Cambara do Sul | Budget Bucket List

Cambará do Sul

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After the rather controlled perception of ‘wildlife’ in Gramado and Canela I decided to dive a tad deeper into nature, so I hitchhiked to Cambará do Sul.

A guy distributing paçoquinha, typical Brazilian peanut candy, offered to drive me straight to my destination. He also offered me lunch. And his penis. Yeah… while driving he suddenly found himself very worried about my sex life. A foreign girl alone without a boyfriend, traveling the world in solitude, how could I ever be satisfied? He demonstrated the solution of my assumed problem by going out of the car ‘to pee’ and swirling his penis around next to the window where I was sitting.

I smiled and thanked him for his fatherly concerns, but, as far as I could experience, the exact same argumentation (single – being a foreigner – alone) is a pretty successful formula for the occasional fireworks. Oh and could he please stop moving my backpack, it’s dangerous.

“What do you mean, dangerous?”
“Oh, nothing important, but it’s just that there’s a loaded gun in there.”
His face froze: “W… why… a gun, why would you have a gun?”
I laughed at the mere stupidity of this question: “Why? I’m a girl traveling alone, what do you mean why? I need to have some ways to protect myself obviously, and I happen to be a qualified shooter.”
“You ever used it?”
“Yes of course, I shot a guy in the foot that robbed me so he couldn’t run away. But it’s more for rape, to be honest. I would make sure he would never have the means to, anatomically speaking, if you know what I mean”, I smiled with a big fat wink.

We continued the rest of the trip in silence. He drove me straight to the hostel I booked and even carried my hefty backpack inside to help me out at any way possible, before quickly racing off. It's wonderful how some little lies make the life of a solo female traveler a whole lot safer.

If you want to avoid this altogether... renting a car might be the way to go. I found some cheapo's on Discover Car Hire.

As it was already too late to do anything I explored ‘down-town’ with Jessica, my new friend and only other foreigner in Cambará. Another Dutchie, what are the odds, I can’t remember when I last spoke in my native tongue. As the city center existed of 2 streets and a church this mission was completed rather quickly, however. Cambará just functions as a base camp to explore the lush surroundings… its canyons, to be more precise. And man, are the worth it.

As I already had to spend money on a hostel I decided to not spend a dime on a tour agency. That does represent a challenge, as there’s no public transport whatsoever to reach the main sights. However, luck is usually on my side, so I simply started walking into the right direction in the hope to catch a ride along the way. I wasn’t even out for a minute or a car stopped to ask if I knew where Caniôn do Itaimbezinho was located. I indeed had Google Maps, yes… but it’s all in Dutch, so let me just drive along and co-pilot our way over there. Ha, ride arranged.

With a mate in my hand I told the lovely middle-aged couple where the blue dot on my digital map was heading, interchanging thoughts and memories about the pillar of Brazilian society: foetshjebowl (soccer). While looking back on that one World Cup match, in which my own laranga mecánica slayed the Brazilian giant with a splendid 3-0, against all odds (causing us to run out of our houses with beers and wines in our hands, dancing in the fountains and crowdsurfing on the masses jumping in the street)…

... I realized I won their hearts. From that moment on I was their daughter from another mother.

Together we hiked to the various look-out points, nodding to each other in awe and agreement while taking in the marvelous sights. Aparados do Serra National park, in which this green jewel is located, is a gem of a place. And free, did I tell you that? 100% free!

And it would only get better.

Besides Itaimbezinho, there’s another canyon called Fortaleza. And this one is The Real MVP.

The idea was to have lunch and meet my surrogate-parents an hour later, but as is usually the case, life shan’t be planned. As I couldn’t track them down anymore (even though they left a heart-breaking sweet note at my hostel, which I found out upon my return), I decided to explore according to my trusted technique. While hiking on the sand path leading to the mountains many kilometers away, fisherman Sylvinio picked me up to give me a ride until 5km before the entrance. In astonishment he asked if I was there tudo sozinha, all alone, without any friends? “Nah”, I replied, “I have friends over there… I don’t know who they are yet and never met them before, but I know they’re there.”

Those friends presented themselves in Augusto and his adventurous mother, who without me even trying stopped to drive me from the lake where the fisherman stopped up to the entrance, and all the way back again later on. A wonderful encounter against the background of unspoilt countryside.

Fortaleza is definitely a winner, representing everything I missed in the first canyon.

The sense of space and endless views all the way up until the Atlantic are enough to convert every cynic. Australia’s Blue Mountains meet Chile’s Isla de Chiloé, I was shouting out superlatives during my entire walk up.

I could spend days here, if they only let me pitch my tent on the windy mountain peak (which they don’t). Outstanding is an insufficient word to subscribe the extent of this earthly spectacle.

To then top it off with the hundreds shades of green of the Pedro do Segredo is more than any outdoors-lover could imagine possible.

This was the reason why I was here, without knowing it in advance.

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