Pelotas Tourist Attractions

Situation and CharacteristicsThe river port of Pelotas, 59km/36mi north-west of Rio Grande and 271km/168mi south-west of Porto Alegre, lies near the south end of the Lagoa dos Patos on the Canal de São Gonçalo, which links the lagoon with Lake Mirim. The earliest dried meat industry in the Gaúcho country developed in Pelotas. The town was founded in 1812 in an area where cattle-farmers from Aracati (Ceará) began to produce charque (air-dried beef). Thanks to conditions in north-eastern Brazil which favored the economy of the south - a long period of drought which decimated the stocks of cattle and a crisis in the production of dried meat in the Rio de la Plata region resulting from the rebellion against Spanish rule from 1810 onwards - the producers of charque in the Pelotas area gained a monopoly of the market, bringing prosperity to the town. Pelotas is now one of the leading industrial centers in Rio Grande do Sul.Bus stationAvenida João Goulart