Times!

Our next stop was the town of Gramaldo! It is touristy so it's decorated really well and very pretty! There were tons of great shops and places to eat. But the best part was all the chocolate shops! Gramaldo is known for it’s chocolate factories. Although we didn’t get to tour a factory, we did our best to visit several shops! :) Out of pure luck, we stumbled upon a food festival where five different restaurants were giving out free food. We tried pasta, soup, wine, chocolate fondue, and a sushi thing! I still can’t figure out how we got so lucky!!! It was just the snack we needed after a long day!

One of the chocolate shops

We drove home where we hung out and ate homemade lasagna. Around midnight, we headed out to a traditional gaucho bar! A live band played for several hours and I was able to watch people dance the traditionally. I tried it once. It went okay but I was definitely relieved to sit back down! :P While out, we tried their traditional alcohol called Cachaca. My favorite was the Pimenta flavor. (Pepper) Spicy yet delicious.

Since we got home so late, we slept in a bit that morning. We then headed to Caminhos de Pedra where our first stop was an Italian restaurant. We ate SO MUCH. It was an all you can eat thing where they kept walking around with dishes and you just took what you wanted. The meal started with bread, cheese, and salami. They brought lettuce salad, egg salad, pickled peppers/onions, polenta and soup. Then the main dishes started arriving. They offered several types of pasta, many different types of meat, and a pasta like thing that I can’t remember the name of. After stuffing myself, I then realized there was desert and had to try each kind with a cup of coffee. I mean really, I think I rolled out of there. I guess I got my moneys work. It was 40 Reis, so around twenty dollars. Things are defs not cheap here!!!

The area we were in was really cool. It was also a bit touristy and had many places to visit that was based off the old colonial lifestyle. Italian Immigrants moved into the area and you can still feel the influence! We saw traditional weaving, a cool sheep place, a food place that specialized in pasta, and my favorite a place that made Erva Mate! (More on what Erva Mate is later...) The day flew by and we went to bed pretty early!