#1 I Lived There: Porto Alegre
No Direction Home starts a new section
Today I am introducing a new section in this newsletter: I Lived There. I will tell you a little about each place of my nomadic life.
In January, I spent ten days in Porto Alegre. I had already been in the city 4 other times, but for fewer days.
The first helpful information: Don't go in January if you hate being hot. It is boiling in the summer, with temperatures reaching 40°C. It is a hostile sun.
Porto Alegre is a city of extremes: in July 2022, I faced the worst winter of my life, with temperatures close to 0ºC.
The sunscreen was part of my essential survival guide in Porto Alegre. I didn't even know it existed, but I found SPF 70 and 90.
Really avoid walking in the January sun before 6 pm. I walked to the Botânico restaurant for lunch. "Just a few steps to Parque da Redenção", I thought. I almost fainted. (Hint: Botânico has a vegetarian menu that pleases non-vegetarians, which is my case).
I survived
I stayed in Cidade Baixa, one of the most incredible and vibrant neighborhoods in Porto Alegre, full of bars, restaurants, parties, cafes, bookstores, and galleries. No matter the time, there will always be many people there.
Right next to my Airbnb was one of the best cafes I've ever encountered as a digital nomad, Café República. Outlets everywhere attract remote workers, who consume for hours and become loyal customers. It was my case. All cafes should do the same. The menu was pretty good, as you can see these scrambled eggs and mocha.
The city's nightlife is bustling. One of the places I liked the most was Escadaria da Borges, with several bars on a staircase next to a viaduct on one of the main avenues in the city, Borges de Medeiros. Justo is the most famous bar, but the others are good too.
There are also two other popular night spots. One is called Aguante, because of the El Aguante bar opened in June 2022, in the Rio Branco neighborhood. In just over six months, it has become a meeting point for hundreds of young people standing on the sidewalks and streets (cars have difficulty passing through). Around there are several other bars, also always crowded.
The other is the neighborhood of the 4th District, the old industrial area of the city that, in the last decades, has been experiencing abandonment and degradation. A series of bars, restaurants, and parties inaugurated in recent years has completely changed the aura of the place. Fuga is one of the best-known.
It is worth noting that while the goers are alternative in other places, in the 4th District you will find better-dressed people and listen more to Anitta and less to Gaucho rock.
I prefer to give something other than traditional tourist tips because you only need to Google it. And the purpose of life as a nomad is not to be a tourist, but to have local experiences, as if I lived there. One day I was walking in Parque da Redenção, and the rehearsal of a Carnival group began. I bought a beer and stayed there for over an hour. It was a joyful surprise.
It was interesting to note how the group's songs were predominantly the greatest axé classics. Brazil is diverse in many ways but has specific units, such as music. From north to south, Brazilians will listen to Daniela Mercury at Carnival.
Another carnivalesque curiosity is that the Bloco da Laje, the largest in the city, took to the streets on January 29, well before Carnival. The explanation I heard is that nobody spends Carnival in Porto Alegre.
I wasn't fortunate on the day I tried to visit some cultural spots because most of them were closed. And closed not because it was the day off, but because it was undergoing maintenance. I found it curious that it happened during the school holidays in January. In many aspects, Brazilian tourism still needs to be developed.
Porto Alegre is a good city. There are chronic problems like in any Brazilian city. For example, homeless people and people passing by bars asking for money or food increased significantly in Cidade Baixa. I felt safe at night, but several friends reported that the city has had dangerous times recently.
Finally, I must get this out of my chest to the dear readers still here. To several people I mentioned that I was going to Porto Alegre, I received responses like "but what to do there?", "but in the South, there are only Bolsonaristas [Brazilian former president supporters]."
As we saw in this post, there is a lot to do in Porto Alegre (I didn't mention two very traditional restaurants that are worth a visit, Tudo Pelo Social and Lancheria do Parque)
The state of Rio Grande do Sul and Porto Alegre were two places where the leftist PT (currently party in power) won some of its first elections more than 30 years ago. There are a lot of more progressive-thinking people in town. We should avoid generalizing.
As a final tip, one that you don't see on any tourism website out there, learn from the locals. In this case, the gauchos' settlers. I bought a hat to escape the sun during Bloco da Laje.
All photos in this post are my own.