Sunset
Over the cerrado.
Túllio F — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Túllio F — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Túllio F — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Túllio F — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Túllio F — CC BY-SA 4.0
The Discoporto of Barra do Garças is one of Brazil's oddest landmarks: a plot of land high in the Serra Azul set aside by municipal law as a landing site for flying saucers. The idea dates from 1995, when a town councillor proposed reserving the spot for «unidentified flying objects»; the law was passed, and the place became a magnet for the curious. The idea draws on the mystique of the Serra do Roncador, which begins at Barra do Garças and is wrapped in stories of lights in the sky and beings from other worlds; the range is also linked to the disappearance of the British explorer Percy Fawcett in 1925 while he searched for a lost city in the region. Today the Discoporto works as a lookout with themed panels, giving a wide view over the town, the meeting of the Garças and Araguaia rivers and the cerrado plains to the horizon. Visitors come for photographs and sunsets more than for saucers. Go late in the day and check the state of the road.
Over the cerrado.
Lights in the sky.
Town and rivers.
Inside Serra Azul State Park, Barra do Garças
Nothing shows it; today it is a quirky tourist lookout.
