Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
An obvious place to break a long journey between Cuiabá or Corumbá and the coast,
Campo Grande tries hard to shake off the feeling that it's a city stuck in the middle of
nowhere. Apart from the
gaúcho
influence, the town centre is much like that of any
other medium-sized city: the people are friendly and there's little manifest poverty. The
generally warm evenings inspire the locals to turn out on the streets in force. People
chat over a meal or sip ice-cold beers at one of the restaurants or bars around Avenida
Afonso Pena, the Praça Ari Coelho or blocks 22-23 of Rua Dom Aquino, and guitars,
maracas and congas are often brought out for
impromptu music sessions
.
The surprisingly modern heart of Campo Grande is based around the
Praça Ari
Coelho
, five blocks east of the old rodoviária. Tourism is fairly low-key in the city, but
there's enough to keep you interested for a couple of days.
Museu Dom Bosco
Av Alfonso Pena 7000, Parque das Nações Indίgenas •
T
67 3326 9788 • Tues-Fri 8am-5pm, Sat & Sun 1-5pm • R$10
One of the city's best-known attractions is the
Museu Dom Bosco
, in the university
building facing the Praça da República. A fascinating place, it's crammed full of
exhibits, ranging from superb indigenous forest artefacts to over ten thousand
terrifying dead insects and some astonishingly beautiful butterflies. Most impressive
of all is the vast collection of stuffed birds and animals, including giant rheas (the
South American version of an ostrich), anacondas and examples of Brazilian
marsupials, the gamba and the quica.
7
Morada dos Bais
Av Afonso Pena s/n •
T
67 3314 9968 • Tues-Sat 8am-6pm, Sun 9am-noon • Free
This 1918 building houses the Centro de Informações Turisticas e Culturais (Tourist
and Cultural Information O
ce) as well as a small historical museum with period
furniture and photos of early Campo Grande, plus a couple of art galleries with
changing temporary exhibitions.
The markets
Mercado Municipal
Rua 7 de Setembro 65 • Tues-Fri noon-6.30pm, Sat 6.30am-6.30pm & Sun 6.30am-noon • Free •
Feira Indigena
Rua
26 de Agosto s/n • Daily 6.30am-6pm •
Feira Central Esplanada da Ferrovia
Rua 14 de Julho, 3351• Wed-Sat 6pm-5am & Sun 7pm-2am
• Free •
Feira de Artesanato de Artistas Sul Mato Grossenses
Praça dos Imigrantes • Mon-Fri 9am-6pm & Sat 8am-noon • Free
he
Mercado Municipal
, built in 1933, sells a good range of inexpensive souvenirs,
including cow-horn trumpets, horn goblets and drinking gourds. You can also find
leather cowboy boots here. The
Feira Indigena
, just outside the Mercado Municipal,
devotes itself almost exclusively to market-garden produce, including lovely honey and
some simple seed necklaces made from wild
mata
products. Also, the popular
Feira
Central
, On Avenida Calogeras at the corner with 14 de Julho, takes place overnight
Wednesday to Sunday, attracting a large number of indigenous tribesmen selling
potions and bundles of bark, beads and leatherwork, as well as a few Paraguayans
selling toys. But most people come on the weekends to eat Japanese
yaki soba
at one
of the many stalls. Due to the eclectic mix of residents, there are also other cuisines on
offer such as kebabs,
churrasquinho
and pizza.
Good-quality
artesanato
- mainly handicrafts such as cotton embroidery and
leatherwork - is on sale at the
Feira de Artesanato de Artistas Sul Mato Grossenses
,
where there's also a small outdoor café.
Parque dos Poderes
Av Mato Grosso • Mon-Sat 7am-7pm, Sun 8am-6pm • Free • Buses for the Parque dos Poderes can be caught going east along Av Afonso
Pena from the centre
Just beyond the town centre, at the eastern end of Avenida Mato Grosso (and
attached to the enormous Parque das Nações Indígenas), is the
Parque dos Poderes
.
