Alpine Escape from Brazil’s Polluted ‘Monster’ : Gramado beckons refugees from Sao Paulo with wine and Bavarian ambience.

I had been in Sao Paulo, this country’s giant and polluted industrial capital, for a conference. Then I escaped to this delightful place.

Actually, I like Sao Paulo. It reminds me of Los Angeles, where I live, and Mexico City, which I visit as often as possible.

Sure, like the other two cities, Sao Paulo is a monster. It is huge, about 10 million people. The air stinks; the toxic river stinks; the traffic is terrible. The air is worse than L.A.’s because the smokestacks of the industry that drives the Brazilian economy pour out whatever they contain untrammeled into the atmosphere.

But, like L.A. and Mexico City, Sao Paulo and its people have energy and creativity. Brazilian painting and scuplture, not much known in the States, has to my eye vitality and interest. Paulista food is the most varied in Brazil, and among the best: Italian, French, Portuguese, German, Russian, Japanese, Middle Eastern, Hungarian, Indian and of course, the various kinds of Brazilian.

The famous Sao Paulo nightclubs boom until 4 a.m. After work one evening, a rich Brazilian friend who fancies them took me and 40 other friends to the elegant Stardust, lined up with the Tramp and Cotton Club on the Rua Franz Schubert. The food was excellent (and very expensive) and the music danceable, from the intricacies of modern Brazilian melodies to the sonorities of the Big Band years.

But then another Brazilian friend invited me and our fellow conferees to flee The Monster and come here, to another Brazil, a Brazil few Americans have even heard of, much less been to.

This is a Brazil of clean, cool air, verdant mountains and deep valleys, abundant flowers, numerous waterfalls, comfortable hotels and good cheap restaurants, and, for all that, not many people.

The area, in Brazil’s southernmost state, Rio Grande do Sul, is called Serra Gaucha (pronounced Ga-OO-sha) or Gaucho Mountains. Like Uruguay and Argentina, Brazil has its cowboy gauchos. To the south and west of here begin the pampas that sweep south to Patagonia.

But here in these modest mountains--Gramado sits at 2,800 feet above sea level--the activity is not the raising of beef but the growing of wine grapes, the making of rich and excellent chocolates, the fabrication of furniture and the cultivation of tourists looking for quiet charm.

Gramado is the most pleasing of the several mountain towns, in part because of its size, only 25,000 permanent inhabitants; in part because of the ubiquitous half-timbered Bavarian architecture, which, in its setting of fir trees and neat little parks and lakes, looks less artificial than, say, Solvang, if less authentic than the older German settlements in southern Chile.

Gramado is relatively young as a resort. It was aggressively promoted afer World War II by Leopoldo Rosenfeldt. It was he, I was told, who pushed the widespread planting of the region’s signature flower, the hydrangea. They grow like voluptuous weeds here in the cool damp air. They are in every yard, in the tree boxes along the sidewalks.

They line the roadsides out of town, as tall as men their large, round white and pink and blue flowers that were just coming when I was there a few months ago, in the early spring (fall in the Northern Hemisphere). In December, the region celebrates its summer festival, the Festa das Hortensias, to use their lovely Portuguese name.

The Bavarian facades are not entirely without foundation. In the 19th Century, this area was settled by immigrant Germans and Italians. The blond hair of the Germans’ descendants is commonly visible on the streets and in shops. If you don’t know Portuguese, German and Italian can come in handy. I bought a nice hand-knit wool sweater for my wife from a woman who helpfully quoted its price ($26) in German.

Besides chocolates (there is a chocolate factory nearby) and furniture , woolens are nice things to shop for. They are needed here inthe winter; last winter, the temperature once fell to 27 degrees Fahrenheit and there can be snow showers. In the summer, the temperatures run from 68 to 75 degrees during the day, cooler at night.

Walking in the woods, or climbing up and down the steep narrow valleys, is a major tourist occupation. Caracol Falls, a short way out of town, is not to be missed. You can go by bus (about 35 cents) and gaze at the falls from the rim of the valley. The River Cai flows down a series of cascades, then plunges over the lip of an escarpment to fall majestically into a pool 427 feet below. I am told the hike to the base of the falls, and back through forest festooned with Spanish moss and air plants, takes about three hours. Leave yourself plenty of time to get back; it gets dark early in the deep canyon.

I rented a bike with balloon tires at a shop across the street from the Hotel Serra Azul, the imposing Bavarian hotel where I stayed. The bike cost $1.60 for the first hour, then less per hour the longer you have it. The bike man had a helpful map, showing me pleasant routes to take and where the steep hills are.

