Natal Luz

Yesterday me, my family, and a few other people from Veranópolis took a bus to two cities about 4 hours away to see their christmas decorations and a parade called Natal Luz. The first city we went to was called Canela. It had a huge catholic church, and many many christmas decorations all around town. We got there around 4 and just walked around exploring the church and the town. We got to see Santa and he even speaks Portuguese! I felt bad for him though because it was very hot and he was all dressed up in his heavy red suit. After about 2 hours we got on the bus again and went to the other town, called Gramado. It is a really stylized town that looks like the set of a christmas movie. It was very beautiful and there were decorations everywhere. We walked around, took pictures, and ate Brazilian hot dogs which are really different. The actual sausage is the same but the bun is gigantic and rectangular. Plus they put in not only ketchup and mustard, but corn, peas, mayonnaise, sauce, and small crunchy french fries. We also bought some chocolate because Gramado is famous for it's chocolate. Then at 9 the parade started with a big light show and some fireworks. The parade itself was really extravagant. There were people skating, dancing, on stilts, on floats, and everything. There was also artificial smoke, snow, and lights. The streets were crowded and we had to stand up the whole time but it was worth it. It ended with Santa on his sleigh and a small fireworks show. Over all it was a really cool experience. It felt like being at the north pole, except it was in the 70's. We got back on the bus and arrived at home around 2am.

The drive up was actually really nice though. I got to see the Brazilian landscape which is really beautiful. I took many many pictures.