THE PEACEFUL BORDER/ IL CONFINE PACIFICO

Ancora, questo post appartiene al giorno 1 quando, dopo una bella dormita, abbiamo iniziato ad esplorare la città di Livramento con l'aiuto di una deliziosa guida turistica, Vera  from Corticeiras Guias de Tourismo. Anyway, here is the new blog, but it's about day 1!
 8/4  First official day exploring the city of Santana do Livramento,. But before that we have been interviewed by an Uruguaian television, in the  Parque Internacional/International Park. The journalist speaks Spanish and Flavia replies in Portogues. Here it's what normally happens. Here in the Borders, were people comfortably speak to each others in their own languages, understanding perfectly their interlocutor. Surprisingly for us, ordinarily for them. It seems like people here are quite intrigued by our arrival, as we are by them! 
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Ta! (Ok), it's the time to start our tour. We meet again in Parque Internacional, the main symbol of  the uniqueness of the place in which we are. Here is the border between (Livramento) Brazil and (Rivera) Uruguay, symbol of  dialogue, peace,sharing

. We can actually walk on the frontier line, such a great feeling...! In 1943, they erected an obelisk representing liberty, freedom/libertà

Vera says they are really proud of it and you can tell from the way in which she talks about it. After years of war they manage to realise this rather amazing dream. In 1953 they added a floor and a fountain, symbolizing equality/uguaglianza, because water is the same,circulates and travels from a side to other one, getting mixed and merged 

Finally they built a third floor in 1963 and statue of a mother with a baby, which represent brotherhood/ fratellanza. Exiting the park, what attracts my attention are cars and bikes, all quite old, and old fashion too, a lot of beetles from the 70/80ies , love that! But there are other vehicles which are pretty common here: carts! One of the most common noise is the trotting of horses. We are in a gaucho area! 

The town is a mixture of colonial buildings and modern one, most of them a bit crumbling . Although it seems like they don't preserve historical buildings and monuments very much, and sometimes a rich fellow buys them and coloures them with rather kitsch taste, all this has a sort of charm. 

My head is pulsing, too much information!  Then straight away to the opening night, with journalists and other artists inbvolved, professors and ong. Such a good energy! Everyone is lovely and full of affection.  What a beautiful day ! 

Tchau!

Sarah