German
Brazil: missing exit stamp, Belo Horizonte & Inhotim
August 2026
Off to Brazil
Leaving Argentina and entering Brazil went smoothly, except for one minor shock.
The friendly official pointed out to me that I hadn’t left Brazil two years ago. The exit stamp was missing.
He laughed when we explained to him that Brigitte certainly wouldn’t have left me behind on my own. Thanks to this little incident, there was no customs check on the vehicle. After an hour, the border crossing into Foz do Iguaçu was complete.
Mercedes Service - We wanted to, but they couldn’t.
At the Mercedes garage in Foz do Iguaçu, we scheduled a major service for our Sprinter for the following day. We provided all the necessary details about our U.S.-spec vehicle and specified the work we wanted to be done. The service advisor seemed competent enough when we first spoke to her that day.
Unfortunately, that positive impression vanished very quickly when we arrived the following day. She had copied down the VIN number incompletely and therefore couldn’t find our vehicle in the system. Then we got the following information: the specific transmission fluid and oil filter we needed were unavailable in Brazil. They offered to have both items ordered from Paraguay—but that would take three days. The transmission fluid and oil filter we wanted weren’t available in Brazil. We were told that both could be shipped from Paraguay in three days.
Our confidence was shattered. Fortunately, the major service wasn’t due yet based on mileage. Therefore, we decided to compromise by using the oil filter we’d brought with us and an in stock acceptable transmission oil and have the oil change performed. We plan to have the rest of the work done later at a more competent facility.
This was a good decision, as the oil change alone took four hours. Although we always went to official Mercedes-Benz dealerships in South America, we’ve never been truly happy with any of them. Unfortunately!
From the Foz do Iguaçu area to Belo Horizonte town
On our drive across Brazil, we passed vast fields of corn, soybeans, cotton, cassava, and more. Small and large farms with gardens and livestock alternated with dense forest. In between, however, there were several large to very large cities. Some photos document our route and what we saw along the way.
Campground with Security
3:00 a.m. … A knock at the door. After we turned on the light and looked out through the slightly open window, the intruder had vanished into thin air. He was probably waiting for us to open the door so he could steal something. The security staff, if they weren’t involved, must have slept through the whole thing.
HAVAN
From previous trips in Brazil, we knew that in major cities, you could park for free, even overnight, in the huge, well-guarded parking lots of the Havan department store chain. Naturally, this required checking in with security, as the premises are locked up at night. Campgrounds are very scarce in Brazil's interior, so travelers commonly spend the night at large service stations. Havan is the best option in the cities.
Muito obrigado
We restocked our supplies at a large supermarket. The senior cashier at one of the ten checkouts wasn't too busy and asked us in Portuguese about our nationality and where we were coming from and heading to. We answered him in Spanish. He was a funny guy, and the conversation was entertaining as a result. He shook our hands as we said goodbye.
Inhotim Museum
A museum in Brumadinho, a small town south of Belo Horizonte (Minas Gerais) is considered one of a kind worldwide and an absolute highlight. This largest museum of contemporary South American art is nestled in the heart of a vast botanical garden. A fabulously wealthy mining entrepreneur began developing this beautiful site on the grounds of a former farm in the 1980s.
Since then, Inhotim has grown into a superlative destination for both art and botany. Exploring all the artwork in a single day is hardly possible. We were captivated by the 140 hectares of tropical landscape. And, of course, art is a matter of taste.
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