Arrival: Mostardas
The day's destination is Mostardas, reached in the late afternoon on the narrow isthmus — the only one of its kind in Brazil — separating the Lagoa dos Patos from the open Atlantic. Settled by Azorean families from the island of Pico in 1773, the town sits in a landscape defined by wind, dunes, and enormous sky: it's possible to watch the sun rise over saltwater and set over freshwater lagoon on the same day. Just south, the wetlands of the Parque Nacional da Lagoa do Peixe pull in migratory birds from as far as Alaska and Patagonia, flamingos among them, arriving after journeys of thousands of kilometres. After the mountains and wine country left behind this morning, arrival here feels like a different Rio Grande do Sul entirely — and with plenty of daylight still in hand, it's a natural place to camp for the night before the route continues down the coast.