The last 500 km drive for Team Lipstick in south America towards the harbour towns of Navagantes and Itajai was started after a nice breakfast and seemingly the sunshine returned to Brazil and the clouds started to disappear.
Itajai was founded on June 15, 1860, but the colonization of Itajaí had started in 1658 when the Paulista João Dias D’Arzão arrived in the region.
In 1750, Portuguese colonists coming from Madeira and the Azores made this region their home.
By 1823 it became a prominent region for Portuguese settlers and, at the end of the 19th century, received a great number of German immigrants.
With plenty of time on hand the boys decided to make a small detour to Blumenau which was founded by Germans almost 200 years ago.
The city of Blumenau got his name from its founder Herman Blumenau who between 1846 and 1848 travelled in southern Brazil for the Hamburg colonial society. He claimed about 200 km2 of forest in the province of Santa Catarina.
After 2 years in Germany, he returned to Brazil in 1850 with 17 German colonists and established the colony Blumenau. After the Brazilian government took control of the growing village in 1860, he remained as the first official director.[1]
Blumenau founded schools and hospitals in his growing city, and by 1880 its population totaled approximately 15,000 people, most of whom were Germans. This population has managed to preserve its German heritage and, even today, German schools still prevail.
Blumenau, rivals Munich as much for its authenticity as it does for the passion of its celebrations and close to 1 Million visitors attend the festivities every year.
Founded in 1984, the 18-day Blumenau Oktoberfest is a culturally-rich blend of folklore and tradition, and gives locals and tourists alike the chance to fully immerse themselves in a wide range of carefully preserved German customs — including of course, bratwursts and beer
Besides all the nice Buildings Blumenau is also famous for its many beergardens and obviously the early german settlers started a few small breweries to quench their thirst in this beautiful area of Brazil.
After great Beer tasting and some sausages Team Lipstick made its way to Itajai where they will prepare the export papers for Lipstick and from where Lipstick will make its way back in a container to Cape Town South Africa