Green Porto Alegre

A local newspaper, Zero Hora, published an article stating that Porto Alegre has more green areas than stated as ideal by the World Health Organization.

According to the article, there are 14,78 m² (17.6% according to Wikipedia) of green areas for each inhabitant in the city, while the ideal is stated to be 10 m². This is altogether 31% of the city’s area. The biggest park, Parque Farroupilha or Redenção, which also happens to be conveniently 2 blocks away for my home, is 37-hectars. 

Portoalegrens can be even more proud, though. Because this statistic doesn’t take into account the number of trees in the city. 

Anyone who has ever visited Porto Alegre, has noticed that most streets have more trees than pedestrians on them.

Since the architecture of the city, in my opinion, has an inconsistent, sloppy feeling, these trees really help to make the place look charming and homey.

This photo was made world-famous by the 9gag community:

This is the view from the street:

 

Indeed, there are approximately 1.3 million trees in the streets, almost 1 for each person. 

As the seasons change, so does the face of the city. Here is a spring view from someone Carlos Kazeu:

Perhaps, besides experiencing the not-so-Brazilian Gaúcho culture, this is another interesting reason to visit the city.

Surviving the Winter with humor

At this moment, the whole state of Rio Grande do Sul is complaining about cold. Take a look at a photo that was taken by Ronaldo Mendes near Santa Maria this morning:

Yes, Porto Alegre gets cold, very very cold.

I come from the north of the planet. I witness temperatures like -35 degrees almost every single year. That’s why people are so surprised when I tell them that the winter in Porto Alegre is the coldest I’ve ever experienced. 

But it’s true.. The houses are as cold as the streets (2.2 degrees this morning). And it is so unbelievably cold that I spend full weekends in the sleeping bag, under a pile of blankets and curse the day I decided to stay for yet another winter.

In Estonia the houses, buses, cars, schools, and supermarkets are heated. This is not the case here (except for some supermarkets and a few offices).

In 2011, our co-blogger Virgina posted (click on the link) the questions: "But why is POA like this? Why are buildings so ill-equipped to deal with colder weather? It’s not as if this scenario were new. Presumably winters have always been chilly in southern Brazil.Are the engineers hoping for some kind of genuinely warmer global future?" Believe me, I have the same questions!

Let’s take a look at the positive side – this has taught me some funny lessons:

• Even though there is no snow here, you still need separate pairs of shoes for the winter – 2 numbers bigger to fit 5 layers of socks.
• I’ve learned to make horse noises, due to the fact that it’s “prrrrrrrrrrrrrrr so cold” to leave the shower.
• Sometimes it makes sense to wear a full ski-suit underneath the pajamas.

You have to have an excellent sense of humor and a whole load of positive thinking to survive the winter in Porto Alegre (Or in Rio Grande do Sul). These are some of those things that make the Gaúchos so particularly special!