There was so little traffic on that Sunday morning that even the main thoroughfare wasn’t hazardous. I pedaled along past neat cottages and second homes. The roses were just starting to bloom; so were the pansies, yellow day lilies, begonias, California poppies and snapdragons.

Not far away, people walked, and I rode, around a path encircling a small, neat lake edged with yellow water lilies.

At one end was a charming, small two-story hotel, the Gramado Parque, with little cottages for rent behind it. An outdoor loudspeaker was discreetly broadcasting a Bach violin concerto. The prices, I learned on inquiry, are right. A “super-luxury” room in the hotel is $55 a day double; a “luxury” room in one of the little chalets is $40; a standard chalet is $34. Like everything else in Gramado, the hotel is squeaky clean and squeaky neat. The breakfasts, served in a sunny dining room, are reliably reported to be excellent. The hotel serves Italian and German cuisine.

For breakfast lovers, Brazil’s the place. At most hotels, the cost of breakfast is included in the room price. You are offered strong Brazilian coffee (with or without hot milk and sugar), a variety of cold cuts and cheese (a Brazilian custom I’ve never gotten quite used to), cereals, a profusion of fruits (fresh papaya, pineapple, mango and so on), fruit juices, fried meats, many breads and rolls and sometimes omelets cooked to your liking.

I pushed on with my bike, and after half a mile or so came to Lago Negro, a larger lake with fir trees imported from Germany, planted in solemn regularity around the banks. Paddleboats are for rent. Here are some of the larger second homes, where people of means from the nearest large city, Porto Alegre, come for the tranquillity.

Back at my hotel, I was ready for lunch (I took some hills). We went to a cheerful, friendly restaurant, the Bela Vista, for a speciality of the region, a cafe colonial . The guidebooks describe the cafe colonial as a 5 o’clock meal, but at the Bela Vista and other places it is served from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m.

We sat down at a table already laden with cold cuts, sausages, pates, cheeses, breads and rolls and open bottles of local white and red wine. After a bit, waiters brought platters of fried chicken, fried pork and fried sausages. There were about a dozen desserts, each one more sugary than the last, and, of course, coffee. The meal was $6 a person, not including tip. You can eat all you want. Be forewarned: Brazilians eat larger meals than Americans.

You shouldn’t go to Rio Grande do Sul without having at least one churrasco , the gaucho mixed-grill barbecue served with roasted manioc flour (no barbecue sauce, just many different cuts of meat). Gramado has several churrascarias , restaurants that specialize in this cooking. I didn’t try any of them, since I had had my churrascos at private homes, but I have never had a poor churrasco anywhere in Brazil, and I expect least of all to find one in Rio Grande do Sul, the home of churrasco .

Unfortunately, my visit to Gramado was short: only two days. But it’s a good place to relax after the frantic pace of Sao Paulo.

GUIDEBOOK

Gramado, Brazil

Getting there: Gramado is 75 miles from Porto Alegre, which is about an hour and 40 minutes by air from Rio de Janeiro or Sao Paulo, via Varig, VASP Airlines or Cruzeiro do Dul. If you’retraveling on a Brazil air pass, you can make Porto Alegre one stop. Or if you’re going just to Sao Paulo or Rio from the United States, you can extend the ticket to Porto Alegre for the same price. There are easy buses to Gramado from Porto Alegre. The Hotel Serra Azul can arrange for a taxi to pick you up at the airport and drive you here for about $50.

Where to stay: The Hotel Serra Azul (Rua Garibaldi 152, Gramado 95670, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, telephone 011-55-54-286-1082), five-star by Brazilian Tourist Authority standards, has double rooms starting at $80 (10% service charge included). It has a small indoor swimming pool and a sauna, and can arrange for tennis nearby.

Gramado Parque Hotel (Rua Leopoldo Rosenfeldt 818, Gramado 95670, telephone 011-55-54-286-2588), situated on a small lake, has chalet-style cottages and rooms starting at $34 double.

Exchange rates: The rates quoted here are calculated at the official rate of 632 cruzeiros to the dollar. But Brazil is suffering hyperinflation. When I arrived in Sao Paulo last October, the unofficial rate was 647 to the dollar; six days later it was 700, then it jumped to 900. In general, credit cards get you the poorest rate; traveler’s checks are slightly better. Best of all is U.S. cash, which anyone seems happy to get.

For more information: Contact the Brazilian Trade Center, Tourist Information, 3810 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1500, Los Angeles 90010, (213) 382-3133 (after Feb. 15, call 213-651-2664).