Fuel at the Posto Ipiranga on the approach to town before settling in for the night. Chuí is a place that exists primarily because of its position: the southernmost sede municipal in Brazil, on the bank of the Arroio Chuí where the border with Uruguay has been contested, negotiated, and finally demarcated since the 18th century. The Portuguese military post that Cristóvão Pereira de Abreu established here was destroyed and rebuilt multiple times in the colonial struggles between Portugal and Spain over the Campos Neutrais — the disputed territory running from the Taim to the Chuí that was only formally incorporated into the Brazilian Empire by the treaty of 1851.
What remains is a border town of about six thousand people divided from its Uruguayan twin, Chuy, by a single avenue — Avenida Uruguai on the Brazilian side, Avenida Brasil on the Uruguayan side — whose twelve-metre width constitutes the entire international frontier. Residents cross freely throughout the day. The commercial life of both towns is entirely intertwined: Brazilian supermarkets supply Uruguayans with cheaper staples; Uruguayan free shops supply Brazilians with imported goods. Portuguese, Spanish, and portuñol are all in daily circulation. There is also a notable Palestinian-Brazilian community, present since the mid-20th century, with its own mosque and its own strand of the town's peculiar cultural fabric.
Deleting this waypoint is permanent and cannot be undone.