The Town Of Bento Goncalves In The Vale Dos Vinhedos In Southern Brasil Where Very Few Americans Seem To Venture?

Brasil is so wide and open and green and verdant and thick and dense, steep and wide , narrow and with such open skies and miles to see in certain directions and in others feelings of being swallowed up by the jungle. In the case of Bento Goncalves it's steep and narrow and narrow streets and some tall buildings and impatient drivers that will tail you , honk, walkers really focused on where they are going, dogs leading their owners and perhaps the most striking thing : almost everyone is beautiful and thin and well-dressed and clearly in great shape from having to navigate walking up and down the streets in a clean and beautiful town that is on a steep mountain. The houses and building structures for the most part are fenced in as there seems to be some crime in Brasil? The town also seems to be the host to two very large industries : furniture and wine and it also seems like English is the last language spoken with Portuguese being heard and spoken 99% of the time? Is that right? Even in the hotel the people at the desk volunteered no English even if they were learning and practicing it already. That's great when someone visiting wants to learn Portuguese quickly. I certainly did not mind and really got into the hang of listening carefully and pulling out my dusty Spanish and dusting it off and using it where it seemed to fit? It was all a grand adventure and  still is even though I have returned from a delightfully refreshing winter stay there and a hot and horrid summer here in the Washington D.C. metropolitan region.

The restaurants seem to be primarily Italian ( lots of pizza places like the CANTA MARIA - and one great churrascaria meat house like the famous Fogo de Choa here called CHURRASCARIA IPIRANGA  : the region seems to be primarily Italian. Perhaps that's where all the beautiful people come from ,too? With the mostly Italian immigrant settlers now well into their 5th generation that may be were the beauty and the shapely and well-fit bodies mostly all come from? I was struck by this and it has inspired me, once and for all to get rid of my unsightly wine belly. So far so good : I will keep at it till I succeed and when I start to falter in this important quest of mine I will think of all the slim and beautiful residents of the southern Brazilian town of Bento Goncalves. Bravo to them all.

Even in the winter there it is beautiful and many flowers and fruits were in bloom from orange trees sprinkled everywhere, a lot of Papaya brown plants that looked quite scraggly and unsightly, too. Who would know? Who would guess : that the delicious Papayas grew from these dead and brown and weedy looking plants? I ate fresh slices of Papayas and Mangoes for the whole time I was in Bento Goncalves each and every morning. I must say, too that it was always the highlight of each breakfast.